Pittsburgh Public names its 5 ‘community schools’

Hamlet lauds effort to add social services

City school district leaders have long hoped that the idea of transforming school buildings into social service sites would help some of their most vulnerable students and neighbors.

On Thursday, Pittsburgh Public will at last name its first batch of “community schools,” designating Arsenal 6-8 in Lawrenceville, Langley K-8 in the West End, Lincoln PreK-5 in Larimer and Faison K-5 and Westinghouse High School in Homewood.

Twenty-one schools applied for the title earlier this year, and a committee studying the topic selected 10, which members visited and narrowed to five. The board first passed the community

schools policy last July.

“I think it’s a good fit for any school district to have the community schools concept embedded in the fabric to help break down those barriers that are hindering our success,” superintendent Anthony Hamlet said a day before the news conference announcing the plan.

In the first year, the five “designated” community schools, will feature an onsite employee to coordinate programs and services provided through existing community organizations based on the school’s needs.

In later phases of the program, “full-service” community schools will serve as social service hubs for the community and could offer services like adult education and even medical and dental care.

Additionally, the district wants a full-time nurse on every campus by this fall, amountingto 17 new hires.

Four new “attendance specialists” will be assigned to severalschools to help free up social workers and counselors “from doing all the nittygritty and paperwork” so they’re “able to spend more time with students,” said Mr. Hamlet’s executive director, ErrikaFearby Jones.

Marc Cherna, head of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services who has a representative on the community schools committee, said half the students in the city school system have received some type of service from his agency.

“I think it’s really positive,” he said of the model. “I think kids in these community schools really need a lot of supports.”

“We think if you have a solid community schools initiatives in the district, those external needs are met and they’re better able to learn,” added Ms. Fearby Jones.

Four of the five “designated” community schools have existing relationships with nonprofits to provide social services, which was partly the reason they were chosen. Homewood Children’s Village works with Lincoln, Faison and Westinghouse, where site managers already are employed. In the initial phase, developing a single, shared approach and common language around what it actually means to be a community school in Pittsburgh Public is easier “where there’s some scaffolding” already, Ms. Fearby Jones said.

Arsenal 6-8 works with the national organization Communities In Schools and Langley’s principal, Rodney Necciai, while new to the community schools models, has “demonstrated a willingness to take risks and work with parents,” she said.

The nurses, attendance specialists and site manager at Langley will be paid for by the district’s general fund budget, said community schools coordinator LouAnn Ross. Homewood Children’s Village receives foundation money to provide its services to the three schools it serves.

Ms. Ross said the site managers will receive professional development training over the summer. Outside entities will evaluate the work during the school year, she added, to “make sure it's meaningful and effective.”

“We think if you have a solid community schools initiatives in the district, those external needs are met and they’re better able to learn.” — Errika Fearby Jones, executive director Pittsburgh Public Schools