S.T.A.R.R.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What does the STARR Project do?

The STARR Project is a department of Sumner School District within the Teaching and Learning Division. Our mission is to enhance student achievement by promoting supportive learning environments within our schools and school communities. We manage funding and programs that provide services for students experiencing homelessness or struggling with substance abuse and violence. Our initiatives also build community partnerships to promote healthy families & school safety. By working in collaboration with our schools and communities, the STARR Project strategically addresses risks to students’ health and well-being. District policies also outline disciplinary reasons students may be referred to STARR Project programs.

Funding sources & associated programs managed by the STARR Project:

State Prevention/Intervention & Tobacco Grant Program at Sumner MS (2) 
OSPI Readiness to Learn Grant (2)
Pierce County Youth Violence Prevention Grant (2)
Pierce County Human Services Chemical Dependency Prevention Grant (1)
OSPI Title X McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Grant
Interlocal Agreements - Cities of Sumner & Bonney Lake for Sumner/Bonney Lake Family Center
Sumner/Bonney Lake Family Center  -  donations
21st Century ‘Dolphin Club’ After School Program Grant – At Daffodil Valley Elementary (2)
Title IV – Safe and Drug Free Schools Grant Cooperative & Mandated Polices/Reports
   (Sumner, Puyallup, Fife, Orting and Eatonville School Districts) (1)
Donations obtained to support special projects for schools and departments

Additional programs and services coordinated or supported by the STARR Project include:

Sumner/Bonney Lake Area Communities For Families Coalition
Student Assistance Program Contract – Auburn Youth Resources
Medicaid Administrative Match - Training & Records (3)
2010 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey
Positive Steps Truancy Reduction Coalition (2)
Front Door Housing Project Partnership (4)
Campus Safety & School Resource Officers/School Safety Partnership Meetings
Substance Abuse Prevention Curriculum
Prevention Team and Parent Involvement Coordinator Mini-Grants (5)
District Improvement Plan & Strategic Plan activities around grants and parent involvement         
Various professional development opportunities regarding health/safety risk topics

(1) Grant partnership with multiple districts
(2) Grant & service partnership with Puget Sound ESD
(3) Program co-management with Sumner SD Business Services
(4) Housing partnership with Helping Hand House
(5) Grant funding through Pierce County Human Services – Chemical Dependency Prevention

Q: What kind of services do you offer through our schools to directly assist students? How can I find out more information about these services?

Student Assistance Prevention/Intervention Program (SAP/I): The STARR Project manages two contracts with for the provision of Student Assistance Program (SAP/I) services in our secondary buildings. Auburn Youth Resources staff (Sharon Cleary and Mandy Jones) serve Bonney Lake and Sumner High Schools, as well as Lakeridge and Mt. View Middle Schools. Puget Sound ESD also provides SMS a .3 FTE ‘Prevention/Intervention’ Specialist through grants they receive. Sharon and Mandy are state certified chemical dependency counselors. Specific services they provide include consultations with students and staff, youth substance abuse screenings and assessments (with parent permission), individual and group counseling, and classroom presentations. You may reach Sharon and Mandy through District email; through Middle and High School guidance offices; or by contacting the STARR Project office. Elementary school staff may access services through referrals to their building principal.

Readiness to Learn: Home based support to families with elementary school age students by a ‘Family Support Generalist’ (FSG) is provided through this program. Services are targeted to Liberty Ridge, Daffodil Valley, & Victor Falls Elementaries. Our FSG (Sue Farias, ext. 6536) helps families solve problems and connect with community resources. Program outcomes include improved classroom behavior and student engagement in classroom activities. FSG staff are employed by Good Samaritan Community Services. Funding for these services is provided through the OSPI/PSESD Readiness to Learn Grant & Pierce County Youth Violence Prevention Funds. Please contact your principal, psych/counselor or our office for more information about this program.

Positive Steps Truancy Reduction Coalition: Sumner SD partners with the Puget Sound ESD (PSESD), eleven other school districts and communities in this project to reduce truancy. Our Communities For Families Coalition (see description below) facilitates
the connection of truant and at-risk youth with a school/community panel of service
providers. Support to parents is provided through a contract with A Common Voice of
Pierce County. Case management services are available through PSESD staff.  Students who have had court orders (Becca Bill) to attend school are prioritized for services. For further information, contact Marilee Hill-Anderson at ext. 6066.

