Celebrating Community School Coordinators Week

The Maine Department of Education (DOE) is joining the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) Coalition for Community Schools to celebrate Community Schools Coordinator Appreciation Week from September 15 to 21, 2024.

Who are Community School Coordinators?

Community School Coordinators are the key to successful community schools. Coordinators create, strengthen, and maintain the bridge between the school and the community. Community School Coordinators facilitate and provide leadership for the collaborative process and development of a continuum of services for children, families and community members within a school neighborhood. A Coordinator is often the "liaison" and "connector" for many different areas.  Some of these include parent and family engagement, community engagement, youth development, health, mental health, after-school programming, early childhood, and aligning partnerships with academics.

"We are going beyond our four walls," said Amanda Clark from Mt Blue School District. "Maine schools are providing a lot of these things and they are doing amazing work. I think, for us, the community school initiative and model gave us that extra layer of support to be able to provide the things we felt like we were missing." Clark, alongside Cape Cod Hill Community School Principal Carol Kiesman and (former) School Nurse Justine Meader, worked together to tackle the role of Community School Coordinator in the first few years of implementing the Community School Model at Cape Cod Hill.

Why is it Important to Recognize Community School Coordinators?

The Community School movement has grown across the country to include more than 5,000 schools. Community School Coordinators work diligently to create and manage the partnerships that allow students to learn and thrive, and their work is the key to successful implementation of the Community School Strategy. Community School Coordinators create a strong, purposeful bridge between schools and communities and it's their hard work and advocacy that push this movement forward. They deserve recognition and appreciation for all the work they do.

"When you are looking at student support, you are not just looking at what the supports are that the student needs right now; you have to look bigger, at what they might need outside the school, and what their families might need, and how that affects the whole school environment and the whole community outside," said Jennifer Goodwin, Old Town Elementary School Coordinator. Goodwin has served as the Community School Coordinator since Old Town Elementary School set in motion its plan to become a community school in 2017.

What is Community School Coordinators Appreciation Week?

Community School Coordinators Appreciation Week encourages schools and community partners to honor and celebrate their Community School Coordinators. On Monday, September 16th, Community School Coordinators from schools across the state of Maine will be recognized for their work at the Hall of Flags in Augusta at 10:00am. We encourage those who interact with Community School Coordinators at their schools to let their Coordinators know their work is seen and appreciated and to lift up the role of Coordinators.

Maine Community Schools

In Maine, the Community School model was first recognized by Maine Legislative Action of the First Regular Session of the 127th Legislature (2015-2016) in the budget bill Public Law 2015, chapter 267. At that time, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) was authorized to fund a limited number of community schools established under 20-A MRSA Chapter 333. Currently, six schools in Maine receive funding from the Maine DOE to support their community school strategies: Cape Cod Hill Community School in New Sharon, Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Gerald E. Talbot School in Portland, Old Town Elementary School, Shead High School in Eastport and South Portland Middle School. In addition, several schools in Maine are implementing First 10 Schools and Community programs, which focus on early childhood family and community supports with the help of a Family Partnership Coordinator. In addition, the Maine Indian Education schools are implementing community school strategies through the Tribal Community In Schools program.

"When I see Talbot compared to other schools I have worked in, I feel like families see us as a resource, and they see us as a partner," said Terry Young, Principal of Gerald E. Talbot School in Portland. Young works closely with Talbot's Community School Coordinator.

Learn more about Maine's Community Schools:

About the Coalition for Community Schools

The Coalition for Community Schools, an initiative of the Institute for Educational Leadership, is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-12, youth development, community planning and development, higher education, family support, health and human services, government, and philanthropy as well as national, state, and local community school networks. The Coalition advocates for community schools as a strategy to leverage local resources and programs, and to change the look and feel of the traditional school structure to best meet the needs of children and families in the 21st century.

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