TAUNTON — Superintendent John Cabral is pleased to announce that Taunton Public Schools has been awarded a grant to support students’ social-emotional learning (SEL), behavioral and mental health, and wellness.
Taunton Public Schools received a $350,000 FY22 Supporting Students’ Social Emotional Learning, Behavioral & Mental Health, and Wellness through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The purpose of this competitive grant program is to adapt, expand or strengthen multi-tiered systems of support to respond to the social-emotional and behavioral health needs of students, families and educators, and to build strong partnerships with community-based mental health agencies and/or providers.
With the use of grant funds, Taunton Public Schools will work to develop multi-tiered systems of social-emotional, behavioral and mental health, and well-being support; and create increased connections within the community for mental health support utilizing community facilitators.
“This grant is an amazing opportunity for our district to continue to grow and improve upon the resources available to our students throughout the crucial, formative years of emotional development,” said Superintendent Cabral. “We hope that with the use of grant funds, the district will ensure accessible and equitable avenues for our students and their families to access counseling, mental health screening and other supports.”
The grant will allow the district to increase the availability of training and resources for its current SEL curriculum. As part of this training, the district will continue to offer professional development opportunities regarding trauma-informed classroom management, understanding equity and SEL, integration of SEL across curricula, restorative practices and training in any curriculums purchased.
The district will also look to hire a data coordinator to support students’ social-emotional learning. The data coordinator will look to increase data usage of SELIS via the creation of a platform that expands the current data analysis software. This data will subsequently be used for the identification of specific Tier 2 Interventions and support the district’s goal of each school within the district having the availability of staff to support Tier 2 and 3 interventions.
Additionally, the district currently partners with numerous community-based organizations to offer mental health support. Current partnerships include the OCY Family Resource Center, Community Care of Bristol County (CCBC), High Point and the SouthCoast Suicide Coalition. With grant funds, the district will look to increase connections with the Taunton Diversity Network, the Coalition for Social Justice, SouthCoast LGBTQ+ Network, Manet Community Health Center and seek out additional resources to provide mental health wrap-around services to students in the school, home and community.
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