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Safe Schools, Safe Neighborhoods Social Contract
Negotiated by the Institute for the Study of Civic Values
August 24th, 2004
We, the School District, principals and teachers, City Departments, faith based institutions, and community organizations entrusted with "securing the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity," pledge to work together and with our youth leaders to combat violence in our schools and to build safe and supportive neighborhoods for young people throughout the city.
To this end, we agree to implement this social contract:
1. Youth Safety Coalition Partners--The School District in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Civic Values, agrees to
assist in the creation of Youth Safety Coalitions, involving administrators, teachers, parents and caregivers, the Home and School Associations, City agencies, EPIC stakeholders' groups, community
organizations, business associations, faith-based institutions, and student organizations at the city-wide and regional level in collaborative efforts to reduce youth violence in the schools and neighborhoods.
Relevant City Departments,Police, Recreation and DHS agree to participate in these Councils, as do leaders in city-wide and regional organizations focused on preventing youth violence.
2. School District Meetings The District commits to conduct at least one city-wide meeting per month of a City-Wide Youth Safety Coalition
and each Region agrees to integrate the activities of their Regional Youth Safety Coalition into at least one regional meeting per month
3. Recruitment of Neighborhood Community Partners-The School District Regional Offices agree to
identify appropriate school feeder patterns where a Youth Safety Coalition should be organized and assist the school administrators, teachers parents, and student organizations, community and business associations,
and City departments in creating them. The Institute for the Study of Civic Values commits to assist in identifying and recruiting the key community organizations in each area that can provide effective neighborhood
representation in these Youth Safety Coalitions.
4. Code of Student Conduct-The School District pledges to make the Code of Student Conduct widely available not only to students, school
administrators and teachers, but to parents, Home and School Associations, faith-based institutions, community organizations, and business associations.The Home and School Associations, faith based
institutions, and community organizations in each region pledge to promote broader parental and community understanding of the Code of Student Conduct and the individual school handbooks, as a way of building
support for their provisions. The School District pledges to work with the Youth Safety Coalitions to devise creative ways to enforce the Code of Student Conduct.
5. Measuring Success-The School District's Office of Climate and Safety pledges to provide monthly incident reports to Youth Safety
Coalitions in each region, as a way of measuring progress in reducing violence in the schools and the neighborhoods.
6. Preventing Violence-The School District, City Departments, Home and School Associations, business associations and community
organizations pledge to work with Youth Safety Coalitions to develop neighborhood strategies to prevent violence in and out of school, with special emphasis on creating Safe Corridors around the schools and
throughout the neighborhood.
7. New Youth Opportunities-The Youth Safety Coalitions agree to broaden the partnership between schools and community associations in
developing neighborhood programs that create new opportunities for youth community service as an antidote to youth violence.
8. Conflict Resolution-The School District and individual schools pledge to work with Youth Safety Coalitions to provide ongoing
access to organizations that can assist in conflict resolution and reducing violence in the schools. The Youth Safety Coalitions agree to work with the District to insure that these agencies and organizations have
the resources needed to respond to these problems throughout the District.
9. Remediation-The School District and the individual schools pledge to work with the Youth Safety Coalitions to use existing successful
strategies and programs and to develop new strategies aimed at working intensively with identified students and parents who create repeated problems in the schools. The Youth Safety Coalitions pledge support for the
District to increase mandated participation in these programs by parents and students and where appropriate, to work with other agencies in the process.
10. Resources-The School District pledges to work with the Youth Safety Coalitions and City Departments to develop the resources needed to
work with the diverse community of students and parents that require extensive assistance in overcoming patterns of disruption in the schools and the neighborhoods. The Youth Safety Coalitions pledge to support the
School District and City Departments in securing these resources from all levels of government.
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