Features Editor

The children may be going back to school, but the parents have an opportunity to learn, as well.

The Healthy Schools-Healthy Kids Grant Program is sponsoring a Back to School Parent Forum from 6 until 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6 at First Missionary Baptist Church on Alphonsa Byrd Drive (formerly North Brundidge Street).

The parent forum

is being sponsored by Charles Henderson Child Health Center as part of their Healthy Schools-Healthy Kids program which is developed on the concept that "it takes a village to raise a child."

Jackie Tuck, program coordinator, said hopes are that the community will come out in strong force in support of the parent forum.

"It really does take a village to raise a child and we need the support of the Pike County community to help us reach our goals of ‘Healthy Schools and Healthy Kids,’" Tuck said.

Any parent will benefit from the forum because the issues that will be discussed by a panel of health care and law enforcement professions are those that are at the forefront on society today.

"The purpose of the forum is to educate parents about the issues and to encourage feedback from them," Tuck said. "We have an outstanding panel of professionals who will provide valuable information and insight to those in attendance."

Nuri Abdur-Rahman, AIM project, will discuss character development and the establishment of a value system for young people.

Three Troy physicians will be on the panel. Drs. Stephen Coleman and Timothy

Hughes, OB/GYN, Southeast Alabama Rural Health, will provide parents with the latest information on sexually transmitted disease among adolescents and Dr. Angelique Murphy, pediatrician with Charles Henderson Child Health Center, will talk about nutrition.

District Attorney Mark Fuller will present information about violence education and prevention. Officer Willie Toney and Detective Greg Wright of the Troy Police Department will discuss violence in schools and ways to prevent and deal with it. They will also present information about drug use and safety.

School nurses, Betty Vance, Pamela Moates and Holli Vincent will present ways that parents can be involved in their children’s activities in school and outside of school that will enhance their ability to learn and do well in school.

Tuck said all parents of school age children are encouraged to attend the Back to School Parent Forum. It’s a class for parents that should provide valuable information that will make a difference in the lives of their children.