Regional Office of Education #33 & Act Now Partnering to Bring Full-Service Community Schools Strategy to Abingdon-Avon Middle and High School

By - Kathryn Jennings, Director of Regional Office of Education Services

L - R: Kathryn Jennings, Heather Allen, Stephanie McMillan, William Walters

Regional Office of Education #33 and Act Now have partnered to implement the Full-Service Community Schools Strategy (FSCS) at Abingdon-Avon Middle School and Abingdon-Avon High School. The Full-Service Community Schools strategy “transforms a school into a place where educators, local community members, families, and students work together to strengthen conditions for student learning and healthy development. As partners, they organize in-and-out of school resources, supports, and opportunities so that young people thrive.”

Regional Office of Education #33 has hired two coordinators to work with school leadership teams at AAMS and AAHS to assess, strategize, and implement effective and efficient transformation to allow students and the community to build trust in collaborative and relationship-centered environments. Leadership teams will include AAMS and AAHS students, parents, and staff to strengthen curriculum and school activities. Coordinators will also work alongside local businesses and stakeholders to develop a strategy that works for CUSD #267.

The Full-Service Community School strategy focuses on four pillars that create conditions for students to thrive. Those four pillars are collaborative leadership and practices, expanded and enriched learning opportunities, integrated student support, and active family and student engagement. These four pillars could mean new career-based clubs, partnerships to address academic barriers, teacher/family mixers, medical support, and more.

Currently, the coordinators are integrating into the community, partnering with school principals to address current needs, and identifying key stakeholders to begin leadership teams. A needs assessment will take place in January 2025, outlining the most important topics for students, staff, parents, and stakeholders of the Abingdon-Avon School District. Once completed, leadership teams will convene to determine effective ways to address the challenges with the Abingdon-Avon High School and Middle School.

Regional Superintendent Jodi Scott and Regional Office of Education #33 are excited to partner with ACT Now to bring the Full-Service Community School strategy to CUSD #276. The FSCS strategy will allot $500,000 per year, per school for five years to transform Abingdon-Avon Middle and High School into Full-Service Community Schools, totaling $5 million concluding in the 2028-2029 school year.