Your student may have been referred by school staff, faculty, or administrators to Connect Trenton because they may benefit from services. As the Connect Trenton Coordinator, I will meet with your student to discuss these services and what your student’s goals may be as a 9th grader. After you complete this consent form, I may connect your family and/or your student to resources and organizations outside the school setting. You would be part of this conversation. Know that, as part of external services, your participation in the referral process is voluntary. While these services have been screened for appropriateness, safety, and quality, you and your family are accessing them at your own risk. After, we would check in to see how these services are working for your student, and we would make changes or continue the same work. As your child nears the end of the academic year, we will work with their receiving 10th grade school to keep everyone informed of your student’s plans. You can revoke your permission for your student to participate in Connect Trenton services at any time.

Connect Trenton follows the Trenton Public Schools education calendar. During school closures due to COVID-19, Connect Trenton services are integrated into Google Classroom. By providing your contact information, you consent to receive emails or text messages regarding upcoming appointments with the Connect Trenton Coordinator.

Your student may share feelings or thoughts that they wish to keep between us, and I will honor your student’s privacy in this way. Your student’s teacher will know why you leave class to meet with me, but I will not share details about our conversations with them. Coordination of Services Plans (CSPs) will be shared with: you, the student, any other parent/guardian, school employees that may help in service planning, any community partners that we choose to work with to help meet your child’s goals, and school employees at your student’s receiving 10th grade school. If I have reasonable cause to believe that a child has been subjected to child abuse or acts of child abuse, or if a child poses a threat to self or others, I am required by law to report this knowledge to appropriate authorities to get your child and/or family help.

I will not share your student’s name or identifying information with anyone outside of these people. Generic, aggregated information about participating students’ overall outcomes might be shared with The College of New Jersey, Capital City Youth Violence Coalition, Princeton Area Community Foundation, and other organizations that help make Connect Trenton possible, as well as with the outside world.

You should direct questions to me, Luke Thompson, Connect Trenton Coordinator, at 609-447-5502 or lthompsonakt1@trenton.k12.nj.us. If you would like to speak to someone else, you may also contact Dewar Wood, Principal at Trenton's Ninth Grade Academy, at 609-656-4820 or dlwood@trenton.k12.nj.us, or Brittany Aydelotte, Director of the Community Engaged Learning Institute at The College of New Jersey, at 609-711-2481 or aydelot2@tcnj.edu.