Coalition Meeting Minutes

Hey everyone! I am so pumped about the things that have been happening with the coalition lately! The Kilgore community is so supportive and encouraging! Makes me feel like this:

Here are the meeting minutes from Thursday's coalition meeting:

Rebecca introduces herself to the group and talks about the strategic plan. Since the principal, April Cox, and the school nurse, Julyann Sanders, invited the coalition to Kilgore Middle School, Rebecca focused on the possibility of a program at the school per objective 2.A in the strategic plan.

Group talks about Kilgore Middle School advisory period, and the possibility of finding a program to fit into that time. Positive Action may be a fit.

We would need a program that could be implemented with 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade that would be easy to follow on each day individually as the same students aren’t in the assemblies over time (others rotate into tutorials as needed). The time allotted is from 8 to 8:25 a.m.

The group wondered if parents would be willing and able to help implement the program.

Mrs. Cox explained that Kilgore uses the STAR Counseling Program, where counselors are called and go to the homes of students who appear to need help. The group discussed the possibility of using the counseling program of Next Step Community Solutions. The administrators were aware of at least four suicide attempts already this year. Right now there is more need than there are counselors available.

Mrs. Cox explained that the staff at Kilgore Middle School and Officer Richard Stanley, SRO, have received mental health training.

David Dickerson mentioned a DSHS program for suicide prevention that might be beneficial for the school.

The group discussed the possibility of a tip box so that students can let the staff know of any issues they are having or know of with substance abuse or other dangerous issues. Mrs. Cox felt that the staff does a good job of making sure students know that they can come talk whenever they need to. Officer Stanley mentioned a problem that arose with a similar program with the police department, in which someone would use the tip service instead of 911 for emergencies. The group agreed that any program used for gathering information on sensitive subjects would need to have a way to ensure the issues were addressed in a timely manner.

Rebecca mentioned that she would be interested in getting a focus group of students together to help inform the coalition’s work, where students would offer their ideas and advice on prevention. Mrs. Cox and Rebecca agreed to flesh out that idea together.

The group discussed the importance of sustainability of prevention programs in the community. Unfortunately, prevention efforts in the past had come to a standstill when funding ended.

The coalition felt that there were advantages and disadvantages to having a community that recently had a well-known prevention program in place. There may be a good deal of community buy-in as there was with the previous program, or the community may have donor fatigue on the issue. In the past, fundraising efforts were often not successful. Perhaps going in with sustainability in mind will help to solve this problem.

Rebecca emphasized the importance of Letters of Agreement and Memorandums of Understanding, and asked the attendees to consider signing whichever is appropriate, and committed to emailing those documents at a later date.

The group discussed the Texans Standing Tall coalition and discussed their Zero Alcohol for Youth Campaign. Rebecca agreed to get that information and information on other programs that may be a fit for Kilgore Middle School to Mrs. Cox.

Brandon Davidson explained the meeting that was held with the TABC officer and how Kilgore can go about implementing consistent, sustainable compliance checks (stings).

The group discussed the ineffectiveness of Red Ribbon Week and hopes to implement a more effective practice in the future.

The group decided they like meeting at Kilgore Middle School, and Mrs. Cox offered their conference room for future meetings. She explained that Nov. 20 would be an ideal meeting date as November is scheduled to be a busy month.