Laconia, NH | Local Initiatives Support Corporation

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) awarded grant funding to eight local districts under the OJJDP FY 2019 Comprehensive School-Based Approach to Youth Violence and Victimization Program (CYVP). This grant program supported a comprehensive effort to address youth violence and victimization through implementing evidence-based prevention, intervention, and accountability efforts in a school-based setting. The goals of the program were to: (1) reduce the incidence of school violence through accountability efforts for offenders; (2) respond to victimization, exposure to violence, and trauma as a result of violence that occurs in the school, community, or family; (3) improve school safety and climate; and (4) prevent violence, delinquency, and victimization in the targeted community. LISC Safety & Justice provided technical assistance and training to enhance CYVP grantees’ capacity to reach their goals.

Introduction

Laconia School District has approximately 1,800 students in three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. A small city of 17,000, Laconia is a hub for services in the area and there is a culture of local pride about Laconia and its schools. However, the area has stark economic and social challenges. About 53 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price meals and there are many young people dealing with trauma and in need of support for social, emotional, and mental well-being. The 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data showed about 60% of students were afraid to go to school because of violence happening at school or while traveling to school.

At the high school and middle school, Laconia has experienced escalating acts of violence such as fighting and online bullying. The school system needed proactive strategies to prevent violence. Its longtime policy of suspending students for infractions did not address root causes of behavior, but simply sent students home – sometimes for as many as 20 days – and returned them to school without rehabilitation to improve the behavior. As a result, youth would return to class, repeat their infractions, and get suspended again. The turmoil this cycle causes affects both students and teachers. Students experience classroom disruption and learning loss, and teachers are frustrated at the time they spent on classroom discipline when they want to be teaching. Students and teachers both need to feel safe where they are.

Project Purpose

Laconia School District applied for CYVP grant proceeds for its efforts to reduce violent incidents, decrease the use of suspension and expulsion, and build stronger relationships between schools, families, and community partners so students can access needed services. The key elements of Laconia’s approach were mental health and family services, nonviolent de-escalation, and restorative justice.

Approach

The school district in Laconia implements a multi-tiered systems of support for behavior (MTSS-B) approach. It combines Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), mental health and family services, restorative justice, and strengthening school and community connections. Through this multi-faceted approach, Laconia can encourage relationship building, establish systems for focusing on positive behavior and rewards throughout the schools, and have consistent and predictable accountability when incidents do occur.

Although there is high need for youth mental health services in the community, parents in Laconia are often hesitant to go into a facility to obtain counseling for their children or may lack transportation to do so. Those who try often encounter waiting lists and delays in care. Laconia School District established a partnership with Lakes Region Mental Health Center so clinicians can come into the schools to provide onsite counseling. The partnership allows the school district to remove some barriers and speed up the process for a student to see a counselor.

Several community partners are working with the school district in a program called ACERT, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, launched with CYVP grant funds. Team members work collaboratively to support children and youth who have been victimized by violence or other traumas. ACERT combines the police department, family resource center, mental health center, sexual assault resource center, Boys & Girls Club, home visiting services, recovery services, and other partners. Because the agencies are all working closely together, they all stay informed of incidents and can be ready to help. For example, police might call the schools to let them know of an incident affecting a student so school staff can reach out and support the student and family. Schools are therefore better prepared to help students deal with what is happening in their lives that might affect learning or behavior in school, as in the case of a student whose father was arrested and jailed one night. Knowing that had happened, school personnel were able to talk to the student and offer support before they had even entered the classroom the next morning.

Within the schools, Laconia School District hired a social worker to serve the middle and high school. Social workers serve as liaisons for families with the schools’ mental health and other service provider partners. They work with students one-on-one and in small groups to provide social emotional services. These include facilitating an after-school group for LGBTQ+ students and implementing restorative practices. For this position, a person who understands how to connect to the Department of Children, Youth and Families and knows about family resources in the area is more important than a licensed social worker. To cast a wide net for candidates withy the right set of skills, the school system sometimes calls these personnel “student outreach coordinators” rather than social workers, and has created a position description that emphasizes the ability to navigate agencies and communicate with families in an empathetic way.

Mental health support is also important for teachers. Recognizing the secondary trauma and stress they face, Laconia School District is collaborating with its mental health partners to provide services to teachers. The partners have provided training for teachers on trauma-informed care and how to help students. The school district also provides stress management assistance for teachers through the Office of School Wellness, partnering with local gyms and organizations to provide yoga and other activities. Laconia School District had experienced high teacher turnover throughout the years and during COVID especially, but turnover was much smaller in the last school year. District leaders are encouraged to see signs that the school district is starting to build lasting staff capacity and support systems.

Laconia schools used CYVP grant funds to hire a coach for the restorative justice aspect of its plan. However, the school system had much to learn about restorative justice. At first, the alternative to suspension was for a student to be suspended for a shorter period of time and then attend a restorative justice program. The program took place in an unheated basement room, led by a coach lacked formal training in restorative justice, and it did not have the desired impact on suspensions and behavior. In fall 2022, the director of school wellness and the restorative justice coach attended a conference where they learned more about restorative practices. They were inspired and have spent the subsequent months reaching out to learn more and planning how to improve Laconia’s program. They intend to focus on restorative practices starting in high school and then moving to the middle school.

The school district now has a contract with Suffolk University to train teachers in restorative practices at Tier 1, classroom-wide level, as well as more intensive and individually focused Tier 2 and 3 levels. This training will help teachers build relationships and connections with students so they can have a productive conversation when an issue arises, rather than automatically sending students to the office and inevitable suspension.

Results

Laconia School District set dual goals of decreased violence and disruption along with fewer suspensions. The district aims to make its classrooms safe and supportive places for students to be, while keeping students in those classrooms and learning. While some of the initiatives have been slower to start, in part because of disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, the school district has already seen promising results from efforts like ACERT.

Staff training has been a key element of school safety work for Laconia School District. A new paradigm about how to handle infractions might look successful on paper, but real people must implement those ideas and they do not always know how to do so. The school district needs to provide training and coaching, not just once, but on an ongoing basis to support growth and account for turnover. This consistency is important for setting up a framework of capacity and buy-in throughout the district so that the work can continue even after the grant ends.

Laconia School District will continue its partnership with Lakes Region Mental Health. It will also continue to have social workers in the schools. This effort has been so successful that school administrators said maintaining the position would be one of their top budget priorities for the next year. They plan to incorporate it into their budgets if the district does not find other funding after the grant ends.

While the pandemic made it difficult to establish baseline data for later comparison, Laconia schools use several systems to track their efforts and results. The district uses a PBIS data gathering system called SWIS (School-Wide Information System), which tracks referrals for behavior and suspensions, and also tracks interventions so leaders can see if they are effective. It also uses the SAEBRS (Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener) to track students’ academic, social, and emotional skills. With these programs and systems in place, Laconia School District can use concrete data to strengthen and refine its work.

Related Resources

Webinar: Mental Health & Substance Abuse Support Strategies for Schools

Resources on this page are supported by Grant 2019-MU-MU-K011, awarded by the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse, this web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided).

OJJDP provides national leadership, coordination, and resources to prevent and respond to youth delinquency and victimization. The Office helps states, localities, and tribes develop effective and equitable juvenile justice systems that create safer communities and empower youth to lead productive lives.