Homeless Education: Our Homeless Education Coordinator (Molly Megerth)  works with students, families and staff to ensure that our homeless and highly mobile students have immediate access to school-linked services, including free breakfast & lunch, as well as transportation to and from school. Molly works out of the Sumner/Bonney Lake Family Support Center. We work closely with the Lions 4 Kids House, our District’s Transportation Department, and other resources in the community to help our families. Molly coordinates her work with  ‘building points of contact’ (BPC) in each of our schools to make sure our program and school based services are well coordinated.   For more information, please call (253) 891-6537. Funding for this program is provided through OSPI’s Title X (McKinney-Vento Act) and Title I Grants to Sumner SD, as well as donations from community organizations to assist our students.

21st Century Great Pathways After School Program at Daffodil Valley Elementary: The STARR Project  administers federal grant funds that support after school programming at DVE for selected students. Homework assistance, specific tutoring for students who speak limited English, and fun recreational activities are offered. For more information, please contact Sara Gould at DVE (ext. 4615) or by District email.

Q: What kind of materials and programs are available through STARR Project and the District to help me address substance abuse and violence prevention in my CLASSROOM?

Elementary: ‘LifeSkills’ and the ‘Here’s Looking At You (3rd Edition)’. Our District is moving toward a system-wide adoption of the LifeSkills curriculum at grades 4 and 5. BLE, CWE, EHE, LRE and VFE are using this curriculum through grant funding from Pierce County Human Services.  HLAY kits for grades K – 5 may be reserved through the STARR Project office. Kits can be checked out for a month and are delivered to your building via our district courier. Both curricula may be used to address required benchmarks in Health and Fitness classroom based assessments. Curriculum training is offered periodically through the STARR Project and Puget Sound ESD. Please contact Sunnie Heldstab, STARR Project Administrative Secretary, at ext. 6066 or via email for materials.

Middle School: All our Middle Schools have ‘Too Good For Drugs’ and ‘Too Good For Violence’ curriculum materials available to use with students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Student workbooks for 2010-11 have been sent to each school. SMS is piloting the Project ALERT curriculum at grades 7 and 8. Online training was provided for SMS teachers this past summer through grant support from Washington State Tobacco Settlement funds and PSESD.

Please contact Sunnie Heldstab, STARR Project Administrative Secretary, or your school’s Guidance Office for more information or additional training in this program.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE): Maple Lawn and Daffodil Valley Elementary school 5th grade students participate in the Sumner Police Department’s DARE* Program. To find out more about the DARE* program, please contact the STARR Project office or Sumner Police Department at (253) 863-6384. (Note: Sumner PD uses recently revised DARE curriculum. The revised program has been nationally evaluated and demonstrated targeted program outcomes across communities.)

Miscellaneous Materials: Our office also has a variety of brochures and videotapes appropriate for use in the classroom. We work with a variety of organizations that can provide free materials. New purchases include instructional materials on the impact of tobacco & alcohol use by teens. Please contact us for more information. We want to assist buildings with exploration and adoption of new, ‘best practice’ substance abuse and violence prevention programs!

Q: Are you involved with school security programs? School Resource Officer services? Campus Safety Officers?

School Safety Partnership: The STARR Project coordinates frequent ‘School Safety Partnership’ meetings of our District’s Campus Safety Officers (CSO) and other community & Pierce County agencies (juvenile probation, law enforcement, etc.) involved with school safety efforts. In 2010-11, seven CSO staff will work between our secondary schools.  Meetings are scheduled the second Wednesday morning of each month, October through May, 7:15 – 8:40 am. Meeting locations rotate between secondary campus sites.

School Resource Officers (SRO): Each of our local police departments (Sumner and Bonney Lake) designate an officer to be a primary contact for our schools. SRO assignments vary each year. For more information, please contact the STARR Project office. SRO staff work to contact each of our schools prior to the start of school. Officer Daron Wolschleger serves BHS, MMS, BLE and EHE; and Officers Matt Eller and John Kahler serve SHS, SMS, DVE and MLE. At this time, we do not have an SRO to provide services at schools within unincorporated Pierce County.

