Safe Harbor Replication Sites

Safe Harbor staff selected diverse school sites—some geared to special needs and some consisting of mainstream student populations—to replicate the Safe Harbor program. The replication sites and how each program adapted to meet its particular needs are described below:

The Graham School

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School in Champaign, Illinois, serves 750 students in grades 6–8. A mainstream urban middle school, it is located in a middle-class neighborhood. It serves a large percentage of the district’s urban population, which is 68 percent white, 28 percent African American, 3 percent Asian, and 1 percent Hispanic. Thirty-one percent of the students are eligible for Title One federal grant program services. The goals for the Safe Harbor program are to enhance student success and address self-esteem, anger management, conflict resolution, and social interaction in general and to develop strategies to deal with hate, violence, and bullying in a positive and informative manner.

Lindbergh Middle School

Long Beach Preparatory Academy

This Long Beach, California, school was one of the early Safe Harbor replication sites. It is an alternative middle school for 250 students who have failed eighth grade. The Safe Harbor room is the school’s counseling center and is staffed by the school counselor. Because of the small student population and students’ many emotional and social needs, this school provides an open and supportive familial atmosphere that is maintained with very clear rules and boundaries.

John Woodson Junior High School

Located in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, this school serves 698 students in grades 7 and 8. The community experiences high levels of violence that inevitably affects the students. The Safe Harbor program has developed an atmosphere that is safe, healthy, and conducive to learning. The program is implemented by a variety of school staff— administrators, teachers, and counselors—with the goals of reducing the number of students suspended for violence and educating the entire school community on violence prevention. The Safe Harbor room in this school is large and comfortable and is used before, during, and after school.

New Horizons School

New Horizons is the only alternative school on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Like the Long Beach Preparatory Academy, it provides students with a creative and familial school environment. It currently serves 75 students: 90 percent are from low-income families and 50 percent have experienced violence. The goals of the Safe Harbor program are to improve academic performance, develop conflict resolution skills, and provide a safe space where students can explore and enhance their identities and self-esteem and learn to choose alternatives to violence. The counselors at this school facilitate the violence prevention/victim assistance curriculum and the principal is very active in implementing schoolwide antiviolence campaigns and presentations.

Shawnee High School, Robert Frost Middle School, Newburg Middle School, and Meyzeek Middle School

• Shawnee, the Safe Harbor high school pilot, is an Aviation Magnet High School with 600 students in grades 9–12. The student population is 50 percent African American and 50 percent other. Seventy percent of the students are on the free and reduced-fee lunch program. Shawnee represents an inner-city area with a high crime rate. The school struggles with high dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and poor attendance. Many of the students at Shawnee are victims of crime and have experienced or are experiencing homelessness, substance abuse, and poverty.
  
  
• Robert Frost Middle School has 477 students in grades 6–8. The school is 70 percent white and 30 percent African American. Sixty-five percent of the students are on free or reduced-fee lunches.
  
  
• Newburg Middle School is a Mathematics/Science/Technology School that serves 1,275 students in grades 6–8. Most students come from low-income areas where 52 percent of the residents lack a high school diploma and 54 percent are in single-parent families.
  
  
• Albert E. Meyzeek Middle School is a Mathematics/Science/Technology Magnet School that serves 1,280 students in grades 6–8. Approximately 32 percent of the students are African American and 80 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-fee lunches.

Safe Harbor Replication Project Advisory Board Members