APS hosts Alaska, Hawaii delegation for 'community school' tour

Albuquerque Public Schools played host on Tuesday to a delegation of education officials from Alaska and Hawaii who engaged in “learning labs” to learn more about community schools, an emerging innovative concept in K-12 education.

The group of close to 70 officials descended on Wilson Middle School, where they toured a garden and student-based health clinic before hearing a presentation from school officials and engaging in a question-and-answer session.

Lori Grassgreen, director of conditions for learning with the Association of Alaska School Boards, joked in an interview that she was “certainly glad to defrost” during her trip to the Southwest. But on a serious note, the multi-day tour of APS schools was an opportunity to see how community schools operate.

“You hear things described and that’s interesting, but we take in so much more when we can observe things first-hand,” Grassgreen said. “There’s informal information that you take in that really gives you a sense of the meaning of that work, and so I have a lot of gratitude for being able to come here.”

Jay Vega, community schools manager for the Partners in Development Foundation in Hawaii, said it felt “amazingly powerful” to be with such a large group of educators focused on community schools.

“And then, to be able to see the impact that they’re having here ... that is priceless,” Vega said. “You can’t put a value on that level of hope and encouragement.”

What is a community school?

A community school is overseen by a council comprised of educators and members of the community, from students to parents, to members of nonprofit organizations or neighborhood groups. They work together to find solutions to common challenges within the school, from chronic absenteeism to safety.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation adopted a Community School Resolution following the Legislature approving a community schools statute in 2013, according to the APS website. In 2019, state lawmakers added funding for community schools through the New Mexico Public Education Department, the website said.

There are currently 61 community schools in APS, according to Deanna Creighton, managing director of The Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Community School Partnership, a group that helped bring the delegation to New Mexico. She noted that while all schools share common elements, community schools have a council and a person in charge of coordination to achieve the body’s objectives.

“A teacher doesn’t have time; a principal doesn’t have time,” Creighton said. “It’s really important we build an infrastructure at a school to support the implementation of the strategy.”

The ‘walking bus’

Kelly Davis, a community schools coordinator with APS, co-chairs the community school council at Wilson Middle School. The council analyzes data and uses it to develop plans to address school issues, she said.

One of the reasons APS brought the delegation to Wilson on Tuesday, Davis said, was to highlight the school’s success in implementing a safe routes to school, or the “walking bus,” program.

In creating the program, Davis said the council recognized feedback that students did not feel safe walking to school for a range of reasons, whether it was racial profiling or needles found on the street in Albuquerque’s International District.

In order to help students get to school safely, Wilson school officials walk them to school to make up for a 1-mile radius that does not have bus routes. The “walking bus” program averages 17 students per walk and over nine weeks has totaled 154 safe walks, according to Davis.

“The way that we got there was the council and the synergy of South San Pedro Neighborhood Association,” which attends council meetings, Davis said.

‘Attitude of hope’

Grassgreen said her organization is working with six schools in Southeast Alaska to build community schools.

“We’re only a year and a half in, so we’re learning from more experienced community schools here in New Mexico,” she said.

Vega said there is a “statewide push” in Hawaii for more community schools.

“We’re here to see what it could look like in a few years,” he said.

Since it was Tuesday, the delegation did not get to participate in the “walking bus” program at Wilson, but they did get to see other examples of the community school’s efforts, such as the fully serviceable health clinic. Grassgreen described it as the “gold standard” of care.

“We don’t have anything like that in Alaska,” she said.

Vega said the multi-day tour of Albuquerque schools motivated him and other members of the delegation to see that building community schools is possible.

“Ultimately, what we want to take back (home) is an attitude of hope, of growth, of possibility” he said, “that we can take action, that we can move as a community and change the places we live for the better.”

Davis had a chance to observe how members of the delegation reacted to their tour of Wilson.

“They’re probably so tired from the time changes,” she said. “But that torch of loving their community, that showed — it really did.”