Each year the fourth and fifth grade classes participate in a health promotion program called the Parent Educator Program (“PEP”). PEP uses trained parent volunteers to present health and life skills information to students. Materials are age-appropriate, informative and fun, the curriculum is designed to promote resiliency and help young people make healthy life decisions. Topics are selected to complement and support the overall fourth and fifth grade life skills curriculums. Lessons include: Bullying, Drugs and Medications, Tobacco, Alcohol and Addiction, Conflict Resolution and Refusal Skills, Internet Safety, and Marijuana.
PEP is presented in six, one-hour weekly lessons to the students. All parent facilitators attend a 21-hour training program led by the Pleasant Hill-based Center for Human Development, the organization that designed and maintains the materials for PEP. In addition, Peer Mediators from Piedmont Middle School come to the fifth grade classrooms in late Spring, giving students the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about how issues are handled in Middle School.
After each weekly session, parent educators provide information about the week’s lesson to parents enabling them to discuss these topics together with their children. PEP is intended to be a starting point for greater discussions at home. In addition, a binder with the PEP curriculum remains in the school office for parents and teachers to review.