The Safe Schools-Healthy Students (SS/HS) Grant will award five GUHSD school sites $6 million over a period of four years. Monte Vista, Mount Miguel, El Capitan, Granite Hills and Grossmont High Schools were awarded the funds to help sustain and increase the level of social services needed to ensure the health and safety of students and their families. There is one staff person dedicated per resource center at each school site to augment school counselors’ services for students and their families, and each schools’ programs and services are tailored to meet the needs of the diverse students at each campus.

The U.S. Dept. of Education website described the Safe Schools-Healthy Students Initiative as follows: “SS/HS grantee's comprehensive plans are designed to provide students, schools, and families with a network of effective services, supports, and activities that help students develop the skills and emotional resilience necessary to promote positive mental health, engage in prosocial behavior, and prevent violent behavior and drug use; create schools and communities that are a safe, disciplined, and drug-free environment; and engage parents, community organizations, and social services agencies to help develop an infrastructure that will institutionalize and sustain successful grant components after federal funding has ended.”

This Federal Initiative was developed after the tragic Columbine shooting to help school districts develop collaborations and partnerships with local social service agencies such as law enforcement, juvenile justice, and mental health. Part of a joint effort by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Justice, the Safe Schools-Healthy Students grant funds resources that address the complex issues that can prevent students from being able to learn in the classroom. By addressing the various barriers to learning, schools will be able to better help students to be safe and healthy so they can focus on their education.

Jeneé Littrell, who worked as a counselor at Santana High School since 2001, left in 2006 to work on-loan for the San Diego County Office of Education as a Project Specialist leading their Safe School/Healthy Students Project (and has since returned to GUHSD to work as the Project Director for Project SHIELD). Jeneé explained that the five GUHSD sites awarded the SS/HS grant are unique because San Diego is the only place in the nation that has been awarded this funding in both K-8 and 9-12 schools. GUHSD’s five high schools will be partnering closely with the current K-8 schools funded through the Safe Schools-Health Students Initiative in a collaborative effort to assist students throughout their primary and secondary educational careers. Jeneé notes that the grants should enable increased communication between K-8 and 9-12 schools to help students get more comprehensive levels of support.