Source: CTNow.com
August 17, 2017
Vanessa de la Torre
In a time of uncertainty, leaders in Hartford public schools, nonprofit agencies and the philanthropic sector say they are committed to the city’s “community school” strategy that has been cited as a national model.
On Wednesday, members of the Hartford Partnership for Student Success, a coalition that includes public and private partners, signed another yearlong agreement to continue the decade-old “wraparound” help that has turned a half-dozen city schools into neighborhood hubs with health services, after-school programs, clothing banks and holiday dinners.
Coalition officials say chronic absenteeism has declined at nearly all these community schools, and that math and reading scores have improved among students who participate in the after-school activities for at least three years — glimmers of progress amid the deep challenges and disparities that persist in the Hartford school system.
“Whether or not you have a child in the Hartford public schools, you have a stake in the Hartford public schools,” said Jay Williams, president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The growth in some areas is “encouraging, but it is not enough.”
In 2007, the Hartford school system, the city of Hartford, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut agreed to offer financial and organizational support for a long-term approach that considers the “whole child” in some of the city’s neediest schools.
Hartford’s efforts cost more than $2 million a year for infrastructure and funding that is steered to local lead agencies, such as The Village for Families and Children and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford, that work directly with the community schools and act as brokers to marshal together resources that include after-school tutoring for the kids, financial literacy classes for parents, and mental health clinicians in the building, said Tauheedah Jackson, director of the Hartford Partnership for Student Success.
At Burns Latino Studies Academy and the Asian Studies Academy at Bellizzi, for instance, COMPASS Youth Collaborative has been embedded in these pre-K-to-grade 8 schools for years. So has Catholic Charities at Thirman L. Milner School, where school officials say attendance has improved among students who receive clinical services to help cope with the trauma and toxic stress in their lives.
Daisy Lopez, a grandmother of two boys at Milner, said she has felt the impact of Catholic Charities’ role at the school. From providing back-to-school book bags to connecting families with social services to meet basic needs, such as therapy and assistance paying the light bill, the partnership has “helped me a lot,” Lopez said Wednesday.
Thomas Oakley, Catholic Charities’ community school director at Milner, said a big focus has been getting more parents engaged in the school and teaching them skills so they can advocate for their children’s education. In the past year, Milner, a chronically low-performing school in Hartford’s North End, has been mentioned as one of the city schools that could be consolidated as the district looks to downsize.
Corporations involved in the Hartford Partnership for Student Success include Aetna and The Hartford, the latter of which has linked up with the newly renovated West Middle School in the insurance company’s Asylum Hill neighborhood. Aside from the $2 million annually, there are also in-kind services and support from a network of volunteers, Jackson said.
Jane Quinn, director of the New York-based National Center for Community Schools, said at least 90 school districts in the country use the community school model, but that the Hartford strategy stands out for its collection of public and private partners who share a leadership role in this compact.
“The investments are aligned, so that makes a huge difference,” Quinn said.
In 2013, Hartford's program received a National Community School Award for Excellence from the Coalition for Community Schools, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
After the one-year extension was signed Wednesday, Jackson talked about trying to expand strategies that have benefited students, such as weaving in mental health services in the schools. But she and others also acknowledged the heavy financial stress in the capital city, with the state budget at an impasse and Hartford considering filing for municipal bankruptcy.
“We need to let go of the kind of uncertainty that is swirling around us, and we need to be personally responsible and we need to affirm the responsibility and the commitment of each of us that work in organizations that bring resources to the table,” said Paula Gilberto, president and CEO of United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. “This is our moment, this is our time and it is up to us … to take charge.”