School Policies

Summary

School-based, multi-component environmental strategies should use policies and practices to discourage substance misuse and gambling among students by reducing availability and normative pressures to misuse substances or participate. When schools establish policies that clearly state expectations and penalties, they help reinforce the fact that substance misuse is not an acceptable form of behavior and ultimately help to change student norms.

In addition, schools play a valuable role in supporting suicide prevention efforts including actionable steps to support students and school staff, involving parents and guardians and addressing in-school suicide attempts.

Policies that are designed to be implemented within the school setting are listed below. Ideally these strategies should be implemented as part of a comprehensive school-based prevention approach that includes policy, enforcement and media elements. In addition, the specific strategies should be selected based on assessed needs and balanced against community readiness and capacity.

Core Components

Dosage/Frequency

• At least 50% of the community school districts should be engaged in the strategy with at least 50% of each of those school populations being impacted by policy change by the end of the project period.

Required Key Steps

All policies developed or strengthened through this strategy must be formally written, signed by the school leadership and then provided to the Agency as documentation. Contact the Agency Project Director/Coordinator for additional grant requirements about this documentation.

In collaboration with the coalition, discuss/complete the following:

• Review data related to priority-related issues and community youth issues.
  • Conducting focus groups or surveys with school-aged youth regarding priority policy awareness and enforcement could be helpful.
• Determine the priority related policies in place within the community school districts and the degree to which current policies are being enforced.
  • Consider establishing a school focused subcommittee of the coalition with school staff and/or administration involved.

Alcohol and/or Drug Policies

Discuss strengthening or developing alcohol/drug-related policies through the community schools of focus. These can include:

• Establish or strengthen school penalties for possession or intoxication on school property or at school-related event.
  • Prohibit the consumption of alcohol at all school-related events, including adult consumption.
  • Adopt practices to prevent students from bringing alcohol/drugs to school or school-related events, prohibiting reentry at events and monitoring of gates and parking lots at events.
  • Adopt practices to provide intervention or assistance to students who are at risk for substance misuse issues.
  • Enforce school penalties for possession of alcohol/drugs or intoxication on school property or at school-related events.

Naloxone Policies

Discuss strengthening or developing naloxone policies through the community/county schools of focus to support schools obtaining naloxone through the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services in accordance with Iowa House File 2573. These can include:

• Establish a school/school district policy for naloxone. All schools with naloxone on site should have a policy. Naloxone policies should consider the following:
  • Existing policies and procedures regarding medication administration.
  • Training for school personnel, students, and parents regarding education on opioids, use, proper storage and disposal, overdose, recognizing signs of overdose and how to respond and where to get naloxone.
  •  Training for designated naloxone administrators (school nurses, administrators, staff, teachers, bus drivers, coaches, etc.).
  • Storage of naloxone.
  • Record keeping and information sharing.
  • Action steps during an overdose, or suspected overdose, event.
  • Follow up, referrals and other support.

Problem Gambling Policies

Discuss strengthening or developing gambling-related policies through the community schools of focus. These can include:

• Prohibit any form of gambling being allowed during lunch or recess.
• Prohibit gambling-themed events being held for student participation.
• Prohibit school-related gambling fundraisers involving students: selling raffle tickets, working a casino night, etc.
• Prohibit gambling at any school sporting events.
• Block online gambling sites on school servers.
• Include a clear outline of when and where all rules are in effect.
• Include a list of consequences (detention, suspension, parent notification) and how each will be enforced.

Suicide Prevention Policies

Discuss strengthening or developing suicide prevention policies through the community schools of focus. This policy should include the following components:

• Requirement for training — ideally at least one hour every year for all school staff, including bus drivers, cafeteria staff, coaches, security, etc. — on suicide prevention, including education about mental health and warning signs or risk.
• Consideration of populations at high risk for suicide.
• Requirement for a designated school suicide prevention coordinator.
• Description of all suicide prevention team member roles and responsibilities, and the flow of communication and tasks.
• Designation of the process for suicide risk assessments (either with school-employed mental health professionals or by arrangement with a community mental health professional).
• Requirement for continuously updated referral list that has at the minimum, emergency contacts such as local hospitals and their mental health clinics and referral numbers;
• Procedures for in-school suicide attempt, including re-entry processes.
• Consideration of out-of-school suicide attempts and how parents should be informed and involved.
• Postvention procedures that follow the After a Suicide: A Toolkit for Schools recommendations and safely discuss a suicide attempt or death with the school community. If your district policies do not have any of these components, revisions or enhancements are recommended.

Capacity Building

Create a capacity building plan to continually engage strategy stakeholders. Some ideas include:

• Build support for this strategy from school leadership. Focus on how lack of priority policies at schools can lead to priority-related problems.
• Establish a school-focused subcommittee of the coalition to promote/complete the strategy.
•  Provide regular face-to-face visits with school staff/administration to promote the strategy and discuss developing/strengthening policies.
• Disseminate data briefs or reports related to the strategy to school staff/administration.
• Find similar schools with strong policies in place and share contact information/details about their policies with school leadership.
• Educate parents, through school newsletters, PTA meetings, or other venues, about the importance of these school policies.

Once a policy has passed, in collaboration with the school district of focus:

• Create a plan to educate the school community about the policy.
• Create a plan that will ensure ongoing monitoring of use and enforcement of the policy.

Implementation Materials

SAMHSA Opioid Overdose Prevention Toolkit
School Substance Use Policy Development Guide
Gambling School Policy Recommendations
Model School District Policy on Suicide Prevention
Preparing for Opioid-Related Emergencies for K-12 Schools and Institutions of Higher Education
Sample School Policy Information for Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone, State of Oregon
Sample School Policy Information for Opioid Overdose Education and Naloxone, State of Washington

References

Wechsler, H., Seibring, M., Chao Liu, M., & Ahl, M. (2004). Colleges respond to student binge drinking: Reducing student demand or limiting access. J Am Coll Health, 52(4), 159-168. https://doi.org/10.3200/JACH.52.4.159-168

Komro, K. A., & Toomey, T. L. (2002). Strategies to prevent underage drinking. Alcohol Research & Health, 26(1), 5-14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6683805/