Lompoc Youth Violence Prevention Project

The Comprehensive School-Based Approach to Youth Violence and Victimization, Category 1 provides funding to support a comprehensive effort to address youth violence and victimization through implementing evidence –based prevention, intervention and accountability efforts in a school based setting. The goals of the program are to (1) reduce the incidence of school violence through accountability efforts for offenders; (2) respond to victimization, exposure to violence, and trauma as a result of violence that occurs in the school, community, or family, (3) improve school safety and climate; and (4) prevent violence, delinquency, and victimization in the targeted community. Project sites will provide direct services to youth.

Fighting and disruptive behavior among elementary and middle school students in the Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD) have increased, compromising students’ sense of safety and contributing to rising rates of violent juvenile offenses in Santa Barbara County. Among LUSD schools, middle school students have the highest rates of suspensions when compared to elementary or high school students. Lompoc Valley Middle School had the second highest suspension rate among all schools in Santa Barbara County (8.9 percent). Across all school levels and all discipline infractions, out-of-school suspensions were the most frequently used repercussion for student misbehavior. Based on the data about perceived safety, as well as actual disciplinary incidents, LUSD will target project interventions to students who are in fifth through eighth grades (including elementary and middle school grades). Stemming from the district’s 2017–2018 Local Control and Accountability Plan report, all LUSD schools have begun providing Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) training to staff, and are working to incorporate PBIS into the multitiered system of support system of intervention.

CA/NCF