Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 9/9.4.2

Learning Targets

1. Students will be able to know the benefits of a school and community partnership

2. Students will be able to give examples of a school and community partnership

3. Students will know where to look for community involvement for their school

Introduction

In various communities across the country many schools are reaching out. Oftentimes many of the schools need extra funding or even to bridge the gap between the community and the school. These days more and more schools are socially linking themselves within the community. Community partnerships can improve school programs to connect students parents to put forth more effort at home as well as helping teachers. The main reason for community partnerships is to help young kids succeed in school and later in life. Many often wonder what exactly makes a good community partnership. With the help of the local, federal, and state policies it outlines a distinct route to work from. In the 1990s the Educate America Act set partnerships as a voluntary national goal for all states. This means that many school systems are setting up policies to create more connections with the surrounding communities.

Examples of Community Involvement

In Boston many of the low-income communities see a significant incline of student dropouts. Many of these kids just feel the need not to attend school and often become related with illegal activities. In Boston an organization has stepped to the plate to stop this with the young black and Latino community. Each Monday night this organization rents multiple vans to take the blacks and Latinos to the club organization. By picking these young kids up it insures their safety to the parents and so the parents know they are attending. This community organization reaches out to the kids to make them feel part of the community. It gives them a sense of belonging and a place where they feel safe. This organization also reaches out to them by creating community building and critical thinking activities. By having a organization that is targeted to racial classes it helps out in low income communities. It gives these kids a sense belonging and they are doing food for their community. Without these small organization many of these kids would still be running the street in Boston, instead every Monday they are socializing together, creating a better life for themselves as well as their families.

From growing up in Chesapeake, Virginia my whole life the community has been nothing but a huge impact on the school system. When I was in grade school the school system had a partnership with Pizza Hut for the Book It Program. This program was geared for young kids from kindergarten to fifth grade to get out and read as much as possible. This program encouraged students to read as much as they can during the month, once the month was over they were given a book it certificate from their teacher. Once the student received the certificate they would take it to their local pizza hut and they would receive a free one topping personal pan pizza. Also the student would be presented a book it pin which accumulated stickers for future months. This program lasts from October 1 through March 31. If the student met his or her goal each month they would receive the personal pan pizza each month as well as the sticker. At the end of the year they would become a Pizza Hut All-Star Reader if they completed the program each month. This community organization was very helpful when I was younger. It made the kids in each class read as much as possible and it even encouraged the parents. Many parents would often have reading time with the family and encourage students to go to the public libraries to check out books to read.

Schools Reaching Out to the Community

Many schools these days reach out to the community in which the school resides. At my local high school in Chespeake they had a club called MAGfrat. This club was geared towards community involvement with the school and community. Oftentimes they would go to local establishments and clean. They often reached out to the elderly in Chesapeake and often did community service. They would often go to elderly's houses and do yard work because oftentimes they could not do it themselves. They would rake yards, bag leaves and cut the grass. Doing this helped the students perform various tasks to help their community. It taught them that it's always a good deed to help others in their time of need and that one day these services could help you.

Also many schools around thanksgiving and Christmas orchestrate a canned food drive. They get each homeroom to college non-parishable food items that can be sent off to the less fortunate during the holidays. The schools normally team up with the local foodbanks to help out amongst the community.

Another form of school support is the adopt a child program. Many schools in Chesapeake adopted this idea. Each homeroom teams up with other homerooms and they receive a child that they are responsible for to buy gifts for Christmas. Each homeroom donates money to a fund and at the end of the two weeks they take the money and go buy various gifts the child had written down for his or her Christmas list.

These three forms of school involvement are a huge benefit for the less fortunate in our community. It brings the community closer to their local school system and gives the students that are involved a sense of belonging that they are helping out people that are not as wealthy and stable as they are. It gives you a sense or pride in knowing that you too are helping the community through your local school.

Communities Reaching out to Schools

Oftentimes it goes unnotices by the majoritiy of the population, but we as a community are helping out the school in many different ways. The community as a whole funds the whole public school system. People may not realize, but the money you spend and the tax it generates helps pay the teachers salaries as well as any staff it has on payroll. It goes from the people cooking school lunches to the substitutes that are filling in for the teachers. This funding is a great asset because the public school system is a non profit organization and is solely funded on generious donations as well as the tax payers money.

Another example of community outreach is when sports teams often go out and get donations to help feed the athletic team before games. When I was in high school many local businesses often would send large portions of food to help feed the team before games. This is a grateful impact of what your community is willing to do for your school. Oftentimes football teams have anywhere from fifty to eighty kids including coaches they would have to feed before hand. With the help of local restaurants they donate food which helps so that parents do not have to pay out of pocket for their kids to eat before sporting events.

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