Welcome to Community Schools, a monthly email newsletter highlighting public schools using the “community school” approach to empower parents, students, educators, and their communities—produced by In the Public Interest.
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A school built a homeless shelter. And it helped students in the classroom. Journalist Gail Cornwall tells the story of San Francisco’s Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 Community School, which appears to be the first modern public elementary school to have hosted a long-term, overnight family shelter. The Hechinger Report
On California’s historic investment in community schools. Los Angeles’s KCRW talks with Karen Hunter Quartz of the UCLA Center for Community Schooling about California’s historic investment of $3 billion to convert thousands of its public schools into community schools in the next seven years. KCRW
Little Rock to add two new community schools. Little Rock, Arkansas, has announced that it will be expanding the number of community schools in its school district next school year, including an elementary school and middle school. THV 11
Federal dollars going to community schools. The White House’s fact sheet on how American Rescue Plan money is being spent on schools includes details on the New York City Department of Education’s investment of $10 million to expand the district’s research-based community schools. The White House
“Community schools could fix a major problem in education.” Journalist Jeff Bryant documents efforts by community schools in San Francisco, Taos, New Mexico, and Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, to repair the frayed relationship between parents and schools. The Progressive
“School culture wars are distracting us from something remarkable happening.” Lost in the noise about “critical race theory,” In the Public Interest’s Jeremy Mohler writes, is the story of a truly grassroots movement for public schools that meet community needs. In the Public Interest
New York’s teachers push for more community school funding. As New York state lawmakers narrow in on final state budget numbers, the state’s teachers are pushing for a $100 million investment in community schools. The Sun
A fight in Colorado. The Adams 14 School District north of Denver, Colorado, is facing reorganization by the state after years of persistently low test scores. Its leaders want the state to invest in the community school approach for the district, but state leaders are dragging their feet. Chalkbeat Colorado
How this school went from the brink of closure to a 95 percent graduation rate. FreeThink Media, in partnership with Million Stories (a project of the Singleton Foundation), has released a 10-minute documentary-style film featuring Netter Center’s University-Assisted Community School partnership with Philadelphia’s Paul Robeson High School. FreeThink Media
“Every school can, and should, be a community school.” Hayin Kimner, managing director of the CA Community Schools Learning Exchange, and Martin Blank, former founding director of the Coalition for Community Schools, write, “Community schools do not emerge in a single stroke, nor are they a quick fix. Rather, they develop synergistically over time as educators, families and their community work together.” EdSource
A new task force focused on community schools implementation guidance. Brookings explains how four national organizations have teamed up on the Community Schools Forward project: the Center for Universal Education at Brookings, Learning Policy Institute, the Coalition for Community Schools, and the National Center for Community Schools. Brookings
Photo by David Syzdek.