News & Events

The Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety at WestEd convened a panel of experts in youth development, trauma-informed practices, and school-based law enforcement to discuss challenges and opportunities to improve schools and school systems through the lenses of social and emotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and anti-racism.

After a recent online Statehouse forum focusing on alleged pitfalls of having police resource officers in schools, Webster Police Chief Michael Shaw said he is a strong supporter of policing in schools.

AARP announced its 2021 AARP Purpose Prize award recipients and fellows, the only national award that celebrates people 50-plus who are using their knowledge and life experience to solve tough social problems. This year’s AARP Purpose Prize fellows include Lisa Thurau, Executive Director of Strategies for Youth.

Cassandra Bensahih can’t forget the day seven years ago that her 11-year-old daughter was brought home from school in a police car. A black middle school student in Worcester, she forgot to bring a homework assignment to class that day and was told she had to leave the classroom. When she refused, a school-based police officer was called and she wound up under arrest.

The presence of police in Massachusetts schools is detrimental to students and disproportionately harms Black and brown children, according to a new report released Tuesday.

A new report, co-authored by Citizens for Juvenile Justice and Strategies for Youth, argues that there is little evidence that school resource officers make Massachusetts schools safer for students. We talk about what the study found with Leon Smith, executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice.

Citizens for Juvenile Justice and SFY support and advocate for reforms to drastically reduce or eliminate the presence of police in our schools. This joint report outlines our rationale why.

Recent events have sparked a nationwide discussion on the role law enforcement plays in society. As such, our communities are demanding and deserve highly trained law enforcement personnel equipped with the decision-making skills required to handle the increasingly complex calls for service that officers face nationwide. This can only be accomplished by evaluating current police training methods against what science has proven to be effective.

A number of Massachusetts school districts are failing to adhere to data collection measures required by the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act, with some reporting no school-based arrests when their own records show a significant number of arrests.

Strategies For Youth Executive Director Lisa Thurau comments on the lack of national standards when it comes to youth-specific policies or practices and the problems that causes for our communities.