PROVIDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SCHOOLS AND INFORMATION TO COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO SUPPORT STUDENT ACADEMIC SUCCESS!

In this issue: New Community PTA

Summer Reading Summit

Resource for Working with Fathers

Children’s Board Family Resources

Toolkit of Resources for Engaging Families

2015-16 Outstanding School Volunteer

Upcoming Dates

Third Edition-April, 2016

Hillsborough County Public Schools works hard to “prepare students for life.” However, before there are schools, teachers and principals in a child’s life, there are parents and families. By joining forces, Leto High School, Pierce Middle School, and Crestwood Elemen-tary School PTA’s worked all year to strengthen the overall health, parenting skills, aware-ness of HCPS and postsecondary opportunities for students and parents, which in turn will produce happier, more successful transitions from one grade level to the other for their students! program for parent education, sponsored jointly by the new Community PTA (for Leto, Pierce, Crestwood, and other feeder schools in the Leto area) was offered by the PTA in eight once-a-week modules that focused on Parent Leadership Training and Food is Medicine. The eighth and last session recognized the parent completers who were honored with a wonderful array of foods, including homemade empanadas, amazing des-serts, yellow rice and chicken, cookies, and much, much more. The group completed their final session topic with a presentation by the ACSC staff about “Progression from K-12 to Postsecondary Education”, with an overview of HCPS Technical Colleges. Following that, the graduates were called up one by one to receive their certificates, warm handshakes and lots of hugs, along with vouchers from co-sponsor Florida Hospital which could be re-deemed at the Next Stop Produce Truck, another co-sponsor. The produce truck was con-veniently located right outside the media center for picking up fresh fruits and vegetables

after the event.

The major highlight of the evening was the surprise award of a $1,000 Workforce Educa-tion tuition scholarship to any of the four Hillsborough Technical Colleges to Barbara James, parent of a Leto student, who not only attended and participated in all eight ses-sions, but did outstanding work and coincidentally learned of a dangerous health risk to herself through the program. Congratulations to Barbara for a job well done, and con-gratulations to the Community PTA staff and sponsors for aiming high, working hard, and

growing their membership in just one school year!

West Tampa Families are the Focus of a Unique Community-Based PTA

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Resources for Professionals Working with Fathers

Parents as Teachers is the trusted resource for the most re-

spected organizations and professionals serving children and fam-

ilies within the early childhood development and education continuum. We equip early

childhood organizations and professionals with information and tools that are relevant—

and widely applicable—to today's parents, families and children, especially those in vul-

nerable circumstances.

They have valuable resource available to professionals work-

ing with fathers. This curriculum was developed for Strengthening

Families and Fatherhood: Children of Fathers in the Criminal Justice

System under the Innovation and Improvement Project grant from

the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children, Youth and

Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Visit www.parentsasteachers.org/resources to download the re-

sources you need to support your programs.

Children’s Board Family Resource Centers

There are six Children’s Board Family Resource Centers located throughout Hillsborough County that offer programs

and services emphasizing child development, self sufficiency, and health and safety. Programs and services are at no

cost to participants. The Centers are a fun and inviting place for families to come on a day-to-day basis.

The Children’s Board Family Resource Centers function as a strong, collaborative partnership between the following

agencies committed to families in our community: Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County, The Children’s

Home, Inc., Champions for Children, REACHUP, and St. Joseph’s Children’s Advocacy Center.

All families are encouraged to visit the Centers to discover the many opportunities available for parents, children and

teens. The Centers offer a refreshing, homelike environment where caring staff and other families offer individuals

support, opportunities and new friendships.

Brandon Central Tampa East County North Tampa South County Town & County 1271 Kingsway Rd 1002 East Palm Ave. 639 E. Alexander St. (Closed until further notice) 3030 E. College Ave. 7520 W. Waters Ave. Suite 8

Brandon, FL 33510 Tampa, FL 33605 Plant City, FL 33563 Ruskin, FL 33570 Tampa, FL 33615

Parent Focus 4

Parent & Community Involvement www.sdhc.k12.fl.us 901 E. Kennedy Blvd Tampa, FL 33602

MaryLou Whaley, Director Angela Fullwood, Title I Coordinator

Ame Silverstein, D.R.T. Mercedes Brown, D.R.T

Tracy Aguilar, D.R.T. Cheryl Bunting, D.R.T

Desiree Marsicano, Exec Secretary Sheryl Haight, Secretary 3

Toolkit of Resources for the Family and Community Engagement Framework

REL Pacific offers a variety of technical assistance resources and tools. While the toolkits below were de-

signed specifically for building family and community engagement capacity in Guam, our team has created

powerpoints that you can use with your staff. Those versions will be available in the coming month on our

website.

Part I: Building an Understanding of Family and Community Engagement The toolkit is designed to guide school staff in strengthening partnerships with families and community mem-

bers to support student learning and offers an integrated approach to family and community engagement,

bringing together research, promising practices, and a wide range of useful tools and resources with explana-

tions and directions for using them.

Part 2: Building a Cultural Bridge

The toolkit focuses on tapping into the strengths of families and community members and helping families to

establish active roles within the school community in support of student learning.

Part 3: Building Trusting Relationships With Families and Community Through Effective Communi-cation

The toolkit focuses on cross-cultural and two-way communication as ways to enhance family and community

engagement.

Part 4: Engaging All in Data Conversations

The toolkit helps school staff understand what data are important to share with families and community mem-

bers and how to share such data.

Upcoming Assessment Dates

Apr. 11– May 6: FSA Grades 3-11 English Language Arts, FSA Grades 5-8 Mathematics

Apr. 11– May 6: FCAT 2.0 Grade 5 and 8 Science

Apr. 18– May 13: FSA End-of-Course Assessments (Algebra1, Geometry, Algebra 2)

Apr. 18– May 13: EOC Biology 1, Civics, US History

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Congratulations!!!!! 2015-16 Outstanding School Volunteer Region IV - Adult

Rosario Silva Shields Middle School—Ruskin, FL

Ms. Rosario Silva volunteers at three different schools, responding to the ongoing and differing needs of students and faculty. She maintains a school store, translates for English Language Learn-ers, and assists with clerical duties in the front office. She works with girls in small groups about im-proving self-esteem and character development.

Monitoring/Documentation (to be included in e-Box)

March/April School Improvement

SAC Meeting Topic: Seek input from all stakeholders on the use of Title I funds for next school year

Parent Involvement

Complete the review of current year’s PIP (March/April)

Revise and update PI School Compact with parent input (March/April)

Submit the review of current year’s Title I PI Plan (April)

Submit SAC minutes reflecting discussion of school Title I PI Plan and compact revisions; include sign-in;

identify parents (April)

Revise and update PI school compact with parent input (April)

SAVE THE

DATE

Hillsborough County Public Schools 2016 VOLUNTEER AWARDS

Thursday, May 12, 2016

TPepin’s Hospitality Centre

4121 N. 50th Street, Tampa