Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1509126
Students relax at Buena Vista Horace Mann. Photo: Chris Robledo T Y P I C A L L Y, says Nick Chandler, community schools coor- din ator at Bu en a Vi st a Hora c e Mann K–8 sch o o l in S an Francisco, the family power structure in schools tends to fall within families with privilege. "Families with in c om e, fami li e s w ith a c c e ss, fami li e s w ith time," he explains. At BVHM, such families are few. A dual-lan- guage Spanish Immersion Community School in the city's Mission District, BVHM enrolls about 600 stud ents; in 2021–22, 86% i d entif i ed as Hispanic/Latino, 64% were socioeconomically disadvantaged and 63% were English Learners. "To ensure that we had authentic partnership with our families of students who needed the most support, we've had to be really strategic about how we engage families and set up shared decision making to hear the voices that often go unheard," Chandler says. e strategy involved continuous outreach, listening to and encouraging leadership from families — especially monolingual Spanish-speaking families — and responding to their needs. is included creating the Stay Over Program about five years ago, which allows unhoused San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) families to sleep at the BVHM gym and receive case management services to support their eventual housing. Housing remains one of the major challenges BVHM families face. Other immediate challenges identified by BVHM families are immigration and mental and physical health needs. "Basic needs supports have evolved over time. ey've been a direct result of that family voice, of that student voice," says Chandler. I t's almost 6:30 p.m. on a late spring evening, and se veral families are already standing patiently outside the BVHM gym, backpacks and bags in hand, waiting for the doors to open at 7. Inside, workers are setting up partitions that give each family a modicum of pri- vacy where they can unroll bed mats and settle in for the night. Power San Francisco Community School puts family needs front and center By Katharine Fong Family 32 cta.org "We've had to be really strategic about how we engage families and set up shared decision making to hear the voices that often go unheard." —BVHM Community Schools Coordinator Nick Chandler Social Justice C O M M U N I T Y S C H O O L S