Trend grows for making schools community centers
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Now she sees hope in a concept being embraced by the Cincinnati Public Schools that may keep her grandson returning to classes: making city schools the hubs of their neighborhoods.
In a growing trend seen around the country, city officials are establishing public schools as centers for medical care, social services and academic aid for adults and children.
“Being able to go to a neighborhood school for tutoring, psychological counseling, health services, parenting classes — all the things that we needed but couldn’t always get to — will be wonderful,” Zink said.
“It will be like a one-stop center. Parents won’t have to take off work to take their child to an impersonal health clinic or some counselor miles away from their neighborhood.”
The city school district plans by 2012 to build 35 schools and renovate the remaining 31, all to include space for community learning centers geared to individual neighborhoods.
“We provide the space and agencies provide the service,” said deputy Superintendent Rosa Blackwell. “Some agencies that receive money to serve our children can’t always get children or adults to come to them. This way everyone benefits.”
The idea behind the centers — also known as community schools or neighborhood schools — dates to the late 19th century when settlement houses offered social services for urban neighborhoods. Educators later began looking at ways to bring services such as dental and health clinics and after-school arts and cultural programs into public schools.
In the past 10 to 15 years, the number of community schools has increased dramatically as school systems work more with community agencies that can pay for additional services or help secure grants, said Martin Blank, staff director for the Coalition for Community Schools in Washington.
“Communities are realizing that partnerships among educators, health and social service agencies and others can turn traditional schools offering only the standard curriculum into facilities that serve everyone in the community and better support the academic, social, physical and emotional needs of urban children,” he said.
The exact number of community schools isn’t tracked, in part because the concept varies among districts. Blank said a coalition survey showed at least 3,000 community schools five years ago. He estimates there are more than 4,000 today.
A few schools in the Chicago system began offering after-school enrichment programs and social services for children and adults as early as the 1990s. In 2002, the district started a campaign to transform 100 of its 600 schools into community schools, said Beth Swanson, director of the after-school and community school programs.
The main concern is that the extra programs don’t interfere with educators’ focus on academics, Blank said. That’s why schools get help providing and coordinating the services.
School districts still are faced with budget realities, however.
Blackwell said the Cincinnati district must stay within its $985 million capital improvements budget in designing buildings but can add space if community partners secure the funding.
It costs about $80,000 to build the community learning center space into each school. Officials say the services typically cost between $100,000 to $300,000 at each and usually come from grants. In most cases, families are not charged.
Indianapolis, with the help of the United Way, finds agencies to provide physical and mental health services, adult education classes and after-school programs in at least 42 of its 86 schools. The United Way of Central Indiana and the Indianapolis Public Schools each pay about $300,000 annually.
At the Winton Hills Academy elementary school in Cincinnati, officials aren’t waiting for their new building before offering medical services and after-school tutoring and workshops. A full-time health clerk transports students from school and handles the paperwork.
“We believe that a healthy child is more likely to learn than one who is not, and if we can capture residents at an early age we can ward off later problems and create a healthier community,” said Miriam Crenshaw, the health center’s executive director.
Shoni Potter said her four sons, who attend George Washington Community School in Indianapolis, benefit from after-school sports and tutoring. They also have received dental exams at the school.
“It makes it so much easier when you don’t have to get off work to take them all over town for some of these things,” she said.
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On the Net:
Coalition for Community Schools: http://www.communityschools.org