Youth at the Center

Improve childhood physical and mental health:

• Establish School Based Health Centers: The creation of comprehensive school based health centers in the region should include access to mental health, case management and reproductive health. These centers keep kids in school (both by preventing illness and addressing behavioral health issues that lead to suspension and expulsion), in sports, in activities and help kids and families get their needs met. Lastly these centers in schools could be resources to help impact broader school health including health literacy, healthy eating and promotion of healthy activity for children and youth.
• Create trauma-informed schools and districts. Ensure evidenced-based trauma-informed training and support is offered to families, teachers and students. Build on and partner with the Alive and Well Campaign and include multiple other youth serving partners in the schools. This work could also help to improve rates of out of school suspensions and expulsions. Model: http://traumasensitiveschools.org
  Accountable body(ies): Local School Districts, Child Serving Systems, Philanthropic Community, Missouri Congressional Delegation

Reform policies and practices that disproportionately impact youth of color and students with disabilities and further compromise their ability to thrive and succeed:

• Reform rules pertaining to school disproportionality of behavior referrals, suspensions, expulsions, special education, advanced courses, etc. and ensure that multitiered levels of support are in place to prevent disproportionality and systems are created to monitor and create accountability.
• Eliminate the option for out- of-school suspensions and expulsions for students in prekindergarten through 3rd grade.
• Update school discipline policies to align with positive youth development and restorative justice frameworks.
• School personnel, where appropriate, should work collaboratively with parents, students, and community organizations, including law clinics and legal service organizations to develop alternative interventions for different types of behavior
• Mandate annual cultural responsiveness and anti-racism professional development training for teachers and staff – including teachers, staff, community partners and law enforcement officers in schools (i.e. School Resource Officer – SRO).
• Ensure that any school-based law enforcement officers’ roles focus on improving school safety while reducing inappropriate referrals to law enforcement.
• Create a public reporting system for discipline data and alternative education placements. Ensure that data can be disaggregated by misbehavior type, age, gender, race/ethnicity, date of incident and response. For each student referred to alternative education, data collection should also include alternative service provider name, attendance, actual services provided, and graduation. All data should be carefully reviewed for disproportionality with special attention given to: (1) high schools where suspension and expulsion rates and consequences can be high; (2) disparities in suspensions and services for African American students, especially boys; (3) prevention and de-escalation of conflict, especially between students and teachers
• Juvenile court, municipal court, and related staff and service providers should be trained on educational rights issues, anti-bias, and cultural responsiveness and ensure court-involved, court-supervised, and/or state-placed youth are provided with appropriate educational services and supports, including change-ofplacement reviews, special education services, and other supports. To ensure accountability and enforcement, create the Missouri Youth Justice Ombudsman Office.
• Mandate training for school personnel and partnering community-based organizations on the needs and legal and constitutional rights of students, as well as resources available for students.
  Accountable body(ies): DESE, Missouri Legislature, Missouri Courts, Governor, Local School Districts

• Create policies and procedures that are client-centric. (i.e. Individuals employed in shift work jobs cannot easily answer telephone calls. Failure to answer call forces individual to go to the “back of the line” ).
• Support and advocate for the expansion of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infant and Children) programs.
• Ensure the ease of SNAP/WIC enrollment by increasing positions in Family Services Division and creating an online enrollment system and implement “presumptive eligibility” into SNAP for all children on free and reduced lunch.
• Identify students, before the end of the school year, who need summer feeding programs and link families to available food resources.
• Coordinate region wide, summer food programs and dinner food programs including a regional volunteer recruitment effort to staff summer and dinner programs.
• Broadly examine food insecurity in the region with a goal to end hunger in the region.
• Encourage institutions and non-profit organizations serving youth and families to incorporate a two question, food screening tool to determine if a child/family are at high risk of hunger.
• Educate schools with 40%+ students determined eligible for free and reduced lunch that they are eligible to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision Program (CEP).
  Accountable body(ies): Missouri Governor, Missouri Legislature, Food Banks and Pantries

Ensure sufficient early childhood development and education programs to meet the demand and align all efforts around a high-quality model that produces measurable child outcomes:

