Mississippi

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that provide parents and families health information to increase parent and family knowledge of HIV prevention, STD prevention, and teen pregnancy prevention.

Activities

• Partner with at least one community-based organization to develop trainings for parents in high-priority school districts on evidence-based HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy prevention programs and activities.
• Conduct a minimum of two trainings for parents on evidence-based HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy prevention programs and activities.
• Create a pamphlet to connect parents with HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy prevention resources in partnership with the Mississippi Department of Health and community-based organizations.
• Invite student representatives to join the HIV Materials Review Panel to assist in reviewing HIV-related materials for students and families.

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools in which the lead health education teacher received professional development on at least six of the following during the past 2 years:

• Teaching HIV prevention to students with physical, medical, or cognitive disabilities.
• Teaching HIV prevention to students of various cultural backgrounds.
• Using interactive teaching methods for HIV prevention education, such as role plays or cooperative group activities.
• Teaching essential skills for health behavior change related to HIV prevention and guiding student practice of these skills.
• Teaching about health-promoting social norms and beliefs related to HIV prevention.
• Strategies for involving parents, families, and others in student learning of HIV prevention education.
• Assessing students’ performance in HIV prevention education.
• Implementing standards-based HIV prevention education curricula and student assessment.
• Using technology to improve HIV prevention education instruction.
• Teaching HIV prevention to students with limited English proficiency.
• Addressing community concerns and challenges related to HIV prevention education.

Activities

• Provide three professional development opportunities for health education teachers in areas with greater health disparities to increase teachers’ comfort level with issues related to HIV, STD, and teen pregnancy prevention.
• Develop at least three online standards-based Health Education Assessment Project trainings (HEAP) for educators on providing quality HIV prevention education through skills-based instruction.
• Provide a HEAP of Books training for teachers.

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that have a policy or policies that address all of the following issues:

• Attendance of students with HIV infection.
• Procedures to protect HIV-infected students and staff from discrimination.
• Maintaining confidentiality of HIV-infected students and staff.

Activities

• Develop and deliver communicable diseases and related policy development training.
• Provide 10 mini-grants to secondary schools to develop comprehensive communicable disease policies.
• Provide technical assistance to secondary schools on the development of communicable disease policies.

Physical Activity

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools in which at least one physical education teacher or specialist received professional development on physical education during the past 2 years.

Activities

• Provide standards-based professional development and training on lifetime physical activity strategies and physical education to teachers in high-disparity school districts.
• Collect Fitnessgram data from 12 schools who received Fitnessgram training and physical education mini-grants.
• Make mini-grants available to purchase resources and strategies from Fitnessgram trainings.

Nutrition

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools in which the lead health education teacher received professional development on nutrition education and dietary behavior during the past 2 years.

Activities

• Provide standards-based, assessment-driven professional development to all stakeholders invested in nutrition education—school nurses, school food service staff, health education teachers, physical education teachers, parents, administrators, etc.
• Provide marketing resources and trainings on making attractive and appealing meals for students.
• Partner with the Mississippi School Nutrition Association to ensure that food service staff receives professional development on coordinated school health and the role of nutrition within the classroom.

Tobacco

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that implement a tobacco-use prevention policy in all of the following ways:

• Provide visible signage.
• Communicate the policy to students, staff, and visitors.
• Designate an individual responsible for enforcement.
• Have a process in place for addressing violations.
• Use remedial rather than punitive sanctions for violators.
• Tailor consequences to the severity and frequency of the violation.
• Communicate student violations to their parents and families.

Activities

• Partner with the Office of Tobacco Control, the Partnership for Healthy Mississippi, and the Mississippi Lung Association to ensure that schools have adequate resources to communicate the no-tobacco policy in their schools.
• Serve at a state-level youth anti-tobacco leadership conference each year to support the Partnership for Healthy Mississippi in educating youth and promoting advocacy against the use of tobacco.
• Provide professional development to teachers and school nurses on educating students about the harmful effects of tobacco use.

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that have a group (e.g., school health team) that helps plan and implement school health programs, with representation from 10 or more of the following:

• School administrators.
• Health education teachers.
• Physical education teachers.
• Mental health or social services staff.
• Nutrition or food service staff.
• Health services staff (e.g., school nurse).
• Maintenance and transportation staff.
• Student body.
• Parents or families of students.
• Community.
• Local health departments, agencies, or organizations.
• Faith-based organizations.
• Businesses.
• Local government.

Activities

• Sponsor trainings on establishing school health advisory teams for higher education faculty.
• Distribute a coordinated school health toolkit to all schools to assist in the implementation of school health programs.
• Honor a local school health council for their active involvement in coordinated school health and award the council with a new Healthy School Board Toolkit and the 2011 Mississippi Health School Board award.

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that have ever assessed their policies, activities, and programs by using the School Health Index or a similar self-assessment tool in any of the following areas:  

• Physical activity.
• Nutrition.
• Tobacco-use prevention.

Activities

• Provide School Health Index trainings to school health councils to assess their school health needs.
• Require each school to complete a school health needs assessment as part of the Healthy Students Act of 2007.
• Provide technical assistance and follow-up support to schools for noncompliance with the Healthy Students Act and completion of policy grant benchmarks.
• Provide policy development mini-grants that require the completion of the School Health Index prior to selecting their policy focus.

Mississippi is seeking to increase the percentage of schools that provide parents and families health information to increase parent and family knowledge of any of the following health issues:

• Tobacco-use prevention.
• Physical activity.
• Nutrition and healthy eating.

Activities

• Create a new “healthy school” district-level report card linked with district-level academic achievement reports. Share online report card with parents, teachers, and other school staff.
• Host a professional development for parents, parent liaisons, school counselors, and Parent/Teacher Association presidents on how to coordinate and sustain parental involvement in school districts in disparate areas.
• Support legislation that requires all schools to participate in the HealthierUS School Challenge and work with schools to report their status on their school Web sites.