Skip to content

Prevention Plan

South Valley School 

Prevention Plan 

2026-2027

Our school’s mission is to: 

Support successful transitions for students by partnering with the community and families, resulting in their full engagement, increased independence, self-advocacy, positive self-esteem, and responsible citizenship. This plan supports our mission by creating positive connections with students, a sense of belonging, and safety prevention.

Student Wellness & Prevention Plan

Prevention Overview:

Research shows that addressing behavior and wellness concerns before they occur is much more effective than trying to stop them after they start. These proactive efforts are our primary prevention strategies. These strategies focus on the root causes, like enhancing protective factors and decreasing risk factors, strengthen well-being and help students build resilience to thrive. They act as buffers against risk and promote resilience, healthy development, and positive outcomes. Risk factors are conditions that increase the likelihood of academic, behavioral, or mental health difficulties. Our school supports student development of Utah State Board of Education’s five protective factors represented by the graphic below; more information about these protective factors can be found using this link. 

Five Protective Factors graphic

Our school supports student wellness by prioritizing primary prevention practices that are centered on building protective factors and promoting positive, intentional social, emotional, academic, and behavioral development for all students. This prevention plan includes universal strategies (for all students) as well as targeted strategies (for small groups or a few students) for each section below. 

Student Engagement & Attendance:

  • Our school staff cares about our students and is committed to getting to know them to help them feel a sense of belonging. 
  • Our school creates frequent opportunities for students to connect with each other, build friendships, and feel a sense of belonging with their peers during class, at recess and lunch, and throughout their day. 
  • Our school staff monitors attendance using the District dashboard and notifies parents of absences.
  • Our school intervenes with early warning, content monitoring, and anonymous reporting tools, such as the Safe Utah App, with support from district specialists to identify and support students who may be at risk. 
  • Our school has a Check and Connect with adults for students who may need extra support.

Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Well-Being: 

Our school prioritizes prevention by offering support and services to our students and their families. Some of our everyday efforts, including the systems and strategies for supporting our students, are listed below:

BEHAVIORAL EXPECTATIONS:

  • Our school staff supports student’s skill development by clarifying behavioral expectations in all spaces throughout our school, proactively teaching these behaviors, addressing root causes of behavioral concerns, supporting student wellness, and consistently modeling and reinforcing appropriate behavior.

WELLNESS:

  • Basic needs: Breakfast and lunch are available daily in our school cafeteria.  We also provide Principal’s Pantry, Friday Snack Packs, Christmas for Kids, and food through donations from Pizza Hut. 
  • Community access/partnerships: Students and staff have access to County Rec Center passes, Salt Lake County Food Handler Permit training, free training passes for UTA buses, TRAX and FrontRunner, and Vocational Rehabilitation Pre-ETS training (Pre-Employment Transition Services).  Community partners include over 25 job sites throughout Jordan School District, as well as weekly donations from Pizza Hut through the Harvest Program.
  • Student/family connections: School staff develop close partnerships with parents and caregivers through annual IEP meetings and the use of Parent Square.  Students develop close relationships with various adults:  administration, office staff, teachers, classroom assistants, job coaches, itinerant staff, and bus drivers.  Monthly, a student from each class is chosen as the Student of the Month.  They receive a small prize, breakfast from McDonald's with the principal, and the principal mails a handwritten note home.  All interested parents are welcome as part of our School Community Council.  Parents and community members are invited to all school-wide activities such as March Madness, Flying Around the World/States, Meet the Teacher open house, School dances, Talent Show, and Graduation.
  • School environment:  Student Body Officers are elected each spring.  Students have the opportunity to join the Yearbook Committee.  Daily, students who do a great job at their job site are entered into a drawing. Staff provide supervision before and after school and during breakfast and lunch.   Staff eat lunch with the students to provide positive role models and teach proper etiquette at meals with friends.  Round tables in the cafeteria promote socialization while standing tables and carpeted steps provide a social gathering place outside of the cafeteria.  The school offers cheerleading, yoga, basketball, and bowling.  A staff member has established an alumni bowling group that meets weekly in the evening. 
  • Our school provides access to district mental health and support resources through Student Services which includes the Jordan Family Education Center Mental Health Access Program.
  • Our school provides access to academic support to help every student succeed.  
  • District administration trains and supports our school psychologist and counselor to follow current best practices in prevention and intervention efforts.
  • Our school sends notices through Parent Square and Newsletters with upcoming wellness information that the school or district provides.
  • Our Speech and Language Pathologist provides social skills instruction to each of our classrooms monthly.
  • Our school provides access to parent and family resources, including a district partnership with the Utah Independent Living Center, Vocational Rehab, Health Services, evening parent seminars, and classes through the Jordan Family Education Center.
  • Our school provides access to District mental health and support resources through Student Services, which includes the Jordan Family Education Center and Mental Health Access Program.
  • Our school provides access to academic support with District departments to support the success of every student.
  • Our school’s mental health and student support providers (school counselors, school psychologists, clinical support, etc.) are trained and supported by District administration to follow current best practices in prevention and intervention efforts.
  • Our school intervenes with early warning, content monitoring, and anonymous reporting tools with support from District specialists to identify and support students who may be at risk.
  • Our school provides access to parent and family resources including a District partnership with the Cook Center for Human Connection’s Parent Mental Health Series platform which is shared with parents monthly through Parent Square and District web content. 
  • South Valley hosts an annual parent information night in March. Our students and families participate in a district wide transition fair. Parents and guardians attend their student conferences twice and year, along with IEP meeting annually. Parents receive notifications, alerts, and reminders through Parent Square. Many of our families attend our school dances, talent show, basketball tournament, meet the teacher night, etc.

