Ogden School District STOP School Violence (OSTOP)

Ogden School District, located in Utah, proposes to implement Ogden STOP School Violence Project (OSTOP). OSTOP focuses on providing International Institute for Restorative Practices training to school-based staff and administrators to equip them with the skills to facilitate Restorative Conferences and to interact with all students in a way that fosters an equitable and positive school culture. The project also includes Check & Connect (C&C) training and mentoring. C&C focuses on student engagement and academic success, while also playing a significant role in reducing school violence. OSTOP includes three project objectives, each identifying an expected project outcome: train school personnel and educate students on preventing student violence against others and themselves; hire personnel to improve school climate and positive responses to student behavior; and improve school climate (i.e., decrease out of-school suspension, students who feel unsafe at school, chronic absenteeism). The project includes the Utah State Board of Education for C&C training; Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) for threat assessment software; and Spectrum Research, Evaluation and Development for data collection support and project evaluation.