On November 30th, the entire community schools team with the Mayor’s Office of Education, was joined by community school principals and central office staff from the School District of Philadelphia and the School Reform Commission on a trip to Baltimore to tour community schools, meet community partners, and learn from those implementing the strategy within Baltimore’s public schools.

Visiting Baltimore, a city with more than forty community schools that relaunched their community school strategy in 2012, was a great opportunity for the Philadelphia team to see well-established community schools in action. The visit was hosted by the Family League of Baltimore, an agency that partners with community organizations to help support students and schools in Baltimore.

We toured 3 community schools and met with important stakeholders including school administrators, parents, teachers, families, and students. A highlight of the day was a peer-panel discussion with Baltimore’s principals and community school coordinators

Spending an awesome day in #Baltimore touring #CommunitySchools and meeting with key stakeholders to learn best practices. #phled

A photo posted by Mayor's Office Of Education (@phl_moe) on

“The Principals we heard from were awesome! There was a very diverse representation of perspectives,” said Caitlyn Boyle, the Regional Coordinator for Community Schools. “The principals speaking all had different leadership styles for their Community Schools; for example, both an open-door policy and a step-up in leadership policy were explained in best practices for engaging community members. Seeing principals with different ideas working successfully within a Community Schools strategy showed the MOE staff that principals and coordinators can have their own styles and that each Community School will be different to reflect the community.”

“What makes the community schools strategy effective is that we provide options and opportunities for all  students and community,” explained Kimlime Chek-Taylor, principal at South Philadelphia High School. “We strive in learning the needs of our community through a series of survey and parent engagement and community meetings. This strategy is based on the needs of students, staff, and community members first.”

At one school visit, MOE staff also learned how Baltimore school staff transformed an individual school brand into a brand identity for the entire community. Learning from Baltimore’s Barclay Elementary and their “All Paws In” campaign, the group discussed how branding can foster community engagement, and in return, community schools can become better reflections of their communities.

Other discussion topics included:

  • Best practices for forming partnerships
  • Experiences in creating strategic plans
  • The role of coordinators
  • Measures for tracking progress
  • How to best utilize, train, and empower parents and volunteers.

Overall it was a great visit and provided an excellent opportunity for the Philadelphia team to learn new techniques and approaches from seasoned Community Schools practitioners.

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