Oregon School Safety and Prevention System (SSPS) Model
The SSPS is an integrated set of policies and practices designed to enact Section 36 of the Student Success Act and Senate Bill 52, Adi’s Act. Developed through a process of public support and community engagement, SSPS is led by the Oregon Department of Education and provides a comprehensive school safety and prevention model that centers on equity, racial equity, and access to mental health services. The SSPS model (see graphic) envisions school safety as access to culturally responsive mental health services and supports and SSPS as a prevention system fostering learning environments where all students thrive because they belong.
The model integrates public health systems through partnership with the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and interfaces with public education systems through partnership with Education Service Districts (ESDs). The SSPS will provide a continuum of supports ranging from safety-based crisis intervention to curriculum-based universal prevention programs. These supports include equity and racial equity-centered, evidence-based, trauma-informed, and strengths-focused suicide prevention efforts, behavioral safety assessment, access to the SafeOregon Tip Line, and positive school culture and climate (including bullying, cyberbullying, harassment, and intimidation prevention, social-emotional (SEL) learning) supports to promote mental health and well-being in school districts statewide.
Through work with OHA and the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide, ODE will coordinate the implementation of SSPS through the development of 16 new positions statewide. Regionally based in ESDs, 11 School Safety and Prevention Specialist positions (cross-trained in behavioral safety assessment, suicide prevention, and school culture and climate supports) will collaborate with 5 School Suicide Prevention and Wellness (4 coordinators, 1 program manager) positions to develop regional teams supporting the system. These teams will develop ESDs as hubs for a regional network of mental health, public service and safety agencies, and community-based organizations to address student behavioral and mental health crises through a multidisciplinary and multicultural lens. These coordinators will also support school districts in developing Student Suicide Prevention Plans (Senate Bill 52) in alignment with ODE Safe & Inclusive Schools initiatives centering equity, racial equity, and access to mental health for all Oregon students.
