Miami school district receives grant to educate and engage parents

The Miami Unified School District was recently awarded a $360,000 grant over three years that will support parent education and engagement.

Awarded by the Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family, the Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention Grant will provide the district $120,000 each year, Miami High School Principal Glen Lineberry said in a press release. 

“We are very excited to receive this support from the Governor’s Office and to bring these programs to the families in our school district and the surrounding community,” Miami Superintendent Dr. Sherry Dorathy stated in the release.

The district will use the grant to support a number of initiatives, including the following:

• Preventing student use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco through classroom programs, such as the Scholastic Medical Safety training for elementary students and their parents and the high school’s Out of Focus Productions, where young students learn filmmaking and video production.
• Books-Bed-Breakfast—a program that encourages healthy reading, sleeping and eating habits.
• Training students and families in nutrition, cooking and family discussion, using help from Arizona State University’s Family Check Up model as well as the Miami Career and Technical Education (CTE) Culinary Arts program.
• Miami Orchards and Garden will be the next step in teaching students and their families how to grow healthy fruits, vegetables and nuts while increasing the number of plants that can help mitigate the effects of greenhouse gases.
• Planning a Successful Future, including Reaching for the American Dream, an ASU-created program for elementary students at the beginning of their school careers and their families; the American Dream Academy, teaching high school students and their parents how to prepare for college and career and ReEligible, a program helping student-athletes recover academic eligibility.
• Programs for parents to share their parenting wins and losses as well as learn from others.
• The three main speakers, who will present during the fall and winter, are:
• Dr. Laura Markham of Aha! Parenting will share her system of “Peaceful Parenting: Help Kids want to Cooperate without Yelling, Threats, Bribes or Punishment.”
• Dr. Lisa Damour, author of “Untangled” and “Under Pressure” will present on staying engaged with girls during the difficulties associated with puberty, adolescence and the teenage years.
• Dr. Adolph Brown, a nationally recognized expert on student and parent engagement.

Lineberry said that program details will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Events will be open to all families in the community and will take place at Miami schools Charles A. Bejarano Elementary, Lee Kornegay Middle School and Miami Junior-Senior High School, he said.

“We’ve made great progress the last few years at Miami, due mainly to great kids and an extraordinary staff and faculty,” Lineberry said. “This Parent Engagement grant will enable us to improve our outreach to the parents and families of our current students and to the entire community.”