Hamilton County Schools STOP School Violence Project

Hamilton County Schools (HCS) is a public school district encompassing a 576-square-mile region in southeastern Tennessee with a population of 367,804 residents. Our 78 schools consist of Pre-K through grade twelve with nearly 2,800 full-time teachers responsible for educating over 45,000 students. HCS is the fourth largest school district in the State of Tennessee and serves students in the City of Chattanooga as well as the surrounding suburban and rural communities in Hamilton County.

The goal of the proposed project is to prevent school violence by increasing adoption of trauma-informed approaches and improving overall school climate. According to the National Association of School Psychologists, trauma informed schools help promote feelings of physical and emotional safety for students. Developing a trauma-informed environment at school can benefit all students, whether or not they have personally experienced trauma. Implementing trauma-informed practices has been shown to reduce behavioral incidents and produce a calmer, healthier school environment. 

HCS proposes to use STOP School Violence grant funding to develop a multi-tiered training program aimed at the prevention of school violence through a trauma-informed, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) approach. Training will focus on building trauma-informed classroom practices, recognizing signs of victimization, crisis response, and anti-bullying training for students.