Suicide Prevention

  • Our school’s mental health providers and administrators are trained on and review District suicide risk intervention guidelines annually with support from Jordan District’s Student Services Team.
  • Staff is trained annually through our district’s crucial policies. Outside training is also available to our staff. Staff is encouraged to speak with administration, school counselor and/or school psychologist if concerns arise. 
  • All of our District’s staff participate in an annual crucial concerns training to maintain employment in the District, which covers topics such as suicide, bullying, and violence prevention.
  • Students identified who may be at risk of suicide receive interventions and support in partnership with their parents and guardians, appropriate to their individual needs. This may include a screening interview, parent/guardian collaboration, a safety plan, mental health recommendations/referrals (Jordan Family Education Center, Mental Health Access Program, etc.), a re-entry meeting, and regular follow-up.
  • Our school prioritizes early intervention and utilizes several District supported tools to support student wellness when needed. These tools include  content monitoring on student’s school accounts to respond to concerning content, and SafeUT anonymous reporting for students to express concerns.
  • Students are assigned to only one class each day and are often in the same class for several years.  Teachers become well acquainted with students and their families and are aware of stressors and individual circumstances that may affect a student.
  • Our school offers a wellness room as a safe place for them to deescalate and/or regulate their emotions to return to the classroom.
  • Our school psychologist and counselor provides each class with social emotional skills building and preventative measures when needing extra support. Student are able to recognize how they are feeling and coping strategies when escalated. This is a school-wide program that all students and staff understand so there is consistency.

Bullying Prevention

  • HOPE Squad: Our HOPE Squad will focus on promoting overall wellness, encouraging kindness, inclusivity, and the power of friendship to create a nurturing environment where every student knows they have peers who care about them. Hope Squad members will promote wellness, foster kindness and inclusivity, build leadership and communication skills, and enhance the school culture through monthly trainings and discussions led by our advisors. These trainings will help students support a positive culture, support a peer who might be struggling with friendships, encourage students to seek additional support from family members, and more. 
  • Our school team proactively reviews relevant data on school climate, safety, and bullying by identifying vulnerable populations (e.g., racial and ethnic groups, LGBTQ youth, students with disabilities) and specific spaces where bullying may be likely to plan support accordingly.
  • Our school’s staff is trained on school procedures for recognizing, reporting (SafeUT, content monitoring, etc.), and responding to bullying incidents. In response to bullying, we immmediately work to help the students through restorative justice and social connections and provide needed mental health support.  All of our District’s staff participate in an annual crucial concerns training to maintain employment in the District which covers topics such as suicide, bullying, and violence prevention.
  • Students involved in incidents of bullying as targets, aggressors, or witnesses receive support for their individual needs which may include suicide risk assessments, counseling and mental health services, Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), a student wellness plan and/or parent/guardian contact—recognizing that targets, aggressors, and witnesses of bullying are more susceptible to school issues.
  • Our school’s administrators have been trained on Bullying Action Planning through the District Wellness Team and continue to implement best practices in bullying intervention, with the overall goal of prevention. 
  • Our school prioritizes early intervention and utilizes several District supported tools to support student wellness when needed such as content monitoring on student’s school accounts to respond to concerning content, SafeUT anonymous reporting for students to express concerns, and early warning data system through Panorama. 
  • Depending on the situation and the ability level of the students involved, we meet with all students involved and get statements in order to develop an individual plan for each student. We also inform parents and staff of our plan in order to generalize the skills at home and school, therefore working together as a team.

Violence Prevention Plan

  • Our school’s administrators are trained on the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (C-STAG), along with other members of our school’s threat assessment team which includes: our school counselor and school psychologist. 
  • Our school has a process for timely response to school threats using Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (C-STAG) and its decision tree. This includes warning potential victims and their parents/guardians.
  • Our school’s staff and students are aware of school procedures for recognizing and reporting (SafeUT, content monitoring etc.) threats of violence. These resources are shared with students and families during the registration process. It is also in our Code of Coduct. We have visible posters with the SafeUT app and QR code posted around our building. 
  • Students who are affected by or who make threats of violence receive interventions that proactively support students by building skills, meeting needs, and problem solving that aligns with the school’s universal strategies. Students receive support appropriate to their individual needs which may include problem-solving, interviews, suicide risk assessments, Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), Restorative Conferencing, Mediation, a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP), counseling and mental health services, a student wellness plan and/or parent/guardian contact.
  • Our school prioritizes early intervention and utilizes several District supported tools to support student wellness when needed: content monitoring on student’s school accounts to respond to concerning content, and SafeUT anonymous reporting for students to express concerns.
  • All of our District’s staff participate in an annual crucial concerns training to maintain employment in the District which covers topics such as suicide, bullying, and violence prevention.
  • HOPE Squad: Our HOPE Squad will focus on promoting overall wellness, encouraging kindness, inclusivity, and the power of friendship to create a nurturing environment where every student knows they have peers who care about them. Hope Squad members will promote wellness, foster kindness and inclusivity, build leadership and communication skills, and enhance the school culture through monthly trainings and discussions led by our advisors. These trainings will help students support a positive culture, support a peer who might be struggling with friendships, encourage students to seek additional support from family members, and more.
  • Our school psychologist provides each class with social emotional skills building and preventative measures when needing extra support. Student are able to recognize how they are feeling and coping strategies when escalated. This is a school-wide program that all students and staff understand so there is consistency.
  • At South Valley School, students have many opportunities to develop social and emotional skills (i.e. respect, empathy, conflict resolution, kindness, assertiveness, etc.), build a sense of community, and resolve conflicts peacefully.  Students have access to a wellness area and a calming room. A school social is held at the start and end of each year for all students during the school day.  A school dance for students and alumni is held in the fall and spring of each school year.  

Please contact our administration for questions regarding our plan.