Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has received a three-year Safe Schools/Healthy Students federal grant of $1,978,150 per year totaling nearly $6 million. The grant will be used to expand the Collaborative Action Team process, or CAP, that provides early intervention for at-risk students.

MCPS is one of only 23 Safe Schools/Healthy Students grantees nationwide and received one of the largest amounts possible for a local school district.

CAP is a strategic and collaborative process used to discern factors that may be hindering a child’s success in school. The process then can identify ways to assist the child in the school setting. Trained teachers, administrators, and other staff at the school site help to ensure that problems are identified in their early stages. Assistance can range from helping students develop social skills to providing formal counseling sessions at school for those who need more intensive support.

CAP also provides strategies for teachers to deal with problem behavior and can be used to discover trends or patterns of behavior within a school that can help the school in its planning for school improvement.

CAP has been implemented in schools in the Gaithersburg, Seneca Valley, Poolesville, Damascus, and Watkins Mill clusters, where school teams using the model have reported improvement in discipline and school climate.

The grant will enable expansion of CAP to all schools in the Gaithersburg cluster, with the intent to expand to other schools as funding permits. CAP is working closely with the Linkages to Learning health and mental health program in the Gaithersburg cluster, the Gaithersburg Mental Health Project, Montgomery County Government, and the City of Gaithersburg.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Carey Wright, associate superintendent
Office of Student and Community Services
Tel.: 301-279-3604
or
Matthew Kamins, supervisor
MCPS Psychological Services
Tel.: 301-279-3805