FY2023: Healthy Schools for Student Success

Fund Code: 650

Purpose:

The purpose of this federally funded targeted grant is to support districts to improve student health and educational outcomes. This funding is provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Improving Student Health and Academic Achievement through Nutrition, Physical Activity and the Management of Chronic Conditions in Schools cooperative agreement.

Priorities:

The main priority for this grant is to support districts and their selected schools to adopt the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model through the following strategies and activities.

• Self-assess, monitor and evaluate policies and programs using tools that include but are not limited to the School Health Index (SHI), the CDC School Health Profiles, Youth Risk Behavior Survey, WellSAT3.0, and the Massachusetts Physical Activity Assessment for Schools;
• Create district and/or school-based action plans informed by the SHI assessment process to improve school health environments during both in-school and out-of-school (OST) time;
• Develop key stakeholder feedback engagement processes grounded in youth, family and community partner engagement, health and racial equity frameworks and positive youth development principles including but not limited to the: Family School Community Partnership Fundamentals and Strengthening Partnerships: A Framework for Prenatal through Young Adulthood Family Engagement in Massachusetts to ensure impacted populations inform local wellness policy revision, outreach and communications planning.
• Access high quality professional development (PD), training and technical assistance (TA) to improve the infrastructure and impact of nutrition, physical activity and chronic disease management policies and programs in schools (see HSP TA Request Form for sample offerings).

Eligibility:

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) will make awards to districts that continuously participated in the program during Fiscal Years 2018-2022 who have substantially completed the chronic disease prevention components of the School Health Index and WellSAT assessments on the journey to revising local wellness policy as this is the fifth and final year of funding. Eligible school districts include Brockton, Fitchburg, Holyoke, and Salem who supported the initial grant application to the Centers for Disease Control in 2018.

It is anticipated that the Healthy Schools-sponsored activities and approaches that the Department implements at a statewide level (e.g., resource guides, self-paced modules, PD and training/TA opportunities) will likely be available to all districts across the state.

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 93.981

Funding:

A total of approximately $40,000 is available in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. Funding is contingent upon availability. All dollar amounts listed are estimated/approximate and are subject to change. If more funding becomes available, it will be distributed under the same guidelines that appear in this RFP document.

Each eligible district may apply for up to $10,000 to support district and school-based grant activities.

The Department reserves the right to alter the award to each funded district.

Fund Use:

Funds must be used to support district and school-based activities to implement the identified grant priorities and required activities (below). Costs may include, but are not limited to teacher stipends, consultants, substitutes, and materials.

Funds may be used to support consultants to help facilitate the action planning and/or implementation processes.

Required Activities: Grantees will maintain comprehensive, diverse district- and school-based teams comprised of members of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model components and representative of the school-health community to:

• Implement the MA Roadmap to Healthy Schools Framework to ensure an evidence-based approach to school health improvement.
• Ensure completion of all modules of the SHI to inform Local Wellness Policy review and revision. District Wellness teams should meet at least quarterly in accordance with the standards established at 105 CMR 215.000 to develop plans and monitor implementation.
• Continue to implement, monitor and evaluate the systems and strategies outlined in district- and school-based action plan(s), aligning efforts that identify priority actions to improve school health, systems/strategies that the district/school intends to take to address those challenges/barriers, and programs and policies to support those challenges to improve the school wellness environment. Action plans should be aligned with other district/school improvement plans and initiatives and address sustainability of grant initiatives.
• Maintain online district tracker and annual reporting to track progress and growth of evidence-based school health efforts.
• Participate in CDC- and Department-offered PD, including a minimum of two in-person sessions per year and virtual networking, monthly contract calls, and related offerings from the wide variety of local and national partners (NGOs) contracted to provide PD, training and TA on the priorities of this initiative.
• Participate in administration of the School Health Profiles and Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) in all applicable schools and consider joining the YRBS Community of Practice offered to support districts and collaboratives seeking to coordinate to improve surveillance data. Districts will be expected to report out on progress and target outcomes for school and district implementation throughout the grant duration.
• Work to align programming that supports Social-Emotional Learning, Health, & Safety , including, but not limited to: School climate and culture; Social and emotional competencies; Health, wellness, and safety; and Family and community engagement. The HSP will maintain a health and racial equity focus to help prepare all students for success to align with "Our Way Forward" .

Please note: Department staff and/or a partnering TA organization will also provide 1–2 on-site visits to help facilitate local team meetings and planning activities, and make Professional Development Points (PDPs) available for staff that participate in a minimum of 10 hours of Department-offered PD. Additional support throughout the year may be available, as needed.

