5531 - STUDENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

Mt. Pleasant Public Schools

Bylaws & Policies

Statement of Philosophy

The District recognizes the responsibility to provide all students with an environment that maximizes the development of their learning potential, and ensures the educational staff the right to perform their duties as educators. The District believes that prevention, intervention, treatment and after care efforts help provide an environment that is conducive to education for all of its students. The District recognizes its responsibility in this continuum of care as:

	A.	providing a K-12 prevention curriculum;
	B.	providing a vehicle for intervention;
	C.	encouraging treatment with a licensed or otherwise credentialed professional;
	D.	cooperating as able with recommendations for aftercare.

The Board of Education is responsible for establishing the prevention and intervention policy and directing its implementation. The school administration shall enforce the policy and educate the school community on its structure and function. In turn, the school community will put the policy into practice.

Statement of Purpose

The Student Assistance Program (SAP) operates with the help of an interdisciplinary Core Team. All members of the Core Team complete training in working with high-risk youth. The chairperson of this team does not function as a school counselor, but is trained in the area of high-risk behaviors. In addition to working with individual students, the chairperson conducts Core Team meetings. A District coordinator is responsible for facilitating the operation of the program in each building: educating staff, parents, and community members; preparing budgets; and reporting on the progress of the program.

The objectives of the program are three-fold:

	A.	To educate students, staff, parents, and the community members about high risk behaviors and the role of the SAP in dealing with them.
	B.	To facilitate the process whereby an individual receives the help she/he needs.
	C.	To network community resources where possible to meet student needs.

Student Prevention Programs

	A.	The District takes a comprehensive approach to health education including substance and other health abuse issues.
	B.	The curriculum stresses preventative health education including health abuse issues throughout grades K-9 and in some elective classes in grades 10-12.
	C.	The curriculum meets the minimal objectives as stated in the essential performance objectives for health education as established by the state's Department of Education.
	D.	The prevention program provides information and skill development to help students make responsible decisions about health abuses. Goals of the curriculum include:

		1.	To inform students of the physiological and psychosocial effects of drug use and other health abuses.
		2.	To develop skills in decision-making, interpersonal communication, child/parent communication, coping, and peer relationships.
		3.	To promote positive emotional health, self-esteem and respect for one's body.