Secretary DeVos Announces $1 Million Initial Recovery Grant to Santa Fe Independent School District

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos today announced that the Department’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students (OSHS) has awarded Santa Fe Independent School District a Project School Emergency Response to Violence (SERV) grant totaling $1 million. The grant will help with recovery efforts following the tragic shootings at Santa Fe High School in Texas, on May 18, 2018.

“No student, parent or educator should have to experience the trauma suffered by so many at Santa Fe High School and other schools throughout the country,” said Secretary DeVos. This initial SERV grant will help to provide essential services that will aid in the healing and recovery process. Every day, the work of the Federal Commission on School Safety grows more urgent. We continue to focus on identifying proven ways to prevent violence and keep our students safe at school.

The Department’s Project SERV grants provide critical funding for school districts, colleges and universities that have experienced significant traumatic events and need resources to respond, recover and re-establish safe environments for students. There are two types of Project SERV awards—Immediate Services and Extended Services. Immediate Services grants provide emergency, short-term assistance to affected school districts or colleges and universities. Extended Services grants assist school districts and colleges and universities in carrying out the long-term recovery efforts that may be needed following a significant, traumatic event. Santa Fe Independent School District received an Immediate Services grant.

Secretary DeVos and Department officials are in frequent contact with state and local education leaders in Texas as they assess their needs in the wake of this tragedy.

Featured

  • A digital silhouette works at a computer, immersed in a glowing, interconnected world

    How Will AI Transform Learning Space Design?

    For years, higher education has designed learning spaces around technology as a tool for display, capture, collaboration, and connectivity. AI changes that equation.

  • Stanford Online Reveals New Immersive Learning Studio

    Stanford Online recently marked its 30th anniversary with the announcement of a new immersive learning studio, according to a university news release. The studio takes advantage of AI-powered and immersive learning technologies to continue delivering personalized and faculty-led education.

  • Cal Poly Humboldt Starts Construction on Healthcare Education Hub

    California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, Calif., recently announced that work has begun on a renovation project that will turn the Stewart Building into a new Healthcare Education Hub, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Sundt Construction Inc. for construction services.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.