organizations,” said Bridget Flood, Executive Director of Incarnate Word Foundation.

“We know the benefits of partnerships and look forward to seeing the positive

change it will bring.”

The partnership works to implement a two-part proposal. One part of the proposal

is a bullying prevention program, aimed to impact students, teachers, and parents.

The program hopes to affect 4500 youth during the 2006-2007 school year. The other

part is a parent education program, aimed at producing positive disciplinary and

structural skills for parents to effectively manage problem behaviors. This

program hopes to assist 300 parents and caregivers annually.

The bullying prevention program, also named Peaceful Solutions, allows each school

to personalize their own program by choosing materials and counselors that will

address specific benchmarks for addressing bullying concerns. The program is

integrated into the schools’ existing curricula and the proposed partnership would

expand the program from two Catholic Schools to 18 Catholic and Lutheran Schools.

The goal of Peaceful Solutions is to provide teachers and school staff with the

knowledge to recognize inappropriate behavior and provide appropriate intervention

in order to create a climate of tolerance. They also hope to provide parents with

skills that promote positive discipline and successfully manage inappropriate

behaviors. For students, the program aims to identify undesirable student

behaviors and their consequences, and to provide students with the knowledge,

skills, and support that result in changed behavior.

The parent education program, which will be implemented in the City Catholic

Schools, expands a program begun by the principals of the Catholic elementary and

secondary schools throughout the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The principals formed

coalitions to educate and support parents as they face a variety of societal issues

impacting their children. The program began with mandatory meetings for parents of

ninth graders and expanded to meetings for parents of sixth graders. Ultimately,

the principals would like to see the program expand to include parents of

Kindergarten and grade four students in the Catholic schools.

The program aims to educate parents to the issues and challenges facing children at

their various stages of development by offering positive discipline strategies that

would effectively manage problem behaviors. Part of educating parents includes

providing them with information and direction on areas such as alcohol, bullying,

drugs, and the internet.

Each of these programs is designed to improve community relationships among

students, teachers, and parents. They emphasize the dignity of all persons, which

is necessary for respect, the interdependence of all persons that is the basis of

community, and the rights and responsibilities of all persons, the foundation of

justice.

“This project assists in providing a program that reaches every child in the

community,” Fred Bleeke, President of Lutheran Foundation, said. “We see it as

simply as education for all of the public, not simply those in public education.”

With the help of the partnering of Incarnate Word Foundation, the Lutheran

Foundation, Catholic and Lutheran Schools in St. Louis City, and the Mental Health

Board, the total contributions come to $100,000 for the two programs.