Community_Schools_Effective_INFOGRAPHIC
“Community Schools” is a very useful concept, as it helps us imagine what neighborhood schools could actually be in the way of a re-invention of what a school does, and what a school building is for.
In the case below, Las Cruces, a small city with a large population below the poverty line, Community Schools have a certain focus on what could/should happen. Many neighborhoods are in less affluent areas, with fewer educational resources, weak or nonexistent broadband, and *greater social services needs.
*Food, Healthcare, Drug addiction therapy, domestic violence, etc”
Area neighborhoods with a greater presence of educational resources, different employment scenarios, different demands on parents’ time/ schedules/ locations, and with fewer needs for basic social services, Community Schools look different.
The general idea being each neighborhood might be able to take “school modules” off the shelf, and add/ adjust according to their own particular needs for the education of their kids. Presuming the guidance and strong support of the local school district, and service aggregators would be there to help make it all happen.
This is obviously a big experiment, which will have plenty of failures, and successes, on “the road to find out”. It might in some ways blend with aspects of charter schools.
In any event, we need a vision such as Community Schools should it turn out to be true that we can’t/ shouldn’t go back to the way it used to be pre-pandemic.
Las Cruces Public Schools to add two new community schools | KRWG