BAMA-STOP: Implementing Community Engagement Strategies in Rural High Schools to Prevent School Violence

The University of Alabama (UA) will use university-community partnerships to train and educate school personnel (including school resource officers), families, and students to prevent and reduce student violence and improve the school climate in rural Alabama high schools in a program named “BANA-STOP’. BAMA-STOP will serve high schools from six rural counties (Choctaw, Fayette, Greene, Lamar, Marengo, and Sumter) through a partnership with the University of Alabama/University of West Alabama Regional Inservice Education Center. Approximately 8,818 students are served by the six counties, with 2,037 students enrolled in grades 9–12 from 14 high schools. With funding from the STOP School Violence grant, BAMA-STOP primary activities will include: (1) conducting school safety needs assessments and updating school safety plans, (2) developing and training behavioral threat assessment (BTA) teams; (3) educating school personnel, students, and families; and (4) curating and administering asynchronous safety training for substitute teachers. Expected outcomes for BAMA-STOP include: (1) completed school safety assessments and up-to-date school safety plans; (2) the development and training of multidisciplinary BTA teams in 14 rural high schools; (3) the implementation of evidence-based services for approximately 2,037 high school students, their families, and school personnel; and (4) the development of asynchronous, school-specific, research-based training for substitute teachers. BAMA-STOP will not only prevent and reduce student violence and improve the school climate in high schools but will also ultimately improve the equity of student support and services for rural high schools in west Alabama.