OKCPS Foundation aims to broaden network
As a seventh-grader in Tupelo, Mississippi, Kendrick Adams connected with a mentor in his school who encouraged him to pursue his current career as an engineer. Looking to pay the blessing forward, he works with a group in Oklahoma City that’s provided mentorship and tutoring services at John Marshall Enterprise Middle School the past three years.
The relationship between the John Marshall and the Alpha Community Foundation of Oklahoma, where Adams serves as vice chairman, is the kind envisioned by the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation as it rolls out a new community partnership model known as School Connect.
Modeled after a similar program in Arizona, School Connect is relationshipdriven, said Mary Mélon-Tully, president and chief executive officer of the OKCPS Foundation.
“School Connect focuses on placing community partners – like businesses, nonprofits and families – into schools and developing long-term connections to “allow for that relationship, which is so important on both sides.” Mélon-Tully said.” A previous model used by the foundation, she said, focused more on one-off opportunities.
“This model is designed to create a network of community partners interested in adopting a school,” she said. “They are interested in building long-term relationships with these schools to provide whatever the schools made need, whether it’s volunteer resources or real resources that are maybe financial in nature. In addition to that, they’re working with the schools to build relationships with them and work on the schools’ longterm goals. It’s very strategic in nature.”
School Connect is being rolled out in 13 OKC district schools initially, with plans to expand into the entire district as soon as possible.
This month at John Marshall Enterprise High School, the OKC district hosted a CAFÉ (Community And Family Engagement) event, a technique used by School Connect to bring together school leaders and community partners. The combined group shares needs and works together to fill gaps in three primary areas
“This model is designed to create a network of community partners interested in adopting a school.”
Mary Mélon-Tully OKCPS Foundation
– teacher retention, staff and student attendance, and learning environment.
More than 30 people from 18 organizations attended the John Marshall event. Students and staff from both John Marshall schools presented statistics about their respective schools and shared their needs with the community partners. Among those in attendance were representatives from Tinker Federal Credit Union, which is providing meals for John Marshall teachers during professional development days — in support of the “teacher retention” focus area.
“Our Strategic Planning and Partnerships team, as well as our foundation, have been working closely with our schools to bring this model to life,” OKC Superintendent Sean McDaniel said. “Engagement with our community is critical to the success of our district. This can be through partnerships, volunteering or in-kind donations. We are in the first phase of this model and excited to roll it out district wide.”
Adams’ group also was represented at the John Marshall event. He said Alpha Community Foundation volunteers work with seventh- and eighth-grade students at John Marshall once a week. Adams said the volunteers get as much out of the process as the students.
“This is how it works,” Adams said. “You have to get the community partners that are willing to come and provide the additional resources. The school is for instructions and academics. To have community partners to share resources and grow the kids’ mind, body and soul is important. The school can’t do it all. The parents can’t do it all. Community leaders and peer groups are often the part that propels the kids further than the parents or the school can, because they add a different, intangible element to the development of the kid.
“We teach them topics like self-esteem, discipline and we also teach them about future plans for their career, whether it’s going to school, whether it’s going into the military, or any vocational training,” Adams said. “Our role is to fill void as role models and show them there are engineers, there are neurosurgeons, there are real estate commercial brokers that you can become. When you put those kinds of occupations in front of kids, they’re more likely to (enter those fields) in the future.”
That’s the idea, said John Marshall Enterprise Middle School Principal Chris Gardner, who emphasized the value of forming long-term relationships between schools and community partners.
“It is very important for students to see that,” Gardner said. “It sends the message they are valued and that they’re cared for. It also gives them motivation that they can overcome obstacles, that they can excel and succeed.”
He added: “We all need the support. We all need the uplifting, and we all need just the community structure to move forward. We all need that.”