Every Child Safe, Healthy and Connected
This month's newsletter is also available: www.wishschools.org/resources/newsletters.cfm
In This Issue
Quick Links
Funding Available for Student Mini-Grant Projects
The AODA Student Mini-Grant Program allows students to submit proposals/projects, with costs up to $1,000, each fall. For more information regarding Student AODA Mini-Grants go to the following link. Applications are due on October 16th. Schools will be notified at the end of November on mini-grant application approval.
Mark Your Calendar

Readiness & Emergency Management for Schools Regional Conferences

November 10
Minoqua, The Waters

Novemeber 12
Green Bay, The Rock Garden

The Keynote will be Developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) K-12 101 Train-the-Educator (TtE) training followed by a series of breakout sessions.
Flyer coming soon!  Two more locations will be offered in March.
Registration Now Available for Building the Heart of Successful Schools Conference
Click here for more information. Keynote presenters are Joyce James and Dr. Adolph Brown. The conference is December 3-4, 2015 at the Kalahari Conference Center in Wisconsin Dells.

Special Conference Lodging Rate!
A block of rooms at a special conference rate of $82 is being held at the Kalahari Resort and Convention Center until Sunday, November 1, 2015. To reserve a room under this block call 1-877-253-5466 and mention the "DPI Building the Heart of Successful Schools Room Block."
Congratulations to DPI AODA Grantees

43 Wisconsin Schools and CESA Consortiums were awarded AODA Program grants from the WI DPI. Congratulations and we look forward to working with you. 

Grantees for 2015-2017 are:
  • Adams-Friendship Area School District
  • Amery School District
  • Appleton Area School District
  • Athens School District
  • Beaver Dam School District
  • Black River Falls School District
  • CESA 3
  • CESA 5
  • CESA 12
  • Colby School District
  • Deerfield Consortium
  • Eau Claire School District
  • Ellsworth School District
  • Fond du Lac
  • Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau
  • Green Bay Area Public Schools
  • Horicon School District
  • Hudson School District
  • Janesville School District
  • Kaukauna School District
  • Kenosha School District
  • Lake Mills Area School District
  • Little Chute School District
  • Lodi School District
  • Lomira School District
  • Madison Metropolitan School District
  • Marinette School District
  • Milwaukee Public Schools
  • Minocqua J1 School District
  • Mount Horeb
  • Neenah School District
  • Oconomowoc School District
  • Oconto Falls School District
  • Oregon School District
  • Osseo-Fairchild School District
  • Racine Unified School District
  • Somerset School District
  • Sun Prairie Area School District
  • Two Rivers School District
  • Watertown School District
  • West Allis-West Milwaukee School District
  • Wheatland J1 School District
  • Winneconne School District
Read more about AODA Grants on the DPI webpage.
WI Safe and Healthy Schools Center Staff

DIRECTOR: Tracy Herlitzke
Phone: 608-786-4838
 [email protected]

NORTH (CESAs #5, #9, #12)
Coordinator: Lynn Verage
Phone: 715-453-2141
[email protected]

WEST (CESAs #4, #10, #11)
Coordinator: Carol Zabel
Phone: 715-720-2145
[email protected]

CENTRAL (CESAs #2, #3, #6)
Coordinator: Jackie Schoening
Phone: 920-236-0515
[email protected]

EAST (CESAs #1, #7, #8)
Coordinator: Christine Kleiman
Phone: 920-617-5645
[email protected]

DPI LIAISON:
Brenda Jennings
Phone: 608-266-7051
WISH Map
Safe and Healthy Updates-Back to School 2015
Welcome Back!
by Tracy Herlitzke, WISH Center Director

We hope that your summer has been wonderful with just the right balance of rest, adventure and reflection. During the summer I spent some time on my own professional development and here are the top things I learned:

1. Twitter can be used for professional development. I have enjoyed spending a few minutes each day staying up to date. Follow the Wisconsin Safe & Healthy Schools Center.

2. I am intrigued and excited about the integration of mental health in schools.  Several sectionals at the WI PBIS Leadership conference mentioned this monograph: Advancing Education Effectiveness: Interconnecting School Mental Health and School-wide Positive Behavior Support. I'm definitely going to spend some time reviewing and integrating the work of the WISH Center into this framework and find ways to support schools in their efforts.

