What Schools Can Do: a report on local school policies and practices related to substance use

June 8, 2022

What Schools Can Do: Creative Ways Franklin County and North Quabbin Schools are Implementing DESE Guidance on Substance Use Prevention. 

This report shares findings from meetings at all of the area districts, including information on local trends in school policies and practices, program highlights, current challenges, and ideas for next steps to enhance existing practices. It outlines how districts across Franklin County and the North Quabbin have created policies and practices that are in line with recent guidance from The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and that respond to the needs of their local communities.  Local survey data is incorporated to provide further context.

In response to local interest, a special section on increasing equity in discipline includes research, best practices and local examples about how to respond to violations.

Throughout the report, clickable links to the Program Descriptions, an appendix and external websites provide an opportunity to learn more about specific programs.

Many thanks to everyone who met with us or provided information for this project!

What-Schools-Can-Do-2017Download

Coalition Produces Local Video on School Dropout

July 8, 2022

The Partnership for Youth’s Mass Grad Coalition commissioned a report to better understand why local young people drop out of school, and worked with local filmmaker Ali Pinschmidt to create a video-mediated dialogue between youth who had dropped out of school and school teachers, counselors and administrators. Ali produced a 35 minute film with excerpts from the dialogue as a tool to facilitate discussion about students dropping out of school in a rural community. A trailer is available here. To see the full video, click HERE and enter the password “Help2StayInSchool”.