• Birth to 3 years:
  • Scale-up and integrate, for the region’s most needy children and families, evidence-based early childhood programs for a continuum of care, including but not limited to, home visitation programs;
  • Combine education/job training programs for adults with childcare and pre-school for kids (equal eligibility requirements, same site and hours availability, common transportation options, etc.);
  • Increase state funding for childcare subsidies or pilot regional strategies to fund such services;
  • Fund expanded college-training and professional development opportunities for early child care workers, building on Regional Early Childhood Coordinating Committee efforts.
• 3-4 years of age:
  • Create universal Pre-K for children ages 3-4.
• 5+ years of age:
  • Change Missouri compulsory school attendance age from 7 years old to 5 years old;
  • Create an effective and efficient collaborative model between school district’s early childhood programs and community based programs.

Models: Parents As Teachers, Oklahoma Universal Pre-K; North Carolina work in licensing centers and professional support for providers through a regional system known as TEACH; Missouri Coordinating Board for Early Childhood Pre-K Panel

Accountable body(ies): Governor, Missouri Legislature, Local School Districts, Early Childhood Providers, Philanthropic Community, Non-profits

Create an “innovative education center/hub” capable of building an inclusive, collaborative, and multi-disciplined education environment focused on leading our region into the 21st Century from early childhood to post-secondary. All efforts should be coordinated and represented by a broad and diverse constituency including but not limited to school district leaders representing low income districts, engaged citizens, innovators/entrepreneurs, youth, low income parents with school aged youth; colleges and universities, non-profits, business and philanthropic community. The center’s/hub’s charge should be focused on creatively solving our region’s most entrenched educational issues including by but not limited to:

• Attracting, developing and retaining the most effective district/school leadership and teacher workforce in America. Ensuring that as a fundamental part of preparing leaders and teachers, they must participate in authentic development experiences and must have training in urban issues, anti-bias, and cultural competency;
• Developing school board models of the future; ensure the existence of a transparent accountability system that monitors best practices and overall board effectiveness
• Creating and supporting great school climates and cultures capable of developing engaged parents and high achieving students:
• Ensuring that school buildings/spaces are inspiring, open to family and community and equipped with relevant technology
• Creating staffing structures, job descriptions and compensation and benefit models that reflect the needs and challenges of educators, especially those serving the poorest and most needy youth

Model: d:school at Stanford

Accountable body(ies): Governor, DESE, Colleges and Universities, Local School Districts, Philanthropic and Business Community, EdPlus

The role of the task force is to study the current education landscape in the St. Louis region as it relates to structure, financing and support/opportunity systems including Saint Louis Public Schools, school districts in Saint Louis County and the Special School District. The task force’s charge is to design a system where all children are given the opportunity to succeed and where the financing model supports equity and innovation. The task force’s review must include, and give consideration to the following:

• Consolidation of school districts
• Recovery school district
• Open enrollment zones
• Missouri foundation formula
• Collection and distribution of property taxes

The design must clearly address the integration of schools. The task force’s membership should be broad in its perspective and interests, racially diverse, and inclusive of families and youth. The final recommendations should be made 12 months from the date of its creation.

Accountable body(ies): Better Together, St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), EdPlus, Ready by 21, Regional School Boards and School Board Members, the Ferguson Commission

Revise the Missouri accreditation system (MSIP5). Ensure that the process of revision incorporates the following:

• Inclusive Participation – ensure that the revision team includes broad representation including:
  • K-12 - district superintendents, principals and teachers o Higher education representatives
  • Parents and students o Business, philanthropic and community social support representatives
• Lens Assessment – ensure that the new system meets the following expectations:
  • Simple – Does the new system make it easy for everyone, including parents, to understand how students, overall and in sub-groups, are performing in each school district and each school?
  • Equitable – Does the new system address racial, health and income equity issues?
  • Mastery Driven – Does the new system create a model that elevates content mastery and life-long success for children and teens?
  • Timely and Transparent – Does the new system provide clear and transparent information in a timely manner?
  • Best in Class – Does the new system lead the nation in its approach?

Accountable body(ies): Governor, Missouri Legislature, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education