NJ Parents
SCHOOL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Children cannot learn in environments where their health and safety are threatened. Over a decade ago, the Department of Education developed the Safe Schools Initiative to offer assistance and guidance to all local schools in their efforts to make schools as safe as possible for students. Students cannot be expected to achieve at their highest levels, if they feel unsafe in their school environment or if they are using harmful substances in their daily lives. In order to assure safety for students, it is especially important to have parental support and involvement in schools to assist school personnel with problems that often originate in homes or communities.
Annually, the department produces the report entitled Violence, Vandalism, and Substance Abuse in New Jersey Schools from electronic records submitted by each school district. The many ways that the Department of Education provides assistance to schools are described in this required report to the Legislature. Parents should check with their schools to assure that they are taking advantage of all the resources available at the Department of Education.
The mandate for safe schools also is contained in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. States are required to identify “persistently dangerous” schools annually, and parents with children in any school with that classification are entitled to choose an alternate school assignment for their child. Under the same act, any student who has been the victim of a violent criminal offense while on the premises of the public school the child attends may be transferred, at the request of parents, to another location within the district.
In the area of student health, there are health care professionals that include a school physician, a certified nurse, and other trained specialists, depending on the needs of the individual district, who support school health services in each school district. There are requirements in state law, as well as Department of Education regulations, that are designed to keep students healthy and to protect students and staff from infectious diseases and injury. You may want to contact the certified school nurse in your school to obtain information or address concerns about specific health services.
More health- and safety-related information can be found in NJ School Security, HIV Policy and Practices, Guidelines for the Care of Students with Diabetes in the School Setting, and Keeping our Kids Safe.
