Abbott Schools Initiative
Abbott Parent and Community Guide

Health and Social Services

Questions and Answers About Your Child's Right to Health and Social Services In School.

Health and Social Services

What is Abbott?

Abbott refers to the New Jersey Supreme Court's rulings in the Abbott v. Burke case. The Abbott rulings establish the rights of children in urban communities to a "thorough and efficient" education under our State constitution.

Abbott gives children a right to an instructional program based on high standards in all of the "core" curriculum subject areas; high quality preschool starting at age three; extra or "supplemental" programs; safe and adequate school buildings; and first-rate teaching in all subjects. These rights are for all urban children, including children who don't speak English, and children with disabilities or other special needs.

The goal of Abbott is to provide your child with a high quality education to prepare them to be citizens and to compete in the economy as adults. Your involvement is necessary to make this happen. It is up to you to make sure that your district and school, and the New Jersey Department of Education, do their jobs to make all needed improvements in your child's school.

Children growing up in cities suffer the most from drug abuse, crime, violence, hunger, poor health and poverty. These problems are not left at the school-house door. For this reason, Abbott schools must have extra programs to make sure your child is able to learn at high standards. These programs are called "supplemental" because they are added to the instruction your child gets in the core subjects required for each grade and for graduation -- reading, writing, math, science, social studies, the arts and health and physical education. Supplemental programs are also in addition to special education and bilingual education.

Yes. Health services are one of the supplemental programs that each Abbott school is required to provide. The Court recognized that students in the Abbott districts may not have easy access to health services. These services may include primary and preventative health care, dental care, health education, and mental health services.

Yes. Abbott schools must also provide social services, which may include family counseling, teen pregnancy prevention, teen parenting education, employment, housing, and substance abuse services.

At a minimum, every school must have specialized staff to assess the health and social service needs of its students, to identify and evaluate existing programs in the community that might be able to serve those needs, and to make appropriate referrals to effective programs.

Elementary schools of 500 K-5 and 84 preschool students must have a full-time school nurse, a full-time social worker, and a full-time school counselor on-site. As part of each school's "family support team," these staff are responsible for helping students and families address behavioral, health, nutritional, attendance, and other problems. Middle schools of 575 students and high schools of 900 students must have a full-time community services coordinator to perform these responsibilities. These staff are in addition to your school's child study team. If your school has more students, more specialized staff may be needed.

Yes, if its students need more than the minimum requirements. For example, in middle and high schools, the community services coordinator is required to determine, based on assessment of the students' needs, whether the school should offer on-site health and social services, instead of referral and coordination. If the students need such services, the school and the district must plan and demonstrate the need for them, and the State must fund them.

Do I have to pay extra for health and social services?

No. The State is required to pay for all the health and social service programs that your child needs, even if this means your school must get more money from the State than it has now.

Who makes sure that my child's school has these programs?

Each Abbott school must have a school management team, or "SMT." Parents, teachers, community members, and others should all be represented on the SMT. The SMT should also include parents and teachers who can represent children in special education and bilingual education. The SMT must plan for all the health and social service programs its students need.

Your child's school must include in its budget all the funds that it needs to provide these programs. The district must then make sure that the school has these funds and must fight for any needed extra funds from the State. Ultimately, the State is responsible for making sure that all Abbott schools have all needed health and social services.

Parents, caregivers, relatives, neighbors and friends - your participation will help make sure that your children get the health and social services they need. You must encourage other parents to get involved because together you can make a difference. Sign up to be on your school's SMT. Or attend SMT meetings if you can, and talk to SMT members regularly about your concerns. Make sure that the State gives your school enough funding.

Your voice must be heard -- by your school, your district, and in Trenton! Call us if you think your children are not getting what they need, or if you are not given the information you need to support your child's education and your school's improvement.

Health and Social Services

All children living in Abbott communities have a right to health and social service programs through their schools. The Abbott communities are:

Asbury Park - Bridgeton - Burlington City - Camden - East Orange - Elizabeth - Garfield - Gloucester City - Harrison(Hudson County) - Hoboken -Irvington - Jersey City - Keansburg - Long Branch - Millville - Neptune Township - New Brunswick - Newark - Orange - Passaic - Paterson - Pemberton Township - Perth Amboy - Plainfield - Phillipsburg - Plainfield - Pleasantville - Trenton - Union City - Vineland - West New York

The Abbott Schools Initiative is a project of the Education Law Center. ASI works to improve academic achievement in Abbott schools by helping students, parents, teachers, local educators and community leaders to effectively implement the Abbott rights and reforms.