A successful school is not simply a place where teachers teach and students learn. Schools thrive when students, families, staff, and the community work together to educate, uplift, and support young people and each other. A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school, families, and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Find out how Peaceful Schools can help your school or district build and sustain vibrant community schools!
Peaceful Schools partners with schools and districts to develop and implement their unique community schools vision.
Our dedicated staff manages programs and partnerships within the school to meet its goals for their students. Our programs target a wide range of needs of the students and their families including but not limited to:
In partnership with school staff, we:
Our community schools team can support your students, families, and communities on their path to success.
Peaceful Schools serves as the community schools Lead Agency in partnership with the Syracuse City School District in Syracuse, New York. Community School Coordinators and support staff are deployed in seven schools to implement a unified vision for community schools across the district.
With an initial goal of increasing parent and family engagement, our team has established Parent Rooms in all seven schools, prepared parents for over 70 employment interviews at community job fairs we hosted during our first year of implementation, provided outreach and translation services to immigrant and refugee families to better engage them in their children’s school, and increased family participation in the district’s annual Culture and Climate Survey.
Supporting the after school programs in our middle schools, our team coordinates community involvement in weekly enrichment opportunities for students and families, including painting with a police officer, competing in Lego-design engineering challenges, and learning from our local cooperative extension office how to prepare nutritious snacks on a limited budget.
Aligning with school-based intervention teams, we have increased attendance, boosted family engagement, and enhanced the development of social-emotional skills for our students. This work helps keep students at the center of our comprehensive approach to school improvement for community success.
“This was the best resource fair I have been to! So many connections made with the families that attended, but also for us vendors.” – Case Worker, Catholic Charities of Onondaga County
Thank you for supporting me, my daughter wouldn’t have done this without your support.” – Mother, Westside Academy at Blodgett, Syracuse City School District
