The University of Montana's School of Education recently received a $1.3 million federal grant to fund a variety of projects aimed at keeping kids safe.
The Community Oriented Policing Services, or COPS, grant is one of the largest education outreach grants the university has ever received, said Matthew Taylor, outreach coordinator for the Division of Educational Research and Service.
Other projects include working with tribes on programs to help kids overcome trauma, starting peer-mediation programs in schools and providing technical training for Missoula's school resource officers.
Investigators have also developed an Internet-based survey for parents and schools to evaluate school safety. The results will be provided to schools, along with information on dealing with specific problems.
Van den Pol said it is important to remember that "Montana schools are safe, and will be."
But it is also important, he said, to make sure people are working together to make schools even safer.
He said it has been exciting over the years to see how other areas have looked to Missoula's partnerships among schools, students and law enforcement for good examples of what can work. And the university has also been able to model Montana projects on programs that have worked in other areas.
Funding for the university's Safe Schools Initiative first came from the U.S. Department of Education in 1999.
Reporter Ericka Schenck Smith can be reached at 523-5259 or at esmith@missoulian.com
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