Erie Reader / November 9. 2016
The community school strategy is predicated upon the belief that public education is the foundation of a democratic society,..The objectives of the community school strategy nationwide are to improve student-teacher relationships by allowing the teachers to focus on students’ educational needs while the community school partners tend to students’ life needs.
Recognizing that the community at large needed health and social services as well as community programming for both children and adults, the Cincinnati School District declared that all of its public schools would become Community Learning Centers, where medical clinics provide primary health services with co-located mental health services. They offer exercise classes and book clubs; plus college and career counseling in addition to tutoring services that link the district’s accelerated learning programs. Since 2006, the results of these programs is staggering…
The community schools strategy provides the city’s teachers and administrators with an agency that has not been part of the public school experience for nearly half a century. It is, in many ways, a return to the educational and traditional values upon which public education in the United States was founded.