LCMSD Awarded $900,000 Grant for School Violence Prevention

LCMSD is excited to announce that we have been awarded $900,890 aimed to support our efforts in preventing school violence. During the summer of 2021, Superintendent Dr. Brett Geithman collaborated with grant writer Frank Shimerdla on the competitive Bureau of Justice Assistance's STOP School Violence Program Grant aimed to fund initiatives within the District’s continued efforts on school safety. Chief Ruben Martin, Central Marin Fire Department, and Chief Michael Norton, Central Marin Police Department, wrote letters of support and have been close partners with LCMSD. 

The grant was selected and awarded $900,890 to be spent between 2022-2024 on targeted actions to prevent school violence. Dr. Brett Geithman shared, “Student and staff safety have been our top priority. We work closely with first responders, continually update practices, and are committed to supporting students' well-being and mental health. These funds will not only support our goals, but allow us to expand this work to build sustainable systems aimed to keep our schools safe. We are honored to have been selected as one of the awardees and kicked off our program this summer with a Safety Summit.” 

A portion of the grant was used to fund a 15% Grant Coordinator. This was a highly competitive position and René Maher, teacher at Cove School, was selected. She hit the ground running with a “Summer Summit” where all staff were invited, for additional pay, to attend a full-day training. The first portion was led by Central Marin Police Authority on de-escalation techniques followed by Julie Kurtz, Center for Optimal Brain Integration, who led a workshop on trauma informed practices. Other components of the grant include support for universal mental health screeners, active shooter and bomb threat trainings, first aid certification, stop the bleed training, mental health professional development, and tabletop exercises with first responders, among other actions.

School violence prevention is a combination of proactive and responsive measures to support our schools. This involves identifying and addressing mental health concerns, training staff in how to respond to unsafe or potentially unsafe situations, collaborating with first responders, and having clear plans with necessary resources. We are proud of the LCMSD’s school safety efforts and this grant will allow greater expansion of this work to keep students and staff safe. 

Board of Trustees

Annie Sherman, President

Eric Schmautz, Vice President

Monica Cañas, Clerk

Amir Movafaghi

Sarah Mueller