HEALTH ENHANCEMENT AND SAFETY DIVISION
Vision Statement
To encourage the development of coordinated school health education programs that are designed to prevent major health problems and health-risk behaviors among youth and promote healthy lifestyles, families and communities.
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State and national studies show that many Montana school-aged youth engage in behaviors that put them at risk for injuries, HIV/sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide. Additionally, health risk behaviors – such as tobacco use, improper diets, and physical inactivity – developed during childhood place young people at risk for chronic disease later in life.
The Health Enhancement and Safety Division plays a key role in fostering and maintaining the physical, emotional, social and mental health of students and their environment while promoting healthy lifestyles as personal and societal responsibilities. The three units within the Division – Coordinated School Health Unit, School Nutrition Unit, and Traffic Education Unit – include the following programs and areas of responsibility: Health Enhancement (Health and Physical Education), HIV/STD Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, School Nutrition Programs (School Lunch, School Breakfast, Milk, After School Snack, Summer Food, Cooperative Food Purchasing, Food Distribution, and Nutrition Education and Training), Driver Education and Advanced Driver Education.
The Coordinated School Health work is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities and 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs are funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The School Nutrition and nutrition education and training programs are funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Tobacco Prevention program is funded through a cooperative agreement with Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services, and the Driver Education and Advanced Driver Education programs are funded with state special revenue/proprietary funds.
DIVISION GOALS
The major goals of the Health Enhancement and Safety Division include:
1. Provide technical assistance to schools and communities in all program areas, including implementing guidance of federal program guidelines and requirements. Responsibilities include training, program planning, development, implementation, assessment, and reporting.
2. Provide curricular and instructional materials to schools for use by teachers in the program areas identified. These materials include curricular scope and sequence, curricula guidelines, and classroom-based activities, as well as guidelines for program and student assessment.
3. Develop and maintain a cadre of regional Health Enhancement/HIV Trainers who are trained and equipped to provide health-related training to professional, administrative and support staff at the school site.
4. Develop and maintain a cadre of Driver Education Instructors who are trained and equipped to provide traffic-related instruction to students and advanced training to adults.
5. Promote a coordinated school health approach in Montana schools and increase the number of schools that provide planned, sequential and age-appropriate health and physical education at each grade level.
6. Monitor the availability, utilization and quality of school food services in Montana schools.
7. Monitor the health-related behavior of Montana youth in six categories: intentional and unintentional injury, tobacco use, drug and alcohol use, dietary imbalances, sexual behavior, and physical inactivity. The monitoring of health-related behaviors will include the general student population in grades 7 - 12, youth in alternative high school settings, American Indian youth in reservation and in urban schools, and youth with special needs.
8. Maintain cooperative working relationships with:
- other state agencies, professional associations, state non-profit and for-profit organizations, and community-based organizations to effectively provide a continuum of services for youth to promote positive health behaviors through the most cost-effective means possible;
- Montana’s school administrators through frequent communication and presentations at regional and state association meetings in order to secure administrative support for program activities;
- the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Education, the highway traffic safety community and the Montana Legislature to maintain existing sources of funding, provide all necessary applications and reports, and provide information and input regarding future program goals and objectives; and
- other programs within the Office of Public Instruction, including communication both up and down the chain of command, in order to coordinate the effective delivery of educational services.
9. Conduct evaluation activities to provide information necessary to assess progress and to assist in improving division work plan activities.
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