School Climate and Related Areas

Wyoming Department of Education > For District Leadership > Health & Safety > School Climate and Related Areas

Contact Information

Education Consultant
Catherine Palmer
(307) 777-6198
catherine.palmer@wyo.gov

The WDE provides feedback and technical assistance on school climate matters that include, but are not limited to: anti-bullying grant information, suicide prevention information and resources, anti-bullying resources (both cyber and in-person), hazardous materials, school playground issues, statutory requirements for epinephrine auto-injectors, and common influencing agents on school climate.

If you need to anonymously report something that you feel is a threat or concern to you or your community, please use safe2tell Wyoming.

Safe & Drug-Free Schools

Under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, the U.S. Department of Education distributes federal funds to all school districts based on student enrollment. The purpose of the program is to support local prevention activities in the areas of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs (commonly abbreviated TAOD), and violence.

Positive School Climate Grant

The WDE offers competitive grants that support anti-bullying and positive school climate efforts. Any school can apply for up to $9,000 to be used in the 2021-22 school year. Districts can apply for more than one school. No local funding is required.  Note: The 2021-22 grant application is postponed until further notice.

General Grant Information

Positive School Climate Program Intent

The WDE is helping districts and schools acquire and operate programmatically mature & evidence-based programs or innovative programs with the intent of making the largest possible impact for reducing school bullying and increasing positive school culture and climate.

Schools can request funding to specifically improve their positive school climate. This may take the form of continuing with prior anti-bullying work, starting new anti-bullying work, increasing levels of mentorship or character education that can translate into reduced bullying, or starting effective innovative programs that are aimed at lowering bullying levels.

Eligibility Requirements

Any Wyoming school or district may apply. It is necessary to have a grant administrator such as a teacher or staff member who is responsible for carrying out or overseeing the actual work of the grant.

Method of Submission

To be considered for funding, complete the online application by May 28, 2021.

Important Grant Expectations for Recipients

  1. The grant administrator will update the WDE in December about the work being completed with the grant funds and must detail the expenditure use as of December.
  2. Grant recipients are expected to spend the full amount of the grant.
  3. If actual grant expenditures are lower than the approved amount by the end of the school year, then the district is automatically authorized to extend expenditures up to the amount originally requested. The expenditures must be spent on activities or programming that align with what was originally approved in the grant application.

At the End of the 2020-2021 Grant Period

Districts are reimbursed for the originally approved grant amount by submitting two items:

  • Single itemized district invoice.
  • Final grant summary report. Both are due together by May 10, 2021.

Each grant summary report shall include the following items:

  1. Program name, district, grant administrator, and contact information.
  2. At least one metric used in the grant and how the metric value(s) changed over the time the program was in effect (examples: discipline referrals, class disruptions, fights, etc.).
  3. An evaluation of the program. At a minimum, the evaluation should compare the actual outcomes to the intended outcomes and expected benefits from the grant application.

Email the reimbursement request, invoice, and grant summary report to Catherine Palmer at catherine.palmer@wyo.gov.

Timeline for 2020-2021 Grant Application

  • February 17, 2020 to May 29, 2020: Grant application period
  • May 30, 2020 – July 5, 2020: Grants reviewed
  • July 8, 2020 – July 31, 2020: Award letters mailed
  • September 2020 to April 2021: Program operation window
  • December 2021: Recipients check-in with the WDE on grant progress and cost
  • March 2021 through May 10, 2021: District/School sends reimbursement request along with invoice and grant summary report. Grant is closed out.
  • Reimbursement will be made within forty-five days after the submission of the invoice.

Timeline for 2021-2022 Grant Application

  • February 15, 2021, to May 28, 2021: Grant application period
  • May 31, 2021 – July 1, 2021: Grants reviewed
  • July 6, 2021 – July 30, 2021: Award letters mailed
  • September 2021 to April 2022: Program operation window
  • December 2021: Recipients check-in with the WDE on grant progress and cost
  • March 2022 through May 13, 2022: District/School sends reimbursement request along with invoice and grant summary report. Grant is closed out.
  • Reimbursement will be made within forty-five days after the submission of the invoice.

Scoring Rubric

The rubric describes how the 2021-2022 grant application will be scored. Higher scores are awarded first. Awards continue downward until the funding runs out. Adjustments can be made for extended efforts put into the grant application.

