WASHINGTON (June 11, 2018)—St. Mary's County Public Schools will receive $189,202 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Education Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) grant program. Specifically, the grant will aid the ongoing recovery effort of students, faculty and staff of Great Mills High School after the student murder-suicide that took place in March.
The grant announced through the DOE Project SERV program will provide targeted support to help students, faculty, and staff feel safe at GMHS through the availability of evening and daytime counseling. Through partnerships with the St. Mary's County Health Department and MedStar St. Mary's Hospital, individuals will have access to the counseling support across the street from GMHS. As a part of the ongoing recovery efforts, SMCPS will provide additional training for school counselors and school psychologists through St. Mary's County to assist individuals following this traumatic event. SMCPS also plans to utilize funds on hiring additional substitutes to allow staff to access supports and take time for recovery. To help prevent future tragedies, SMCPS will utilize funds to hire additional Safety Assistants to secure SMCPS school buildings.
The U.S. Department of Education's Project SERV funds short-term and long-term education-related services for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education to help them recover from a violent or traumatic event in which the learning environment has been disrupted.