Brockton Public Schools outlines expanded bullying-prevention strategy, screenings and community partnerships

Brockton Public Schools administrators described a multi-pronged approach to bullying prevention and student mental health at a meeting of the district’s Mental Health & Well‑Being Subcommittee, highlighting expanded screening, classroom curriculum, peer mediation and community referral services.

School officials said the work matters because it ties district-wide social-emotional learning (SEL) data to targeted interventions and outside referrals for students identified as at risk. The district said it will resume a scheduled review of its bullying prevention and intervention plan, solicit community feedback, and present updated screening results and staffing status in the coming months.

District leaders described three main pillars of the approach: classroom instruction and recurring lessons tied to a health curriculum; districtwide SEL screening used to identify students for extra support; and linkages to outside providers for care coordination. “Our responsibility with bullying is to provide the educational piece, help the students identify what bullying is,” Dennis Genich, director of health for Brockton Public Schools, said. “If you are the victim of bullying, how to deal with that, how to get help, how to recognize it and talk to either a trusted adult.”

Curriculum and classroom work: Officials said Health Smart is the district’s primary health curriculum and that Character Strong provides a research-based tier‑1 SEL program used across grades. John Snelgrove, who leads SEL programming, described Character Strong as “the premier tier‑1 curriculum in the country” and said teachers are encouraged to use modules at least 30 to 45 minutes weekly. Staff emphasized that bullying content is not delivered as a single unit but is reinforced across topics (nutrition, body image, team sports) and grade levels.

Peer mediation and school-based interventions: Brockton High School’s peer mediation program was called out as a major resource: officials said about 70 students currently serve as peer mediators, each having completed a one‑day initial training plus refresher sessions during the school year. The district said students, teachers and guidance staff can refer or request peer mediators directly and that mediators also help deliver some prevention modules in classes.

Screening and data use: District staff said Brockton administers SEL mental-health screening for grades 3–12 and uses those results to target supports. The district reports that it surveys students more often than the minimum state expectation (the regulation cited requires a survey every four years); staff said Brockton conducts screening twice a year and uses those data to identify students who may benefit from summer transition programming or small-group interventions. Officials described a summer SEL institute built for rising ninth graders based on screening and principal referrals to ease the middle‑to‑high-school transition.

Care coordination and community partners: The district described partnerships with local organizations that provide classroom programs, parent resources and referral pathways. Administrators said Brockton’s contract with Care Solace allows school counselors and psychologists, with parental consent, to request community behavioral-health matches tailored to language and other family preferences; Care Solace then finds a match within three days. Other named partners include Choose to be Nice, High Point Prevention Services, the Healthy Relationships Program run with the mayor’s office, the Cape Verdean Women’s Association, Pinnacle Partnerships and Boston Children’s Hospital in a Brockton’s Promise collaboration.

Reporting, monitoring and anonymous tips: Officials described several options for students and families to raise concerns. The district uses SchoolMessenger for anonymous tips and said it also monitors school-issued devices and internal messaging for key trigger words that create automatic alerts; school administrators and Brockton Police receive critical alerts when a student’s language signals imminent risk. Staff acknowledged anonymous tips can complicate investigations when an accused student asks for a source and the tip cannot be verified, and they said the district will evaluate other reporting methods as part of the plan update.

Investigations and policy framing: Administrators said assistant principals are trained in formal investigation procedures and that the district is moving away from treating every report as an isolated “bullying form” entry. Instead, investigators are trained to analyze incidents through multiple legal and policy lenses — for example, potential discrimination, harassment or Title IX implications — and to consider patterns across multiple incidents involving the same student. District staff said updated draft edits to the bullying prevention and intervention plan will include clearer community engagement paths and options for reporting.

Discipline and restorative programs: The district presented internal discipline counts to show a downward trend in overall instances of recorded discipline since 2022, and described growing use of restorative justice and reentry programs for students removed from school. Administrators said recorded district-wide discipline incidents fell from roughly 3,338 in 2022 to about 1,565 in 2025, and they argued the district now focuses on interventions that aim to reduce repeat offenses and long-term exclusion rather than rely solely on removal.

Staffing and capacity: Committee members raised counselor and psychologist staffing as a priority. Administrators acknowledged shortages in some roles: staff said the district opened the year with nine school psychologists while an enrollment-based estimate implied a need for many more (staff referenced a target near 32 psychologists given current enrollment). The district said that staffing decisions and proposals for role differentiation (for example, distinct full‑time roles for school counselors, mental‑health counselors and social workers) will be part of later planning and budget conversations.

Next steps and community input: Officials asked the subcommittee to help solicit community feedback during the plan revision. Proposed near-term actions include gathering community input and student voice as schools reopen, presenting preliminary fall SEL screening results in early November, evaluating alternative anonymous reporting options, and coordinating public parent events and trainings (including a district-attorney-sponsored training on commercial sexual exploitation scheduled for Oct. 23). The subcommittee also requested future briefings on peer mediation at the high school, suicide prevention programming, and clinics (dental/vision) tied to school health services.

The presentation included repeated commitments to increase parent outreach and to make resource directories more visible on the district website; officials said Brockton’s resource booklets (compiled with partners) are updated annually and can be distributed electronically and in print through partners such as Brockton’s Promise, community agencies and faith groups.

For follow‑up, administrators said they will return with draft plan edits, the fall screening snapshot, a staffing status update and invitations for peer mediators and community providers to present at future subcommittee meetings.