Each submitted application will be evaluated according to the target areas shown below.

1. Identify needs, provide relevant statistics, and state goal(s) (max = 40 points)
Target: Answer relates to the needs of students and addresses the particular climate problem that the district or school is experiencing. The long-term goals of the school or district should be addressed. Reasoning should be provided, relevant statistics used.

2. Describe how funding will be utilized (max = 30 points)
Target: In detail, describe how the school/district will use the funds to accomplish the goal(s) effectively.

3. Itemized Expenditures (max = 15 points)
Target: Provide a basic line-by-line list of expected expenditures. This might include, but not limited to: books, materials, travel costs, training fees, speaker fees, reimbursed time for school staff, printing costs, etc. (Proposed expenses indirectly related to the mission of the program including food or T-shirts may or may not be approved depending on the grant request load for any given year.)

4. Expected Outcomes (max = 15 points)
Target: Answer relates to a complete list of direct or indirect net results, positive consequences, or end products that are designed or expected.

The total possible points are 100. The scoring of applications is done using an independent group of evaluators. Since the purpose of the grant is to maximize school climate statewide, the evaluators reserve the right to take into account geographic dispersal in the case of close scores.

Suicide Prevention Resources

At a minimum, school staff members must participate in eight hours of suicide prevention training every four years. Schools may choose to supplement training with a variety of other activities that are not included in the approved programs list. Please note: Global Compliance Network continues to be an approved program and will be added to the list during the next update.

Information, Guides, Helplines, Toolkits

Bullying, Abuse, and Prevention Resources

Each school district must have a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, or bullying at school. Policies should be continuously reviewed and revised as necessary. Local school districts can reference the Anti Bullying Model Policy I and Anti Bullying Model Policy II to assist in developing district policy.

Sample of Readily Available Training
  • CharacterVideo provides videos and follow up questions that address bullying, cyber bullying, suicide prevention, drama, drug and alcohol awareness, resilience, dropout prevention, mental illness education, dealing with learning disabilities, good decision making, peer pressure, and other character education issues.
  • Childhelp Speak Up Be Safe is a curriculum that helps students identify, prevent, and interrupt all forms of child abuse.
  • International Institute of Restorative Practices – provides information and access to training on restorative practices in schools.
  • Paxunited provides training on peer-to-peer mentoring and peer mediation.
  • Safe School Ambassadors provides an Anti-bully training program for junior high and high school. It utilizes the power of the bystander.
  • The Mentor Consulting Group provides mentoring training and covers must-do items when building a mentor program.
  • Rachel’s Challenge can build connectivity and empathy in students.
  • Second Step includes social-emotional learning, bullying prevention, and child protection training and tools.
  • Olweus is a commonly used anti-bully training program for Wyoming schools.
  • PromotePrevent has practical training for children and youth; is built on a Partner-Plan-Act process.
Mentoring
Informational Resources
Social-Emotional Learning and Character Education
  • CASEL created, Reunite, Renew, and Thrive: SEL Roadmap for Reopening, a resource for reopening schools.
  • Character Counts contains a number of resources for teachers and coaches. It promotes Citizenship, Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, and Caring.
  • The Josephson Institute seeks to increase the ethical commitment and practices in society as a whole by changing both personal and organizational behavior.
  • What Will Matter provides thought provoking articles in character education. It is related to the Josephson Institute.
  • Characters of Character provides resource books and social stories to make it easy for kids to internalize values.
  • Wings for Kids is a free resource to promote positive character in schools via social emotional learning.
  • Character.org has a number of free lesson plans that can be used at the elementary, middle school, and high school level.
  • Character Ed has a number of usable free parenting resources as a subset of a larger Character Education Network /li>
  • Good Character has a number of resources by way of lesson plans, activities, and programs that stand to help the teacher.
  • Information on effective playground management, utilizing character education through play, can be found here.
  • Youth Frontiers conducts retreats that are designed to inspire character in youth.

School Safety and Crisis Management Plan

All schools must use multiple strategies, which should be defined in a crisis management plan, to ensure the safety of students. Districts are encouraged to work with local emergency responders and mental health providers to create crisis management plans.

School Facility Safety

Medical Guidelines

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