The “community schools” model has been active in Hartford Public Schools since 2008.  “Community Schools means a public school that participates in a coordinated, community-based effort with community partners to provide comprehensive educational, developmental, family, health and wrap-around services to students, families and community members during hours in which school is not in session,” as stated by the  Connecticut General Statutes.

In 2013, pre-Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, Hartford’s community school program received a National Community School Award for Excellence from the D.C. based Coalition for Community Schools (Hartford Courant (Online), Aug. 17, 2017).  This may have been a prestigious award to which congratulations would be due, however, if research reveals this award being as “prestigious” as the Magnet Schools of America Awards, we’ll hold our applause (“The Farcical Magnet Schools of America Awards”).

There are Community Schools, and there are Full Service Community Schools.  There are four tiers of services under the model with the full service schools receiving a longer list of services at the higher tiers; a system based on need rather than equity.

Then came Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez in 2019 and after a community schools “redesign,” she announced that all Hartford schools were now “community schools”, with thirteen receiving the “full service” package.

A critical component of the community schools model is the participation of community based “partners,” which are those non-profits and businesses cashing HPS checks to provide the student and family services which makes the community schools model hum like an electric DATTCO short bus.

Ah, the checks.

For the school year 2022-23, the Board of Education approved $3.4 million in contracts to six outside organizations to operate the community schools model in twelve community schools.

For the school year 2023-24, the BOE approved $2.5 million in contracts to the same six outside organizations to operate the community schools model in the same twelve schools. 

HPS claimed at the awarding of the contracts that the reduced amount was due to discounts agreed to by the contracted organizations based on their understanding nature related to the expiration of COVID relief dollars.  A cynic would say that the discounts are most likely the result of HPS assuring each partner that they would annually survive any RFP process to choose community schools partners, like the rigid (I’m sure) RFP process used to contract summer activity partners (“The Board of Education and the Summer Doldrums”).

During the most recent board meeting, Torres-Rodriguez announced what amounts to another “redesign” of HPS’ community schools model.

After nearly six years in operation, suddenly the community schools model must have more administrators.  HPS is using a $2.1 million dollar grant from Uncle Joe to hire, for the next five years, three “district specialty staff” called “Community Schools Integrated Support Coordinators,” which HPS’ application (view the full application here) for the grant stated are “[position’s] to be hired with funding from this grant.” 

Below is a photo, taken from HPS’ grant application, of the new administrative scheme for the community schools model.

At the top of the diagram, is Nuchette Black-Burke, HPS Chief Family and Community Engagement Officer and ribbon-cutting mayor of Windsor.

Below Mayor Black-Burke, are Michelle Szynkowicz, Community Partnerships Manager at HPS, and Jinelle Hooker, who joined HPS in March 2023 as the Community Schools Manager.

Below the two managers are the newly created positions of Integrated Support Coordinators, who although “based” in a full service community school, are, like educational coaches at HPS, central office folk.  Apparently Black-Burke needs work-load relief in central office, what with cutting all those ribbons in Windsor and all.  The new hires, according to HPS’ application package, are only required to have a Bachelor’s Degree and 5 years of “relevant” experience and “knowledge of” Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and they will be paid more than a Hartford teacher with a bachelor’s degree.

The new hires will be tasked with “ensuring high-quality service delivery; soliciting student, family, and faculty feedback; and working collaboratively with faculty and partners to meet student needs. The Community Schools Integrated Support Coordinators meet regularly with community partners to review progress, discuss adaptations, and plan future activities.”

So, how have these nearly six years of “extended student services,” millions of dollars in contracts to the usual partners, newly hired staff, and pushes on the red ‘reset’ button, affected student academics and student chronic absenteeism (two tangible measures of community school success stated by HPS, as compared to surveys showing smiling student and teacher faces)?  I’m only asking because Board Member Jim Shmerling stated during the February Regular Meeting that he was “interested in results.”  Well, this must be a new interest for Jim because he hasn’t asked for those results from the community schools partners over the last two years.  That’s ok, Jim, I got you.

During the September 2022 Family & Community Engagement Committee meeting on community schools, the Superintendent shared a slide which listed the full service community schools in Hartford (despite stating that there were 13 full service schools, the slide listed only nine).  Full service schools receive the highest tier of services available; they go all in with these kids.

The schools are Burr, Wish, MD Fox, McDonough, Milner, Parkville, SAND, Burns, and MLK.

Using data for the school year 2022-23 from EdSight, the “Connecticut’s official source for education data,” we find that the none of the nine full service community schools rank at or near the top of the district on the state’s District Performance Index (DPI) for ELA, math, and science, with only 3 of the schools ranking above the district average in math DPI,  2 beating the district average for science DPI, and all of them falling below the district DPI average for ELA.

Similarly, on a test for chronic absenteeism, two of the full service schools were below the district wide chronic absenteeism rate, while 7 of them rose above the chronic absenteeism rate for the entire district, with 4 of them having a chronic absenteeism rate of 50% or better.

A question which wasn’t asked by your diligent board members is: is this the best use of the $2.1 million dollar grant?  HPS is not required by the grant rules to hire staff.  Will the remaining 10 full service community schools also need Integrated Support Coordinators once this initial 3-school “pilot” is completed?  And how will they be funded if currently there’s talk of eliminating teacher positions? Is staffing the problem or are the services the problem?  Would it be more beneficial to spend the grant on connecting more schools and more students to more services?  What is the scenario after 5 years and there is not another grant?  Would it be more beneficial to offer Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez a $2 million buyout of her contract and send her on her way?