The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (KDBHDID) are working with the national Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety to identify a handful of schools in the Commonwealth that are using positive, equitable and inclusive responses to students involved with substances.
“Substances” refers to drugs, alcohol or tobacco and “involvement” includes possession, distribution and use.
Research and practice show that such responses – as opposed to exclusion and punishment – are more likely to result in protecting students’ opportunity to learn. These positive responses improve student connectedness and engagement, reduce racial gaps in school discipline and ultimately promote higher rates of academic achievement and lower rates of substance use, school absenteeism and early sexual initiation.
When these schools are identified, interviews with their leaders will be recorded to learn more about their effective, evidence-based practices for positive, equitable and inclusive discipline responses.
The project’s goal is to disseminate promising practices with other schools and districts, which may then adapt and implement them. Over time, these recorded interviews may be supported by online professional learning opportunities and other companion materials.
Nominate schools that are doing exceptional work to provide positive, equitable and inclusive responses to substance-involved youth. Project leaders will follow up with those school leaders to gather their initial responses to key questions about their work, including the details of their prevention practices, who those practices intend to serve, who is involved in offering them, how they prioritize equity and how they know the practices are working.
Please submit your nominations using this form by Feb. 28. You may submit as many nominations as you would like.