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.

• OSDFS Announces the FY 2011 Elementary and Secondary School Program Grant Award Recipients

• OSDFS Announces the FY 2011 Carol M. White Physical Education Program Grant Award Recipients

Studies on the brain show that physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in childhood can cause permanent damage, reduce the size of parts of the brain, impact the way a child's brain copes with daily stress, and can result in enduring problems such as depression, anxiety, aggression, impulsiveness, delinquency, hyperactivity, and substance abuse.
With help from families, providers, and the community, young children can demonstrate resilience when dealing with trauma. Learn more about the impact of trauma on childhood development and pass the information on to observe National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day.
To learn more visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/children

About May 3, 2011, Awareness Day
National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is a day to join SAMHSA, communities, organizations, agencies, and individuals nationwide in raising awareness that positive mental health is essential to a child's healthy development from birth. This year, the national theme will focus on building resilience in young children dealing with trauma. For the complete picture, please visit: http://www.samhsa.gov/children/national.aspx .

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is pleased to announce the launch of the Safe and Supportive Schools Website: http://safesupportiveschools.ed.gov. 

The Safe and Supportive Schools Website represents another step the OSDFS is taking to provide the technical assistance and expertise to keep our students safe.  From this Website, state, district and school administrators; teachers; school support staff; and communities and families can find resources and support to develop rigorous measurement systems that assess school climate and implement and evaluate programmatic interventions. In particular, on the Website one can:

• Find out how to get help from the Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center (Center);
• Register for upcoming Center events that feature experts from the field, including Webinars;
• Find high quality products, tools and research by role and topic on the home page’s springboard;
• Refer to the School Climate Survey Compendium of OSDFS-approved surveys;
• Learn about other states and what they are doing to measure and improve school climate;
• Read the latest news on school climate issues.

You are welcome to explore and discover, ask questions, and share your perspective.

The Safe and Supportive Schools TA Center is operated for U.S. ED’s OSDFS by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in collaboration with Child Trends; The Search Institute; Vision Training Associates; Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning; and Decision Information Resources, Inc.

• Campus Violence Report
  In response to the Virginia Tech incident on April 16, 2007, this report looks at the scope of violence at institutions of higher education. (April 2010)
  
  Human Trafficking of Children in the United States - A Fact Sheet for Schools (August 2007)

• SECRETARY'S LETTER AND OTHER INFORMATION FROM WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL SAFETY
  As a follow-up to the recent White House Conference on School Safety, the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, issued a follow-up cover letter and message from the conference. The Department also held a School Safety Live Video Webcast on November 15, 2007--to review crisis planning and learn how schools can mitigate, prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from a crisis.

• Federal Assistance to the Mid-West: Information
  You are in our thoughts as you face the challenges brought on by severe weather. Below is information we trust you will find useful in the days ahead. We will provide you with updated information as the situation warrants. As of Thursday, June 26, 2008, counties in eight states -- Iowa , Illinois , Mississippi , Nebraska , Indiana , Wisconsin , Minnesota , and Missouri - have been designated major disaster areas due to severe weather. This link provides valuable resources to obtain Federal assistance and to contact your State Emergency Management office.

• Prior Knowledge of Potential School Based Violence: Information Students Learn May Prevent A Target Attack is a collaborative study conducted by the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education (May 2008). View the Bystander study.

• Enhancing Achievement and Proficiency through Safe and Drug-Free Schools" is a report by the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Advisory Committee (June 2007) See the press release and report MS Word (156K)

• The Department's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools is organizing emergency teams of physicians and medical personnel to provide immediate mental health services to local communities. The OSDFS has established a toll-free hotline for people in crisis. By calling 1-800-273-TALK, callers will be connected to trained professionals from a network of local counseling centers that are prepared to help those suffering from emotional trauma, such as anger, grief, hopelessness, shock, and sleeplessness, as a result of the disaster. The hotline is open 24 hours a day, every day.