Examination of Impact of Polk County Florida’s Safe and Drug Free Schools Program

Abstract

The Safe and Drug-Free Schools (SDFS) Program is the Florida Department of Education’s (FDOE) primary funding vehicle for the reduction of violence, and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use through education and prevention activities in schools. Each year, school districts in Florida write proposals to the FDOE to receive SDFS funding for their ongoing or newly created programs. This paper documents the SDFS in Polk County, Florida and provides selected evaluation results. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to monitor students who were admitted to the program based on current drug use status (i.e., users). In addition to reviewing program records, students completed a post-intervention survey, and comparisons were made with a district-wide student survey of all students. Results showed that the substance abuse behavior of program participants was altered from the time they entered the program until eight months after exiting the program. This behavioral change is documented by comparing program participants with other students in the district who were not part of this group using the School District Drug Surveillance survey. Upon entering the program all participants were considered drug users and defined as a “high risk population.” Eight months after leaving the program the prevalence of their drug use decreased from 100% to a level nearly equal to the general student population.