Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
School board approves QPR youth pilot and Zoë’s Place body-safety program
Summary
The Mt Vernon Community School Corp board unanimously approved a pilot of QPR for youth at the high school and a partnership with Zoë’s Place to deliver developmentally tailored body‑safety lessons, both presented as meeting state requirements.
The Mt Vernon Community School Corp board unanimously approved two student-safety programs Tuesday night: a pilot of QPR for youth at the high school and a body-safety curriculum developed with Zoë’s Place, a local child advocacy center.
Board members voted 5-0 to accept both proposals after staff said the programs respond to state requirements and aim to equip students and staff with prevention and reporting tools.
Krista Weber, the district’s outstanding behavior specialist, told the board that “it is a state requirement that all staff members who work with students grade 5 through 12 are trained in QPR, which stands for question, persuade, and respond.” Weber said the district’s QPR trainers want to pilot the youth module with a few high-school leadership groups next year so peers can learn how to recognize and respond when a classmate discloses suicidal thoughts.
“We would maybe do 1 or 2 trainings, and really just be hope to empower our students because what we know is that most of the time, if a student is going to disclose something, they're actually gonna disclose it to a peer,” Weber said.
Weber and director of guidance Casey Grimm said the pilot would let the district test delivery and gather student feedback before considering expansion to younger grades. Grimm said any move to bring the youth module to middle or elementary grades would return to the board for approval after the high-school trial and local adaptation.
On the body-safety proposal, Weber described a planned partnership with Zoë’s Place. “They have a body safety program that is developmentally appropriate from K to 12 and that also is a state requirement that we provide,” Weber said. She said the district’s counselors toured Zoë’s Place and that the advocacy center will help produce videos tailored to Mount Vernon that may feature the district’s own school resource officers and counselors.
Weber framed the partnership as part of a continuum of care: “Zoë’s Place is a child advocacy center. If there is concern that a child has been abused or neglected, they do forensic interviews there,” she said, adding that having Zoë’s Place provide the body-safety presentation creates a local link between prevention instruction and services when concerns arise.
Board members asked how broadly the trainings would be deployed; staff emphasized the pilot scope and the plan to return with evaluation and recommended next steps. The motion to accept the body-safety and QPR proposals passed 5-0.
Implementation details presented to the board included the pilot scope (high-school leadership groups), planned use of tailored video content for secondary students, and a commitment to return for approval before expanding the youth QPR module to middle or elementary grades.
The board’s action does not itself change mandates beyond accepting the proposed pilot and partnership; staff noted additional approvals or scheduling for classroom delivery would follow normal district procedures.
