why are policymakers supporting community schools?

Why are Policymakers Supporting Community Schools?

A conversation with School and Local Government Leaders

Monday May 18, 2009

AgendaAgenda• Welcome from the Coalition for

Community Schools, Marty Blank, Director

• Why Community Schools? Mayor Kathy Taylor, Tulsa, OK

• Insight from the Inside – Superintendent Dr. Karen S. Angello, Allentown, PA

• Local Government Leadership for Community Schools, Lolenzo Poe, Senior Policy Advisor, Portland, OR

Why Community Schools?Why Community Schools?

Presented by: Mayor Kathy Taylor, Tulsa, OK

Tulsa’sTulsa’s NeedNeed

• Number of Tulsa Public School kids in poverty: 82.9%

• Tulsa’s dropout rate: 29.8%

• Number of students who did not graduate from Oklahoma’s high schools last year 14,700

• Lost lifetime earning for the 2007 class of drop-outs $3.8 b

• Savings to Oklahoma in health care costs

if they had earned their diplomas $137.6 mil

Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative (TACSI)(TACSI)

Successful Students

Healthy Families Engaged Communities

Current Community School Priority Sites (all elementary schools)June 2007

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Prepared by the Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa (10/2007).Supported by the Metropolitan Human Services Commission.

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McKinleyCelia Clinton

Mark Twain

Addams MarshallMcClure

Roy Clark

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McAuliffe

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Kendall-Whittier

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Rosa Parks

Community Schools – Community Schools – Insight from the InsideInsight from the Inside

Presented by:

Karen S. Angello, Ph.D., Superintendent of Allentown School District

TheThe Allentown School DistrictAllentown School District

• Fourth largest district in Pennsylvania, 22 schools,18,000 students

• Lehigh Valley’s changing demographics and impact on the city of Allentown

• Snapshot of academic performance, forward motion and challenges

• Barriers to progress: lack of coordinated supports for students & their families and inconsistent communication links

COMPASS Community Schools: COMPASS Community Schools: Connecting Community, Creating PathwaysConnecting Community, Creating Pathways

• Purpose: linking schools/communities in effective ways to address student achievement and poverty

• Key features: principal leading vision, full-time co-located staff from partner organization, parents at table of site-based leadership team, results-focused plan, web of partnerships, programs, services

• Benefits: authentic parent/community engagement, process to organize/connect meaningful programs and services

Genuine Positive Results: Genuine Positive Results: Three ASD Community SchoolsThree ASD Community Schools

• Contribution to academic progress

• Dozens of examples…improved parent engagement

• Community School Coordinators as trusted relationship managers

• Authentic community engagement and investment in student success and neighborhood improvement

Lehigh Valley’s Community School Initiative: Lehigh Valley’s Community School Initiative: In Forward MotionIn Forward Motion

• Expansion and growth in the Allentown School District• Continued blending of community investors for success• Expanding services and increased parent

engagement/leadership development• United Way’s commitment to expand Community

Schools across the region

Local Government Leadership Local Government Leadership for Community Schoolsfor Community Schools

Presented by: Lolenzo T. Poe, Jr., Senior Policy Advisor to Chair of the Multnomah

County Board of Commissioners Multnomah County, Oregon

Multnomah County, Department of Multnomah County, Department of County Human ServicesCounty Human Services

• 53 SUN Community School sites across 6 school districts– This represents about 1/3 of the County’s schools

• Our initiative is a partnership between Multnomah County, the City of Portland, School Districts, Non-Profit Organizations and business

• SUN Community Schools are part of a larger coordinated system of comprehensive services delivered countywide called the SUN Service System

Why Community Schools in Why Community Schools in Multnomah CountyMultnomah County

• Community Schools is one of the key priorities of the County Chair and is an important anti-poverty strategy

• None of us can do it alone - SUN is about bringing together all important entities that need to work together to ensure success of all of our children and families; sharing this work makes it stronger

Expansion of Community SchoolsExpansion of Community Schools

3 elements of “expansion” over the past 3 years:

– Partnership Development & Joint Ownership– Every School a Community School– Statewide Initiative

Challenges the SUN Initiative Has Challenges the SUN Initiative Has FacedFaced

• Funding

• Politics

• Ownership

Additional ResourcesAdditional Resources

• Tulsa, OK, Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative www.csctulsa.org/community_schools.htm

• Lehigh Valley, COMPASS Initiative www.unitedwayglv.org/pages/get/130/COMPASS

• Portland, OR, Schools Uniting Neighborhoods www.sunschools.org/Public/EntryPoint?ch=d569b24c434b1110VgnVCM1000003bc614acRCRD

• Coalition for Community Schools www.communityschools.org

Contact Information for Local Contact Information for Local InitiativesInitiatives

• Lehigh Valley, PA - Marci Ronald, marcir@unitedwayglv.org 

• Tulsa, OK - Jan Creveling, jancreveling@aol.com • Portland, OR - Peggy Samolinski,

peggy.l.samolinski@co.multnomah.or.us

Thank You for Participating!Thank You for Participating!

www.communityschools.org

For more information: ccs@iel.org