K-16 Partnerships Fall Speaker: Marty Blank and Community Schools

Posted by on November 10, 2012

On Thursday, October 25th, PHENND hosted Marty Blank, the Director of the Coalition of Community Schools at the School District of Philadelphia for a discussion regarding how to make developing community partnerships a key strategy to improve Philadelphia Schools. This discussion focused on what it truly means to build an infrastructure on the District level that values community involvement and partnerships in schools…
Mr. Blank emphasized that community partnerships aid schools in:

• Uniting neighborhoods
• Supporting teachers against burnout and the pressure to “do it all”
• Creating conditions for expanded learning opportunities
• Enhancing opportunities to learn on weekends and after-school
• Supporting learning that happens at home
• Helps schools focus on “real world learning” that engages students and families

Community Schools integrate a specific “Theory of Action” in how they approach education. Mr. Blank stated that “Community Schools” are analogous to “smart phones” in that they should function as, “smart schools”. Parents, students, teachers and community members should be able to have all the resources children need for success in the same space and should be able to customize these resources to serve the particular neighborhood that they live in. Social services, extracurriculars, parental education, ESL support, special education, sports etc. should all be “applications” in your “smart school” that can be utilized appropriately.

In order to maximize the benefits of the community school model, Mr. Blank highlighted particular conditions that have to be in place. What was most central to the success of this model was the explicit commitment of resources (in people or funds) to coordinating these efforts and having successful partnerships at the forefront of the entire School District’s mission for success. One school or even a few schools will have a much harder time successfully sustaining a community school without the support of the District. Other ingredients include:

• Creating accessible data systems for community partners and parents to use to assess student need to be able to assess what’s working for students.

• Community-Wide Leadership that is invested in making partnerships work.
  • Example: Portland has a coordinating system in place for all community partnership schools.
  • Creating School-Site Leadership teams that monitors all partners, from planning to implementation that are bringing resources into a school.

• Principal readiness and commitment to strategic partnerships:
  • Participating in professional development
  • Knowing the neighborhood, being familiar with community structures/support
  • Sharing of leadership
  • Spelling out needs for community partners and what their roles can be and building partnerships with a clear vision

• Having a School Partnerships Coordinator to:
  • Collaborate with principal and leadership team
  • Mobilize and build relationships with school staff and community partners
  • Engage families and community residents
  • Align and integrate school and community opportunities and supports–inside and outside of the classroom
  • Integrate community partnerships in to the school improvement plan
  • Help use data to drive school improvement plan
  • Help to organize grant money and integrate it at the school level

This job of School Partnerships Coordinator was highlighted as particularly important for Mr. Blank, and he state that it, “can’t be part-time job placed upon overworked teacher”, it has to be a full-time position that is valued as part of the school. A key member of Dr. Hite’s Leadership Team, Ms. Karyn Lynch, Chief of Student Services, gave an enthusiastic yet realistic response regarding the need for and the challenges in implementing high-quality community partnerships in schools in a large District like Philadelphia. Ms. Lynch has spent her entire career, 32 years, in public service in Prince Georges Maryland. During her time with Dr. Hite she managed the division’s departments of Guidance Counseling Services, Family and Community Outreach, Health Services, Homeless Education, Safe and Drug Free Schools and Character Education, as well as the Office of Student Appeals. Ms. Lynch emphasized that she has spent time on “both sides of the [partnership] fence” and that she knows what its like to be, “knocking on the door”, trying to get a response from the District level to be able to provide services to youth. Her recommendations to community partners were to: be patient, be persistent and to establish relationships with those at the District level who can, “make things happen”. To this effect, Ms. Lynch noted that Ms. Evelyn Sample Oats is currently the main point of contact at the District for community partnerships questions. As the PHENND K-16 Partnerships Network we look forward to working with Ms. Lynch, Ms. Sample Oats and all District Leadership to prioritize high-quality partnerships that work for families, communities and schools. We know it can be done because we see the phenomenal efforts that community partners and schools put it to create unique opportunities for students every day.

The powerpoint for Mr. Blank’s presentation can be found on the PHENND K-16 Resources Page here: https://phennd.org/index.php?/forums/viewforum/64/ If you’d like to get involved in the K-16 Partnerships Network, please contact Liz Shriver: eshriver@phennd.org, 215-573-2379.