3. We have one year of School SBIRT training under our belts.  My goal this year is to support schools in systematic implementation of this evidence-based intervention. We have developed a plan to follow up with schools that participate in the training. Simple, but not easy! Learn more about School SBIRT.

4. Those of you who write grants or use local data for planning need to visit Community Commons. The purpose of Community Commons is to provide data, tools, and stories to improve communities and inspire change. It is full of local data and provides easy options to map data.  My favorite part is the social sharing of maps that you create.
Mental Health Project Story Video
Wisconsin School Mental Health Project Gets Under Way
from WI DPI 8/18/2015

A five-year project to improve students' emotional well-being and mental health is moving ahead with the selection of participating districts and training for the first group of school and community teams. 

Twenty-seven school districts from across the state will participate in the Wisconsin School Mental Health Project. The kick-off event included 30 schools from 14 districts that attended a one-day professional development session in August. Goals for the project are to train more school-community teams to develop policies, programs, and practices that support students with mental health challenges and to integrate those activities into the schools' existing behavior and discipline systems so they work together to improve the overall climate for student emotional well-being. 

In Wisconsin, it is estimated that one in five children and adolescents experience a significant mental health issue that impairs their functioning in the community, at home, or in school. Symptoms of student mental health issues are wide ranging and can include behavioral outbursts, disengagement from friends and usual activities, problems with grades and school attendance, substance use and abuse, and thoughts or attempts of suicide. Wisconsin's youth suicide rate is more than 30 percent higher than the national average. Among the young people with mental health challenges, it is estimated that in any given year a mere 20 percent to 30 percent receive the services that they need.


2015-2016 WISH Professional Development Opportunities

We are busy planning for 2015-2016. Please visit our website calendar often for updates and to register for events: www.wishschools.org.

PREPaRE Crisis Prevention and Preparedness: Comprehensive School Safety Planning (Open to all school and community partners)
 
Workshop 1: Focus on Crisis Planning
Workshop 2 Focus on Crisis Intervention/Recovery
Educating Mindfully: Practice for Educators and Learners

*Graduate Credit Available for fee through Viterbo University

All events are contingent on a minimum of participants.

DPI Fall Updates
Provided by Brenda Jennings,
DPI Consultatnt

1. The core clusters within Online YRBS system will continue to align with the 2013 YRBS. If sites select all clusters, it will replicate the 2013 Wisconsin YRBS. The system was updated this past summer to display 2013 state and national data in the comparison report. 2013 statewide YRBS data is available at: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_yrbsindx or http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx

2. The 2015 statewide Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey was conducted with randomly selected schools through May 2015. Despite our best recruitment efforts, weighted data was not achieved. Please continue to use the weighed 2013 data until the 2017 survey is completed.

3. Wisconsin DPI was awarded the In School Pregnancy/Parenting Interventions, Resources, and Education Project (InSPIRE) Grant through the Office of Adolescent Health in 2013. DPI continues to award 13 Wisconsin school districts and consortia with local grants. Outcomes include increasing high school graduation and enrollment in higher education, increasing parenting knowledge and skills, and decreasing repeat pregnancy. For more information including training opportunities go to: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_schlageparent.

4. Wisconsin DPI was awarded the competitive School-based HIV/STD Prevention and Surveillance Grant through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, year three in a five year project. The HIV grant will have statewide activities around policy and curriculum, but will have targeted activities to 15 priority districts in policy, curriculum, referrals for health service and safe school climate. All grantees are required to address school climate for LGBT youth. More information is available here: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_aidshiv.

5. A cadre of teachers has been formed to develop and train on middle and high school units of instruction in human growth and development. The cadre has met twice and is in the development stage. It is anticipated that cadre members will be trained in early 2016 to train their peers in delivering the units in Spring 2016.

6. Wisconsin DHS, in collaboration with DPI, was awarded the enhanced Chronic Disease Grant, year two of a five year project. Work in 16 priority districts will be occurring in this grant as well. Site selection was based on disparities in data. Areas of focus are asthma and anaphylaxis, diabetes, epilepsy, and obesity. More information at: http://sspw.dpi.wi.gov/sspw_schoolhealthproject. Active Students are Better Learners with Active Schools Core 4+ trainings are available at 6 CESA's during 2015-16. Please see the WISH Center website www.wishschools.org for details.

7. Wisconsin DPI has awarded the 2015 Wisconsin School Health Award to 34 districts as a way to recognize and celebrate schools with policies, programs, and the infrastructure to support and promote healthy eating; physical activity; parental and community involvement; and staff wellness. The goal of this award is to motivate and empower Wisconsin schools as they create and maintain healthy school environments. The 2015 awards ceremony will be at the WHPE convention in Wisconsin Dells. The next School Health Award competition begins in October 2015.

8. There are ongoing DPI internal workgroup meetings for Academic and Career Planning (ACP). The draft rule combining education for employment and ACP requirements (PI-26) has undergone public stakeholder input, revision, and has been submitted for legislative approval. The new PI-26 will inform districts and guide DPI in creating the professional development necessary to effectively implement ACPs statewide by 2017-2018. The governor's 2015-2017 biennial budget included $1.1 million annually for the purchase of career development technology and professional development. In addition, 25 school districts are participating in an ACP Process Pilot during the 2015-2016 school year. DPI has a website dedicated to the implementation of ACP's at: http://dpi.wi.gov/acp.

9. DEWS - Dropout Early Warning System information on the DPI website: http://wise.dpi.wi.gov/wise_dashdews.

10. GSAFE and Mental Health America of Wisconsin partnered to produce the new resource for middle and high school educators, Best Practices for Supporting LGBTQ+ Students as They Return to School. Please consider sharing this in love, respect, encouragement, support, and appreciation with educators that you know, including out-of-school and after school workers!

11. Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) received the School Climate Transformation Grant, funded by US Department of Education at $578,521/year for five years (9/2014-8/2019). The project will effectively build local capacity to provide, improve and expand multi-level systems of support by directly strengthening positive behavioral interventions and support (PBIS) as well as, integrating school mental health services and supports into PBIS. The work of the grant is to strengthen Wisconsin state capacity to: a) deliver expanded effective training and technical assistance through an existing statewide PBIS Training Center; and b) deliver training and technical assistance on school mental health.

12. Wisconsin was one of seven states that received a Safe Schools-Healthy Students Grant. DPI received this federal grant to address school safety in the Beloit, Racine, and Menominee Indian School Districts. It is currently in year three of a four year project. A project summary with more detail is available by contacting the Project Coordinator, Beth Herman at [email protected].

13. Wisconsin DPI also received the Project AWARE Grant, funded by SAMHSA for $9.8 million for five years. The purposes of this project are to: 1) make schools safer; 2) improve school climates; 3) increase capacity to identify warning signs of mental health problems among children and make appropriate referrals to mental health care; and 4) increase capacity of the state and local education agencies to connect children and youth with behavioral health issues with needed services. The focus needs to be with students and families in three school districts, with project products to be available to all schools statewide. Youth Mental Health First Aid trainings will be available to those involved in working with youth ages 12-18. The project coordinator of Youth Mental Health First Aid is Christie Gause-Bemis at [email protected]. For more information on AWARE contact the Project Coordinator, Monica Wightman at [email protected].

14. The Wisconsin DPI received the Bullying Prevention Research Project, funded by National Institutes of Justice for $858,000 for three years, starting January 2015. The proposed study researches the effectiveness of a Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and Bullying Prevention program on outcomes of school safety and climate among students in grades six through eight in 36 middle schools. The Wisconsin DPI will partner with schools, academic institutions, several community health partners, and the WISH Center in this endeavor.

15. The Wisconsin DPI received the Wisconsin School Emergency Management Project, funded by US Department of Ed. for $472,000. The project will reach an estimated 125 local education agencies with training and technical assistance regarding:
1) high quality school emergency operations plans;
2) developing MOUs with community partners in relation to school emergencies, and;
3) National Incident Management Systems (NIMS) concepts and on-line resources.
Funding will go to the WISH Center to develop contracts with School Safety Coordinators Association, Center for Youth & Citizen Preparedness, and work with National Association of School Psychologists on PREPaRE trainings. Statewide regional conferences coming soon!
Wisconsin Safe & Healthy Schools Center | 608-786-4838 | therlitzke@cesa4.org | http://www.wishschools.org
923 East Garland Street
West Salem, WI 54669