Congress recently eliminated several programs administered by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.  Notwithstanding these budget cuts, the programs that remain are critical to our efforts to establish safe, supportive, and healthy schools so that children can learn and reach their full potential.  Moreover, the Department is committed to developing and deepening program and policy expertise in the program offices, especially in high-priority areas.  Therefore, to maximize limited resources, while preserving our program focus, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and it's programs were moved into a new Office of Safe and Healthy Students within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE).  This change was effective on September 26, 2011, and will provide new opportunities for staff from OESE and OSDFS to work together to improve school environments and support children’s learning, health, and well-being. Within the next few weeks, the contents of the new OSHS (formerly OSDFS) webpages was relocated to OESE's homepage and is available at www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/oshs/index.html.

• Grants to Address Youth Violence and Related Issues for Persistently Dangerous Schools (Discretionary Grants)
• Building State Capacity for Preventing Youth Substance Use and Violence Program Grant Competition (Discretionary Grants)
• Educational Facilities Clearinghouse (Discretionary Grants)

• The Department and the Expert Panel on Safe, Disciplined and Drug-Free Schools identified nine exemplary and 33 promising programs.

• Exemplary and Promising Safe, Disciplined, and Drug-Free Schools Programs, 2001 (April 2002)
  PDF (4.9M)

• Community Service Grants (2003 Formula Grants)

• National Coordinators Programs
  The purpose of this program was to provide grants to LEAs to recruit, hire, and train individuals to serve as drug-prevention and school safety program coordinators in schools with significant drug and school safety problems. (2002 Discretionary Grants)

The SDFSC Advisory Committee, authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act, was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. The Committee was established to provide advice to the Secretary on Federal, state, and local programs designated to create safe and drug-free schools, and on issues related to crisis planning. As outlined in section 4124(a), the Committee will consult with, and provide advice to, the Secretary for the programs listed in section 4124(b) that are already carried out by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. The Advisory Committee focused on three issues: the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities State Grants Program, the Unsafe School Choice Option, and requirements for data under No Child Left Behind. The Advisory Commitee is made up of representatives from Federal Agencies and private citizens who have high levels of expertise and experience in the areas of drug, alcohol and violence prevention; safe schools; mental health research and crisis planning.

This document is an archival file for historical purposes only. It may contain non-working links. For current publications and resources, see http://www.edpubs.org/webstore/Content/search.asp

• Unsafe School Choice Option Final Non-Regulatory Guidance
  MS WORD (712K) | PDF (137K)

• OSDFS has posted information and resources for schools on preventing the spread of influenza. (January 2004)

• Characteristics of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act SEA and Governors' Programs: 1999-2000, based on information submitted by the States, provides details about the implementation of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act State Grants program for school year 1999-2000.

• Threat Assessment in Schools: A Guide to Managing Threatening Situations and to Creating Safe School Climates, a publication of the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. (May 2002)
  MS WORD (4.5M) | PDF (275K)

• Partnership to Prevent Trauncy Conference sponsored by U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools and the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention will host a national truancy prevention conference Dec. 6-8, 2004, in Washington, D.C.

• NAT'L NETWORK FOR SDFSC MEETING IN WASHINGTON, DC
  The National Network for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (NNSDFCS) held their semiannual meeting on February 11 &12, 2007 at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel. Participation in this meeting was voluntary and encouraged by all interested State and Local Education Agencies and State Governors Program Representatives working with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools--State Grant Programs. For detailed information on the NNSDFSC meeting agenda please visit http://www.nnsdfsc.org/meetings.html

• Wide Scope, Questionable Quality: Three Reports from the Study on School Violence and Prevention. These three reports, along with an Executive Summary, provide findings from the Study on School Violence and Prevention. (August 2002)

• The Final Report and Findings of the Safe School Initiative: Implications for the Prevention of School Attacks in the United States, a publication of the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. (May 2002)
  MS WORD (4.4M) | PDF (188K)

• Report on State/Territory Implementation of the Gun-Free Schools Act School Year 1999-2000 (July 2002)
  MS WORD (1.57M) | PDF (4.22M)
  Archived: Past Gun-Free Schools Act Reports