Project Duration:

Upon approval – 06/29/2023

Program Unit:

Student and Family Support

Contact Information:

Lenore Maniaci (781) 338-6321

Date Due:

Thursday, June 9, 2022

Required Forms:

• Part I — General — Program Unit Signature Page — (Standard Contract Form and Application for Program Grants)

• Part II — Budget — Entered directly into EdGrants formlet
  • Template provided for drafting purposes
  
  

• Part III — Required Program Information

• Grant Assurances
  • Complete with initials and signature of superintendent, grant team lead, and business official/grants management contact, as applicable
  
  

Additional Information:

Applicants must update the online district- and school-level trackers prior to submission of this application to ensure that current district- and school-level wellness team rosters, SHI progress reports, and district wellness policy is available for review.

1. School Health Index (SHI): Self-Assessment & Planning Guide
   All schools participating in this grant will use the SHI to guide their self-assessment and action planning. This tool provides extensive resources and guidance to school/district teams to support this process. There is an e-learning course that must be completed prior to accessing

   The SHI is an online self-assessment and planning tool (also available in a downloadable, printable version) that schools can use to improve their health and safety policies and programs. It's easy to use and completely confidential.

   The SHI was developed by CDC in partnership with school administrators and staff, school health experts, parents, and national nongovernmental health and education agencies to

   • Enable schools to identify strengths and weaknesses of health and safety policies and programs.
   • Enable schools to develop an action plan for improving student health, which can be incorporated into the School Improvement Plan.
   • Engage teachers, parents, students, and the community in promoting health-enhancing behaviors and better health.
   
   

   The SHI is based on CDC's research-based guidelines for school health programs, which identify the policies and practices most likely to be effective in reducing youth health risk behaviors.

2. WellSAT: Local Wellness Policy Assessment Tool Self-paced Learning & Implementation Guide
   The WellSAT self-paced learning and implementation guide allows Healthy Schools Program (HSP) grantees to learn about the WellSAT tool and use it to assess local/district wellness policies (LWP) as well as provide next steps on how to improve policy language and policy implementation within districts and schools.

3. Virtual Healthy Schools
   The CDC's Virtual Healthy School (VHS) is an interactive site "that shows you how components of the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model can be integrated into your school." This site includes an extensive list of resources to support this work.

Additional Resources:

Healthy Schools Programs previously funded to provide COVID Relief in collaboration with the following partners are encouraged to continue incorporating these frameworks into their SY23 programming as they're able:

• The Centers for Disease Control's CDC School-Based Guidance for COVID-19 Mitigation provides comprehensive resources for school-based prevention of COVID-19 including: 'Vaccinate with Confidence ': a three-step approach to build trust, empower health care personnel, engage family and community members to reinforce confidence in COVID-19 vaccines
• The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Vaccine Equity Initiative informs culturally responsive strategies to support coordinated school health and wellness for COVID Relief priorities in vaccine equity communities using a racial justice framework to restore health equity:
• COVID Community Impact Survey (Pre-analysis or Full Report) . Particularly useful accompanying resources include:
  • CCIS Introduction webinar: read the CCIS findings with a racial justice lens to turn the data into action;
  • COVID-19 CCIS pre-analysis framework : explore the racial justice lens utilized in conducting the CCIS for a model coordinated school health programs can utilize in their proposed programs; and
  • COVID-19 CCIS Overview of Findings and Q& A : view population-based highlights to help prioritize COVID relief efforts and policy actions to communities in need.

Newsletter Sign-up:

Healthy Schools Program Partners are encouraged to ensure relevant members of the school health committee have signed up for DESE newsletters, including:

• Commissioner's Weekly Update
• The Holistic Supports and Enrichment: Strengthening Social and Emotional Competencies, Health and Safety Newsletter
• SWITCH Newsletter: "What's Up with Wellness"
• School Health Institute for Leadership Development (SHIELD) trainings

Submission Instructions:

Submit all required grant materials through EdGrants, using the following naming convention for your Healthy Schools Program Application:

• FY23 FC650 HSP [Applicant Name]

All items listed under the required forms section of this RFP should be uploaded / attached in the Attachments List formlet of the Application Submission in EdGrants. This includes a signed / scanned PDF of Part I / Cover Sheet with Superintendent's signature as well as Schedule A form, if applicable to your district. The final budget the applicant is requesting will be entered directly into EdGrants as part of the application submission process.

For Guidance Documents regarding EdGrants, visit EdGrants: User Guides, Information and Trainings.

Please note: It is up to the district to determine who they want to add as EdGrants Front Office users in order to submit grant application as well as payment request information. Please review the EdGrants: User Security Controls to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Last Updated: May 12, 2022