HCPS FL Logo Leadership, Professional Development, and School Transformation
Action Item
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 2020
TO: School Board Members
FROM: Jeff Eakins, Superintendent
SUBJECT / RECOMMENDATIONS
Approve the Memorandum of Agreement with Friends of the Children-Tampa Bay, Inc.(Leadership, Professional Development, and School Transformation)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The funding for the services provided by Friends of the Children is being provided by the Title 4 grant, which is designed to provide all students with access to a well-rounded education and improve conditions for student learning.

Friends of the Children will launch the Foster Elementary Expansion Project by identifying and enrolling thirteen kindergarten aged children in the program.  Enrollment efforts will focus on kindergarteners who have already been exposed to multiple traumatic adverse childhood experiences including intergenerational poverty, foster care, homelessness, parental incarceration, and parental substance use/mental health disorders, all of which can create barriers to learning for the student, require extra time and attention from teachers and staff, and often result in behaviors that disrupt learning for entire classrooms.

Selection of students will be completed using Friends of the Children research-based schools selection process to identify the children who have the greatest number of risk and the fewest number of protective factors.  Once enrolled, each child and their family will receive continued support until they graduate from high school.  Friends of the Children will work with children unconditionally, on a weekly basis in support of three long-term goals: graduate from high school, avoid juvenile justice system involvement and avoid teen parenting.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
• Improve the high school graduation rate • Provide a student-centered learning environment that engages every child • Recruit, support, and retain a highly effective and diverse workforce
FINANCIAL IMPACT (Budgeted:  Yes)
Funds in the amount of $130,000 will be available in the Title IV Grant. For tracking purposes, the project number specific to this agenda is 3744. As of December 16, 2019, the remaining balance less encumbrances for this line item equaled $130,000.
EVALUATION
A five year study, which was published in the academic journal, Prevention Science, assessed Friends of the Children mentoring model.  Researchers observed positive school behavior and less trouble in school, with a trend for higher child behavioral and emotional strengths in the 278 participants studied.  Unlike many other programs, the most promising effects were found in growth in positive parental and caregiver perceptions of a child.  Participants built strong and positive relationships with their mentors, as well as multiple strong and positive relationships with other children who were also being mentored.
SUBMITTED BY: 
Tricia McManus   Gretchen Saunders
Assistant Superintendent, Leadership, Professional Development, and School Transformation
(813) 272-4876
  Chief Business Officer
(813) 272-4270
    B 6.18
Hillsborough County Public Schools (Florida) * Mtg.#20200114_977 (Board Meeting) * Section B Item# 6.18