Delaware County is taking the idea of safe schools in a new direction.

Rather than focus on physical security, government and educators are looking at mental health services for students, writes Kenny Cooper for whyy.org.

The idea is to “break the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.  

That means getting students needed mental health services before they get into the criminal justice system, he said.

The Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools initiative follows up safe school summits held by the District Attorney’s Office after the Columbine school shootings in 1999.

A consultant assigned to the initiative, Bloom Planning, is looking at how the county’s school-age children access mental health and behavioral services.

They’re interviewing local teachers, organizations and mental health care providers, parents, and staff.  

“We want to make sure we get a broad range to have input on this, because we’re really trying to redesign and rethink how we address this issue,” said County Council Vice Chairman Monica Taylor.

Schools are often safe places where kids can vent frustrations. Now it’s matter of the community finding trauma-informed strategies to support the child, said Maria Edelberg, executive director of the Delaware County Intermediate Unit.

Read more at whyy.org about this innovative new program.

This Ted Talk by Jordan Wells looks at how we can improve mental health support in schools.