Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1505501
" Hoover reached out and invited us parents to get involved; they did a focus group to find out what we needed for ourselves and for our students. That was wonderful because, as a single mom, I could get comprehensive help for my child. And now I'm a member of the Site Governance Team — we get to make good choices, good decisions for the students....The school has a lot of activities to get involved with, a lot of clubs for young people, trainings and events for parents, family engagement." — LISA PEOPLES, parent and Hoover Site Governance Team member People power It takes a village, of course, but specific people in specific roles are crucial to success. RICHARD GIJON, Community Schools Coordinator. Gijon works full time to coordinate all student and family support services and cre- ates an environment that helps support student achievement and wellness. " The students and families in our community dictate what I do. Some days a family comes in in crisis [over] issues of food security, housing, and I connect them to the resources we have. Sometimes it's mental health....We had all these resources [before, but] it was a little disjointed. Part of my role [is] trying to get all these programs to develop a plan to engage all our students." CHASE FITE, Community Schools Site Coach. The AP government teacher spends one class period on community schools work, including needs assessment and data collection and analysis; implementing expanded and enriched learning; and developing and implementing collaborative leadership and decision-making proto- cols and structures. "A site coach helps build up the relationships and the onboarding of the staff as well as the community partners on site. I'm also developing collaborative leadership protocols and structures and helping implement them." SITE GOVERNANCE TEAM, see previous page. The site team approach, with its shared governance, was actually established in the SDEA contract in the 1990s to ensure members' ability to democratize the workplace, determining such things as school schedule and dress code. (Note: The team is different than the School Site Council.) Community schools' work builds on these existing decision-making bodies. SDEA AND MEMBER EDUCATORS, a critical force in supporting community schools as drivers of equity, democracy and engage- ment among students, families and community — and educators. At top: Slide from a San Diego community schools presentation. Bottom: At Hoover's Health Center, students can visit licensed therapists from Rady Children's Hospital. C O M M U N I T Y S C H O O L S 34 cta.org Social Justice