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September 29, 2023
Healthy bodies and minds are the foundation of academic success. At OSSE, we leverage programming, partnerships, policy and data to remove health barriers to learning so that people of all ages and backgrounds are prepared to succeed in school and in life.
OSSE supports schools in being places where student mental and behavioral health is addressed and staff have the tools to recognize the warning signs and risk factors of youth mental health crisis, including suicide, and to implement best practices for suicide prevention, intervention and postvention.
Addressing the mental health concerns of our students, educators and school leaders is an essential component of recovery and restoration and provides a necessary foundation for accelerated learning. Our investments in this space have built upon existing mental and behavioral health supports and reflect a strong partnership with the DC Department of Behavioral Health (DBH).
Supporting administrators, teachers and other staff allows educators to show up for and enable student success. Ensuring staff feel equipped to identify and meet the needs of their students will support staff and student wellness and build a positive school culture that allows every member of the school community to thrive.
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we are proud to share that OSSE has invested over $10 million in federal stimulus funds to support mental health supports for staff and students. Read on to learn more about a few of those investments.
In service,
Dr. Christina Grant
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OSSE Mental Health Investments: Suicide Prevention
The youth mental health crisis highlights the need for sweeping and comprehensive suicide prevention and intervention to support all District students. In response, OSSE offers suicide prevention and intervention curriculum and training for DC public and public charter elementary, middle and high school staff and school-based behavioral health partners. In partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health, OSSE recently began its Support Students in Crisis ($) programming designed to provide selected LEAs with consultation on their mental health and crisis policies.
The Yellow Ribbon “Be A Link! Community Gate Keeper Training,” for elementary schools, and the MindWise Signs of Suicide (SOS) training, for middle and high schools, seeks to create safe schools where staff can recognize warning signs, risk and protective factors in youth, initiate conversations about suicide, and take appropriate supportive actions. Students also develop tools to identify signs of depression and suicide in themselves and their peers and understand and express their behavioral health concerns with trusted adults.
 Additional Investments in Fostering Student & Staff Wellbeing
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The Whole School Educator Wellness Cohort ($) offers a year-long opportunity for schools to partner with a community-based organization that will support the implementation of whole school educator wellness practices. The $500,000 investment of Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds aims to bridge the gap between individual and organizational supports. Applications are open through Oct. 20, 2023. Schools may apply here.
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This month, District educators took a deep dive during our LGBTQ+ Back-To-Basics and Beyond Bootcamp ($) to learn key concepts, data, policy and best practices to enhance skills that create belonging and inclusion in their teaching, in their classroom and the school community for LGBTQ+ students (and staff).
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OSSE was awarded, in partnership with the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) and DC Public Schools (DCPS), the Advancing Recruitment and Retention in Our Workforce (ARROW) grant designed to recruit and retain quality, credentialed school-based behavioral health providers to work in public and public charter schools in DC.
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OSSE provides restorative justice training through our partnership with Restorative DC, which will partner with 11 schools this year to provide intensive and collaborative technical support and coaching to schools ready to make a long-term commitment to integrating restorative justice into their overall philosophy and school culture. RestorativeDC will also provide 18 schools with targeted technical assistance for specific critical needs.
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OSSE plans to launch a new School Climate and Culture Survey ($) in Spring 2024 to collect and report on citywide school climate data via student, staff and family surveys and to provide school leaders with vital data on the strengths and areas for improvement related to student and staff culture.
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In FY23, 296 District childcare educators have completed Child Development Associate (CDA) coursework in a cohort for initial credentials. An additional 58 received support through the non-cohort model and completed coursework, which together surpass our target of reaching 300 CDA scholars. The CDA Credential™ is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education, building foundational, essential competencies needed by entry-level early childhood professionals.
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We are on track to meet our goal of 150 DC teachers earning a special education endorsement ($) through coursework completion (including micro-credentials) and Praxis exam support through our Special Education Endorsement Recovery Initiative (SEERI).
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improvement plans have been established for the 2023-24 school year and we continue to reimagine our grants process by conducting LEA focus groups to obtain feedback.
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Earlier this month, we opened the spring 2024 application for the DC Dual Enrollment Consortium Program ($), which allows students in DC Public Schools (DCPS) and public charter schools in grades 10-12 to enroll in college courses at DC-area colleges and universities and earn college credits at no cost, all while still attending their DC high school. In the 2022-23 school year, 625 students participated in the program, the highest number the program has seen.
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OSSE is supporting DC Health's efforts with mobile vaccination units placed at strategic locations throughout the District, leading or participating in webinars to promote the SY 2023-24 immunization policy with school nurses, MCOs, school and LEA leaders, charter school registrars, and District families. OSSE and DC Health continue to provide technical assistance as requested. DC students in grades pre-K 3, kindergarten, 7 and 11 who do not have proof of immunization submitted to their school by December 4, 2023 will not be allowed to return to school until they have received the required immunizations and provided documentation to the school. |
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We continue to grow our efforts to embed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) throughout the work of our agency. We implemented a new staff intranet page dedicated exclusively to DEIB with foundational definitions, cultural events, compliance trainings and cool information. Earlier this month, the Kaiser Permanente Mobile Health Van made a special visit to our New York Avenue terminal where OSSE bus drivers, attendants and other DOT staff were able to stop by to get free blood pressure screenings, body mass index testing, diabetes tests and more. |
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OSSE was recently awarded a $4 million Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant by the U.S. Department of Education, which will support significant modernization to our PK-12 and post-secondary data systems. With this modernization, OSSE will be able to follow DC students’ journeys to and through post-secondary education and their interaction with the various grants and scholarships that have supported them along the way. Additionally, it will improve the interoperability of OSSE’s systems with those of our public university and community college, both served by the University of the District of Columbia (UDC). |
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The District has implemented a robust recovery to restoration plan, which includes investing nearly $1 billion of federal stimulus funds to support the recovery and restoration of the public education and child care sectors. Projects funded in full or in part by federal recovery dollars will feature this symbol. ($)
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