Let’s Make Community Schools the Schools Our Children Deserve – PCAPS Releases Plan
Spring Garden parent Sheila Armstrong speaking at City Hall press conference
Today, the Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools announced theircomprehensive Community Schools platform, developed by over the last year by a group of public school parents, educators, service providers, university partners and community organizations working with or in public schools. This platform outlines clear, concrete next steps that will ensure real Community Schools are built across the City, providing transformational education and resources to our neediest neighborhoods.
“We reached out during the last election cycle to candidates, calling for them to embrace a Community Schools initiative. We are here today to share the fruit of that work,” said Ron Whitehorne, retired teacher and PCAPS coordinator. “First, we applaud Mayor Kenney and Council President Clarke for their commitment to a community schools initiative. We hope to work with them as well as the School District to fashion a community schools plan.”
As an initial step, the group called for the City to establish a funded planning process led by a city-wide task force that includes parents, students, teachers and other school staff, community organization leaders, and city agency leaders. The group asserted that the task force should be charged with developing Philadelphia’s inclusive and effective plan for community schools, including fleshing out the ongoing governance structure, long-term funding, program components, school selection criteria, performance metrics, and processes and templates for partnership contracts.
The PCAPS plan also calls for embracing a vision of community schools that goes beyond a lowest common denominator. “What has been emphasized to date is the development of partnerships housed in the school that provide support and services to students and families,” stated Ron Whitehorne. “That is critical, but we believe other things are essential as well, including a democratic culture and structure that draws on the energy and special knowledge of all elements of the school community… students, parents, teachers and neighborhood leaders.”
A series of speakers talked about why they saw community schools as a critical need. Sheila Armstrong, a parent leader from Spring Garden elementary and co-chair of the POWER Education Committee, talked bout the gains a community schools approach has brought at the school. “The leaders at Spring Garden School determined that one way we can see our students succeed is to find community resources to help our families with their issues that were not school related,” she explained, “The benefits we saw in the past three years were a reduction in missed days from school due to illness or medical appointments, Let’s Make Community Schools the Schools Our Children Deserve – PCAPS Releases Plan | WeArePCAPS:
