From Program to Policy to Practice: A School-based Blueprint

In 2002, in response to requests for assistance with behavioral health issues, Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) assigned clinicians to 12 Boston public schools.  This on-the-ground experience revealed that Massachusetts’s children’s mental health system was fragmented and ineffectual, and contributed to BCH’s decision to spearhead a statewide Children’s Mental Health Campaign in 2006.  “An Act Relative to Children’s Mental Health” became law in 2008 requiring realignment of the children’s mental health system and establishing a “Behavioral Health and Public Schools Task Force” charged with developing a “framework” for school-based prevention and intervention.  Both BCH and Boston Public Schools (BPS) served on the Task Force and the bill filed in 2012 drew on BCH’s school-level experience.  To test the framework and inform the legislative deliberations, BCH and BPS formed a joint Executive Work Group (EWG) to oversee piloting of the framework.  Recognizing the many demands placed on teachers and administrators, the EWG initially sought only schools interested in volunteering to participate in the pilot. Ten schools were selected and underwent training.  Feedback from first-round pilot schools was incorporated into the training curriculum, and first-round teachers and administrators who experienced its impact on classroom management, school climate and student performance, were engaged in implementing the next round of training.  Based on the support generated among school personnel and the preliminary results of the Framework’s implementation, the Boston School Committee adopted the Safe and Supportive Schools Framework as district-wide policy in 2013.  Massachusetts legislature enacted the Safe and Supportive Schools legislation the following year.