Positive School Climate: Intensive Team Work II

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Granting Organization: The Colorado School Safety Resource Center (CSSRC) with funds from the Gay and Lesbian Fund (GLFC) of the Gill Foundation Grant amount: $4,000 Number of awards: 12 Eligibility: Colorado public/charter schools Grant Period: September 1, 2015 to December 16, 2016 (15.5 months) Application deadline: Monday, August 17, 2015 by 3:00 PM EXTENDED to Wednesday, 9/30/15 at 3:00 PM

Summary: The intent of this funding is to further the work of school teams in evaluating and enhancing the school’s climate. This will be accomplished by having teams first identified at the school to consist of an administrator, mental health professional, lead teacher, PBIS coordinator or other student services coordinator and student. Substitutions for team members are permitted except for the school administrator. Teams would attend a one- day workshop to review best practices in creating a positive school climate and facilitated intensive team work. This team work would include resource mapping, discussion of data that school teams bring to the workshop; discussion of climate surveys administered to their students prior to the workshop. Teams, with the assistance of a facilitator from the School Safety Resource Center, the Anti-Defamation League or the Colorado Education Initiative, would work through this data and decide on a plan of action. Your assigned facilitator would be available for two other in-person meetings at the school as well as by phone to provide technical assistance to help teams with data analysis, making certain all necessary policies are in place, selecting evidenced-based strategies and/or curricula, implementing the programs and conducting climate surveys again in the spring or fall of 2016.

Important to Note:

 Schools will be required to utilize a climate survey at the outset of the grant in the fall of 2015 as well as at either the end of the 2015-16 school year or in the fall of 2016. A toolkit of possible climate surveys is available at:

http://www.coloradoedinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Measuring-School-Climate-Toolkit.pdf

 Additional consideration will be given to grants submitted by middle schools and high schools willing to administer anonymous climate surveys that measure the experiences of LGBTQ students. Scoring will be adjusted for fairness to elementary schools in the process as they are not expected to ask sexual orientation questions of their students.  In addition to a grant award of $4,000, recipients of Positive School Climate grants will have access to a facilitator for two meetings at your school as well as implementation assistance by phone over the course of the grant.

GRANT AND APPLICATION DETAILS

 Funding of $4,000/year is available to 12 schools for the Positive School Climate: Intensive Team Work. Schools that received the first CSSRC.GLFC Positive School Climate: Intensive Team Work grants are not eligible to reapply.

 The grant cycle begins September 1, 2015 and ends December 16, 2016.

 Applications must be received on or before Monday, August 17th by 3:00 p .m. and can be submitted by e-mail only to [email protected].

 Grant award announcements will be made Monday, August 31, 2015 by email.

 For those applications that are awarded funding, Progress Reports will be due by December 16, 2015. Final Reports and Financial statements will be due no later than December 16, 2016.

EXPECTATIONS OF GRANTEES

Below are a grant application cover sheet and questions you must answer for the narrative and budget. All must be completed before submission by email. Successful applicants should address the following expectations of grantees as a part of your answer to the narrative questions. Grantees are expected to:

 Welcome and participate in technical assistance

 Attend one of two, one-day workshops for team information and start of technical assistance

 Conduct a climate survey in the fall of 2015 and again in either the spring or the fall of 2016.

 Have support from building or district administrators for the positive school climate work

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 Grant funds may be used for the school’s climate survey. Additionally, the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU Boulder can make available, at no-cost, valid and reliable online surveys appropriate for elementary, middle and high schools as well as staff and parents that do ask the LGBTQ questions of middle and high school students.

 Grant funds may be used for substitutes so that teachers/administrators can attend the one-day workshop or any of the planning sessions. 2  Grant funds may be used for stipends if some of the work takes place outside of regular school hours.

 Grant funds may be used for evidence-based strategies and/or programs to enhance school climate.

The Colorado School Safety Resource Center welcomes your questions:

Christine R. Harms [email protected] 303.239.4534

Positive School Climate: Intensive Team Work

GRANT APPLICATION FORM

Date Name of Contact Person for School:

Title:

Name of School:

Name of District:

Grades in the School:

Address:

City, State, Zip:

Telephone:

Email:

Signature*:

Name of Authorizing Individual (Principal, Superintendent, or Charter School Director:

Signature*:

Telephone:

Email:

District(s) served by this application:

3 School(s) served by this application:

Count (ies) served by this application:

*If you do not have an electronic signature to import or cannot scan and email, please print this signed cover page and fax to the Colorado School Safety Resource Center at 303.239.4510 in addition to submitting an unsigned but otherwise completed application by email. You will receive a confirmation email when your application has been received. If you do not receive an email confirmation, please contact the Colorado School Safety Resource Center.

Notification of the grant status will be sent to the two individuals identified above. If your grant is approved, the grant agreement will then go directly to the superintendent’s office for signature.

GRANT SUBMISSION

Please make sure all sections of this grant application are complete before submitting.

All sections of this proposal, including the signed cover page, must be received by Monday, August 17th at 3:00 PM. Grants submitted beyond this date and time will not be considered.

PROPOSAL NARRATIVE (not to exceed seven pages and less is fine as long as you have answered all the questions)

1. Please tell us briefly what school climate work has been undertaken at your school and what you hope to accomplish with this grant.

Please provide brief background information about your school and explain what need(s) this proposal might address. It is not necessary for schools to have a particular project in mind but rather a strong desire to analyze data and find appropriate strategies in an effort to enhance their school’s climate. You are encouraged to state that in this section.

2. What data do you collect now, if any, that informs you about the climate and culture of the school?

3. What are your school's greatest successes and challenges in student social emotional development?

4. Does your school use Positive Behavioral Supports and Interventions (PBIS) or a similar framework? If so, tell us of the successes and challenges. (Please note: this is not a PBIS grant so submissions that address only enhancing your PBIS work will not be considered for funding.)

4 5. This grant comes with technical assistance in addition to a monetary award. Please describe how content, program implementation and/or evaluation expertise can be of the greatest assistance to you should you be awarded funding.

6. Please refer to the expectations of grantees listed on page two of this document. Are there any expectations you believe you cannot meet? If yes, please explain your answer.

BUDGET NARRATIVE

Please provide a budget for how you intend to utilize the grant funds. If you intend to use it for stipends and/or substitutes, please be specific and include all necessary benefits.