Q: What community programs do you work with that help students and their families?

Sumner / Bonney Lake Family Center: Located at the Daffodil Valley Campus (1503 Valley Ave., Sumner), this collaborative program houses personnel from four agencies: Pierce County Health Department;  Pierce County Community Services; Good Samaritan Community Services; and our District.  The primary objective of the Family Center is to offer families support and resources around a variety of issues, to address basic needs, as well as assistance with parenting and child development. Community agencies offer free home visiting services for families with infants and toddlers. Free classes for youth are offered each July from this location. Brochures and a complete listing of current programs and classes are available by calling LuAnn Ugas, Coordinator, at ext. 6535. Readiness to Learn and Homeless Education program staff are co-located at this location.

Communities For Families (CFF): The STARR Project office staff serve as facilitators and coordinators for this coalition. CFF meets the first Thursday of each month at our District’s Central Office Board Room, from 3:00 – 4:45 p.m. Coalition work includes activities to identify strengths and needs of our communities; presenting forum and summit results to local policy makers; and creating opportunities for partnerships between individuals and agencies serving children, youth and families. Annual events sponsored by the Coalition include school based youth forums & a community summit. For more information, please call the STARR Project office. We can add you to our email list if you wish to receive meeting minutes or announcements. This coalition is a great way to link students and staff with resources and community service opportunities! This group is a great resource for ‘senior project’ mentors & placements!

Q: What is the ‘East Pierce County Safe and Drug Free Schools Cooperative’?

The STARR Project is the manager of this five-district consortium. We administer the ‘Safe and Drug Free Schools’ grant (Title IV) for Puyallup, Fife, Orting, Eatonville and Sumner – with representatives from each partnering District. 2010-11 will be a challenging year, as the US Dep’t of Education has not refunded this federal act. The consortium will only operate from remaining carryover funds that must be expended by year’s end. The elimination of Title IV resulted in cuts of peer helping and mentoring programs to local schools, as well as a loss of ‘prevention/intervention’ (drug counseling) services. The Cooperative will focus on providing various staff development opportunities this year – from prevention curriculum and child abuse prevention classes, to sessions on school safety topics. We will also work with local family support centers, 21st Century Grant sites and schools to support parenting education efforts.

Q: Other Services & Supports Offered?

Parent Involvement Coordinators: Funding through Pierce County, as well as building budgets support these positions. Currently, three PICs serve the following schools: Jane Mack – MMS; Kathy Henken, SMS; and Deb Hefford at LMS.  BLE will select a PIC in September 2010. Additional ‘mini-grants’ from outside sources might be available to expand this program. Please call Marilee Hill-Anderson if you are interested in exploring this opportunity.

Program Partnerships: STARR Project staff work with various district departments and community agencies to bring resources to our community and schools. We work closely with our Special Services Department on the Early Learning Initiative;  with our College/Career Readiness Department on the Comprehensive Guidance Initiative; and with Teaching & Learning Directors to support District Improvement and Strategic Plan objectives to increase parent involvement & outside grant funding opportunities.

Good Samaritan Community Services, with funding from the Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, will partner with the STARR Project to offer the best practice program The Incredible Years this fall. Parents with children ages 1 – 3 years of age are welcomed to attend. Pre-registration is required by calling Klara Schwab at (253) 697-8408.

Healthy Youth Survey: STARR Project administers this bi-annual statewide survey for students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12. The survey is anonymous and parents are able to ‘opt’ students out of participating. Data is used for program evaluation and planning, as well as in the development of school improvement plans in some locations. For more information, contact our office or visit:
http://www.hys.wa.gov

Lions 4 Kids House: STARR Project staff work closely with this local community resource. Lions 4 Kids House offers clothing and personal hygiene supplies for children and youth in need. Referral forms are available in every counseling office, the Sumner/Bonney Lake Family Center or at the STARR Project. For more information, please call L4K House at 253-447-3844.

Training & Consultation in Program Development: Please contact the STARR Project Office if you are interested in other related and specialized services.

The STARR Project welcomes input from students, staff and parents on all grant funded activities and related programs. Please feel free to submit your questions & comments to: Marilee Hill-Anderson, Director – STARR Project, via District email or at (253) 891-6066.       

STARR Project Staff & Program Area Responsibilities