The Fayette Co. Public School District BJA FY22 STOP Program (Cat. 2) will train school personnel including district Police Officers, & educate students/parents in grades PK - 5 to prevent violence.

The Fayette County Public School (FCPS) district is applying for funding from the BJA’s STOP School Violence Program FY22 grant (Category 2). FCPS will train school personnel, including district Police Officers, and educate students/parents to prevent student violence against others and themselves.  

 FCPS has approximately 41,500 students with over 19,000 students in grades PK - 5, the targeted grades in this proposal. The majority of students (53.5%) qualify for federal free/reduced meals. 51.4% of students have minority status.

Lexington/Fayette County (population 322,570) is Kentucky’s second-largest city. There are pockets of deep poverty across the city, concentrated in its urban core, which includes a Qualified Opportunity Zone. 38.7% of Fayette County census tracts meet guidelines for persistent poverty areas. 

After multiple school shootings across the nation, the District established a Safety Advisory Council in 2018, whose work led to the creation of the Comprehensive 10-Point Safety Plan. The district has become a national model for its intentional and balanced approach to school safety. In 2020, the district received a BJA Preventing Violence Grant to train staff, students, and families regarding mental health and violence prevention at middle/high school levels. This proposal addresses identified needs in grades PK - 5. 

The district will prevent/reduce school violence, build positive school climates, and address mental health in grades PK - 5 at the district’s 37 elementary schools. Six schools will receive in-depth services, training, and social-emotional learning (SEL) education. All services and training will feature trauma-informed approaches. School safety strategies to prevent violence and improve school climate include increasing access to school-based behavioral and mental health services, implementing SEL programs for students, parent education, home visits, and other interventions promoting positive and healthy school climates.

A goal and two objectives will guide program implementation.

Goal: The FCPS District will prevent/reduce school violence, build positive school climates, and ameliorate mental health issues through early prevention training, social-emotional learning, and parent education using trauma-informed approaches in grades PK - 5 

Objective 1: The district will increase the capacity of faculty/staff, administrators, & FCPS police officers to prevent’/reduce school violence by providing evidence-based violence prevention training and education during the three-year project period. 

Objective 2: The district will increase the capacity of students and parents to prevent’/reduce school violence by providing social-emotional learning, gang resistance education, and home visits/parent education during the three-year project period.