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| Shawn Naugle, Amy Ellis, Kylia Carswell, and Carol Lerner at the Community Partnership Schools Forum. photo courtesy Critical Times |
In recent years, school privatizers have been addressing the needs of struggling schools by ...Wait For It... closing them down. In fact, Florida boasts the most privatized state school system in the nation and one of the lowest funded. Unfortunately, public school closures continue. Title 1 schools, which are those with large concentrations of low-income students, are most at risk of closure. However, there are alternatives. Protect our Public Schools Manasota (POPS) recently held a forum about one such alternative - Community Partnership Schools.
There are four core partners in a Community Partnership School and each partner commits to a long-term partnership in order to launch, advance and sustain the particular school. Core partners include -
1) a school district,
2) a health care and other wraparound services provider,
3) a university or college,
4) a community-based not-for-profit
In Manatee County, there are six schools that have received D grades from the State. Two of them — Daughtrey and Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary schools — are Title 1 schools. They are both at risk of closing down or facing charter school takeovers. The Community Partnership School approach might preserve these neighborhood public schools and support the families they serve.
POPS founder, Carol Lerner, goes even further stating,
Every Title 1 public school in Florida should be transformed into a Community Partnership School. Rather than closing down or privatizing struggling schools, schools should be given the funding and the resources to help students thrive. A hungry child cannot learn. Full service community schools involve parents and the community and turn schools into learning hubs.Read more in the latest Critical Times.
