Schoolchildren around Colorado can make anonymous phone calls to report bullying and other activities that threaten their safety this school year through a new program called School Crime Stoppers.
Callers can phone in to report bullying problems or any potential threat involving students, faculty or the community by phoning the toll-free line at 1-(877) 542-SAFE. Information that proves to be valuable may be eligible for a cash award based on the severity of the offense.
In addition, all 1,500 Colorado schools will be eligible for training on how to implement their own localized, community-based School Crime Stoppers phone line. The program is endorsed by Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar and the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado at 葫芦娃视频, and supported by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
"The Crime Stoppers for Safe Schools hotline will help improve the social climate of schools by providing the kind of information sharing necessary to address the needs of students at risk," Elliott said.
The CU-葫芦娃视频 center also will oversee a new $1.3 million grant from The Colorado Trust to support violence prevention programs at 27 Colorado schools participating in the Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative, including Colorado Crime Stoppers.
The statewide initiative, unique in the nation, was developed by the CU-葫芦娃视频 center under the direction of Elliott, a nationally renowned violence-prevention expert. It is funded by The Colorado Trust and a consortium of educational associations, and is designed to assist all Colorado schools and communities in safe school planning.
The Safe Communities-Safe Schools initiative selected certain schools to receive in-depth training and technical assistance to further develop a comprehensive plan for creating a safe and orderly school, individually tailored to each schools' particular needs.
Participating school districts include Del Norte, Gunnison, Hayden, Lake County, Mesa County, Mt. Valley, Sheridan and Summit County. The individual schools are Central High School in Pueblo, Huron Middle School in Northglenn, Columbine Middle School in Montrose, Rose Hill Elementary in Commerce City, West Valley Alternative School in Colorado Springs, Ranum High School in Denver and Vivian Elementary School in Lakewood.
The latest grant comes on the heels of $2.1 million awarded to the initiative by The Colorado Trust since 1999.
CSPV also has contributed its own funds to implement Bully Proofing Your School in 11 Safe Communities-Safe Schools sites. Five of those implementations will undergo a rigorous outcome evaluation by CSPV staff to determine the level of effectiveness.
Bullying was identified as a major concern in forums held by Elliott and Salazar in all 63 Colorado counties in 2000. The Colorado Anti-Bullying project was launched last fall to heighten awareness of the problem of bullying, its consequences and effective solutions.
CSPV provides background information about bullying and effective bullying prevention programs, as well as an information hotline at 1-(866) NO-BULLY and a Web site at .
To better identify and evaluate the early warning signs of violence within schools, CSPV worked with Salazar to provide a model interagency agreement that can be used by agencies and professionals statewide to share information concerning juveniles at-risk for violence. The model interagency agreement is available on CSPV's Web site at .听
Two new school safety publications, "Guide to Effective Program Selection" and "Safe School Planning and Law Related Issues" are available free from CSPV by calling (303) 492-1032.
Summaries of 11 CSPV-recommended violence-prevention programs are available on the Internet at . The violence prevention center is part of CU-葫芦娃视频's Institute of Behavioral Science.