Community Schools
Lafayette Elementary School
We at Lafayette are excited to announce that we are now a SDUSD Community School! This is our second year moving forward with the Community Schools Initiative, and welcome you to join us!
What is a Community School?
Community Schools are public schools that provide services and support that fit each neighborhood’s needs, created and run by the people who know our children best—all working together.
What we do
Goal: Hear from all community members (stakeholders) to better understand the needs, wants, and assets of the community as a whole.
Purpose: Identify the most important areas of growth/need in the community in order to form working groups of interested stakeholders who can engage in direct action as well as the allocation of resources to address the prioritized need.
Process: Engage in a series of focus groups as well as surveys and one-on-one coversations to ensure multiple data-points are garnered from all stakeholders (students, parents, staff/teachers, and community partners) regarding their chief concerns for the community as well as highlight actions that they may be willing to take within the community schools work.
Schools in their second year of implementation will take what they've learned from their first year to do a deep data dive into the unique factors that affect student conditions. This allows schools to not only remedy the symptoms affecting their students but target the root causes of these symptoms by using evidence-based strategies to support our students.
Why community schools?
Where can I learn more about Community Schools?
The websites of The National Center for Community Schools and The Coalition for Community Schools are good places to start. The following documents may also be helpful: