§1465 Interim Alternative Educational Settings, Behavioral Supports, and Systemic School Interventions

Summary

The Secretary can give grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to make schools safer and help all students learn better. Money can be used to improve short-term alternative programs for students who are removed from regular classes and to expand behavioral supports and school-wide, research-based interventions. Examples of supported work include training school staff (and parents with school staff) to spot and handle behavior issues, creating or using specific programs and curricula for behavior, linking schools with community mental health and health providers, and using behavioral specialists and related services staff. Grants can also pay for better training and mentoring, recruiting and keeping high-quality staff, referrals to counseling, proven teaching methods and technology for individual learning, making sure services match a student’s IEP goals, better teamwork among families and school and health staff, coordinating with courts and community agencies, and help for students to move back into regular classes. An eligible entity is a local educational agency (LEA) or a partnership of an LEA with groups such as another LEA, an effective community organization that helps children with disabilities and behavior needs, a college, a community mental health provider, or an educational service agency. To get funding, an eligible entity must apply to the Secretary when and how the Secretary asks and include parents in planning and running the work. Each grant recipient must send the Secretary a yearly report on the results.