FY2021: 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;
• As part of using the SHI, create school-based action plans to improve school health environments during both in-school and out-of-school (OST) time; and
• 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.

Eligibility:

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) will make awards to districts that participated in the program during Fiscal Year 2019-2020 (FY20). Eligible school districts include Brockton, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Salem, and Wareham.

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

Funding Type:

Federal CFDA 93.981

Funding:

A total of approximately $50,000 is available in FY21. 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 district- and school-based teams to:

• Implement the MA Roadmap to Healthy Schools Framework to ensure an evidence-based approach to school health improvement.
• Continue to complete all modules of the SHI and other evidence-based action and assessment tools to conduct a robust self-assessment, prioritization and action-planning process. Teams should meet regularly throughout the year to develop plans and monitor implementation.
• Continue to develop and submit detailed action plans (the SHI will guide teams through this) 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. Plans should be aligned with other district/school improvement plans and initiatives.
• Participate in CDC- and Department-offered PD, including a minimum of two in-person sessions per year and virtual networking.
  • Grantees are encouraged to attend bi-annual grantee meetings held during larger WSCC-themed Department conferences that provide an opportunity for different members of the school health environment working on related initiatives to support the needs of the "whole" child through systems thinking improvements.
  • The CDC has engaged a wide variety of national partners (NGOs) to provide PD, training and TA on the priorities of this initiative.
  • The Department will share information about these and other local opportunities, when available. Districts are encouraged to participate, when applicable.
  • The Department will make Professional Development Points (PDPs) available for staff that participate in a minimum of 10 hours of Department-offered PD.
• Implement, monitor and evaluate the systems and strategies outlined in the action plan(s).
• Participate in administration of the School Health Profiles and Youth Risk Behavior Survey in all applicable schools. Districts will be expected to report out on progress and target outcomes for both the school and district implementation throughout the duration of the grant.

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. Additional support throughout the year may be available, as needed.

Project Duration:

Upon approval – 06/29/2021

Pending continued CDC funding, districts participation in FY21 (year 3) will be eligible for up to two additional years of funding, for a total of five years (through FY23) to support implementation of activities outlined in submitted action plans, as well as to engage in the self-assessment, action-planning and implementation process with additional schools.

Program Unit:

Student and Family Support

Contact:

Lenore Maniaci: Lenore.maniaci@mass.gov    (781) 338-6321

Date Due:

Friday, June 5, 2020

Required Forms:

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

Part II — Budget Template — for drafting FY21 budget (enter budget by line item directly into EdGrants including detail requested in provided template)

Part III — Required Program Information

Fiscal Year 2020-2021 (FY21) Grant Assurances (Complete with initials and signature of superintendent, grant team lead, and business official/grants management contact, as applicable)

Evaluation Data in your "District- & School- Tracker" (Please ensure that the following data has been submitted by district- and school-level wellness teams via Google Classroom)

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.

Additional Information:

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.

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.

Submission Instructions:

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

FY21 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 / Coversheet 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 and Information.

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 in order to make informed decisions regarding assigning your district level users.

Last Updated: May 13, 2020