Secretary to Executive Director - Laurie Killough
(832) 386-1217
Security Technician - Tony Colotta
(832) 386-1251
GPISD contracts with the Harris County Constables in Precinct 2 and
Precinct 3 for full time officers to patrol in and around our schools.
In addition to officers who work in the schools the district also utilizes constable's deputies to enforce the truancy laws and to increase attendance throughout the district. One of the programs that the district utilizes is
A.S.A.P.,Assisting Student Attendance Program.
LINKS
Texas Statutes
National Alliance for Safe Schools
FBI
FORMS
Key Request
Key Control Agreement
Card Access Policy
This sub-committee with participants representing students, parents, teachers, clergy, medical professionals, law enforcement, politicians, etc. is one of twelve standing committees whose members are represented on the Galena Park ISD School Health Services Advisory Council. The mission of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities sub-committee is to review age-appropriate, developmentally-based drug prevention and education programs for students that address the legal, social, personal and health consequences of the use of drugs, promote a sense of individual responsibility, and provide information about comprehensive strategies and effective techniques for resisting peer pressure to use drugs. The council also addresses violence prevention programs that emphasize a sense of individual responsibility, self-respect, and respect for others. The council in partnership with GPISD sees that a clear and present message is mental, or physical misbehavior in GPISD schools and communities.
Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Community Initiatives
The purpose of the Galena Park Independent School District Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities program is to implement age-appropriate, developmentally-based drug prevention and education programs (for students) that address the legal, social, personal and health consequences of the use of drugs, promote a sense of individual responsibility, and provide information about comprehensive strategies and effective techniques for resisting peer pressure to use drugs. The program also addresses violence prevention and education programs for all students. Our violence prevention programs emphasize the students' sense of individual responsibility, self-respect, and respect for others. The curricula often integrate education with real life situations (scenarios).
The Student Support and Health Services staff administers Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities funds to provide campuses with support for their PALS, DARE, and other anti-drug and anti-violence programs and to provide staff development for Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement and Participation (CHAMPS), Safe Teams, Intervention, Assistant Teams, Attendance Teams, Anger Management, Crisis Management, and the like. Further services are provided through the University of Texas Psychiatric Center Tele-education Collaborative. Televised lecture, discussions, and illustrations are brought to the district via two telecommunication sites, one at the Child Care Center, 800 Keene Street in Galena Park, and the other at Cobb Sixth Grade Campus, 6722 Uvalde Street. Each site offers such topics as drug awareness, individual risks and protective factors, chronic childhood illnesses, effects of psychotropic drugs, and ADHD. In addition, Health and Intervention Services works with area neighborhoods through community initiatives to accelerate academics, leadership, and social skills. We collaborate with TRIAD staff who case manage all students who are referred to the court system to ensure that they receive required services such as counseling and anger management. The department facilitates meeting for the District School Health Services Advisory Council, that consist of students, parents, community leaders, officers of the law, physicians, dentists, civics clubs, college instructors, politicians, and the like from Galena Park and neighboring communities.
Peer Leadership/ Peer Assistance Initiatives
PAL, a curriculum-based program, embodies the principles of service learning and trains students to be effective peer helpers. The goal of the PAL program is to utilize the potential of young people to make a difference in their schools and communities. The PAL’S learn leadership and facilitation skills in order to assist and support other students so that both groups can have a more positive and productive school experiences. In support of this goal PAL:
- provides real life experiences that will permit students to apply skills that have been learned in school;
- promotes responsible undertakings that will benefit the community;
- expands the educational value of school curriculum through the inclusion of facilities and personnel not available within the school;
- permits students to discover and explore academic and vocational interests;
- helps prevent students from dropping out of school;
- promotes improved behavior and school attendance and
- encourages improvement in academic performance.
Programs are in place at Galena Park High School, Woodland Acres Middle School, and Cunningham Middle School.
Team consists of a group of drug free students with the commitment, time, and energy to guide the district’s students and community through its effective drug prevention program, using dance, music, and drama.
The members of this group help fellow students overcome peer pressure and learn to make safe and healthy choices. The members are devoted to drug prevention through education, giving of their free time to plan, train and process their performances. These high school students take a great deal of pride in making a difference in the in the lives of the younger students in the district for whom they perform. The members of this team demonstrate leadership skills, develop confidence and self-esteem through their performance that occur periodically throughout the community.
Also a part of the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities initiatives, Galena Park ISD’s Truancy/Dropout Prevention program aims to increase students’ attachment to school and help them overcome personal and family impediments to school attendance. Campus Truancy/dropout clerks combined with Campus Attendance clerks, Counselors, and Administrators, as well as the PEP Self-Sufficiency Specialist, and Early Head Start Family Specialists collaborate and corroborates with the students, parents, other school staff, and the community at large to provide students with other supports for attendance, such as outside counseling, health care, assistance from social services professionals, prenatal and child care, transportation, clothing, etc. Through Health and Intervention Services, truancy/dropout clerks are given opportunities to receive training and direction for assisting students who are chronically absent and are potential dropouts. The
truancy/dropout clerks, having a close relationship with parents, provide information such as the following:
- The consequences of truancy (for students, educationally and legally;
- The consequence for families, who may be held legally liable and suffer economic sanctions;
- Ways to communicate realistic expectations about school achievement and respect for school and educators;
- Signs of children’s disengagement from school;
- Strategies for getting children to school.
In monthly meetings, truancy clerks look at goals, objectives and barriers in managing student attendance. Attendance clerks are familiarized with best practices in student attendance accounting as suggested by Region IV Education Service Center’s PEIMS staff. Four secondary schools have this service available.
|
Outdoor Education |
ROPES |
Truancy and Dropout Prevention |
CHAMPS |
Staff Development |
Home Schooling |
Contracted Licensed Dependency Counseling Services |
|
Peer Mediation |
|
|
