Southwest Partnership
Education Committee
September 7 2017
Meeting Minutes
Present
Lou Packett
Sheila Drummond Camm
Elizabeth Weber
Kristine Balasz
Vernell Lewis
Emily Ames Messinger
Camille Gibbons Patterson
Becky Newgren
Amanda Benjamin
Sheila Update
Sheila has been supporting the SWP in our effort to make every school in the area a community school and has been doing a lot of work in Baltimore around community schools. She’s going to share an update and how it will impact the SWP’s efforts.
Connection with the SWP was started through an organization called LeaderComm, which she joined through her long tenure with Communities in Schools, which is one of the longest running community school programs in the country. Communities in Schools is more focused on what is happening internally in schools, as opposed to community schools, but the two models are getting closer together.
LeaderComm takes the community school concept and applies it to community work. Focus on relationships, routers, and rewards.
She has also been working ACTS, managing a literacy project, (People of the Word), as well as the Positive School Center at SWCOS as a climate coach. She has also been working with the University of Baltimore School of Criminal Justice on their trauma work.
With all the work she has been doing it seems as though everyone was working at cross purposes, and that things were even more siloed than when she first left (Sheila helped start community schools in Baltimore). She is working now to connect people so that they can work together.
Kristine: are there other connections being worked on?
Sheila: hoping to bring Johns Hopkins into the mix, as well as the UM School of Law and the school police, and has been talking quietly to North Ave for their program on restorative practices, socio-emotional learning, and literacy.
Lou shared about LeaderComm’s history supporting the faith community in New York in their work on expanding and working with their congregants to share their resources with the wider community.
Statement of Purpose
We need to make a statement of purpose, and the Committee reviewed the draft that Lou put together. Please send in any edits a week before the next meeting.
Community School Planning Process Update
Elizabeth gave an update on the community school planning process. We have met with four of the seven principals, and have one more meeting scheduled. Most of the schools are on board, and we will start the planning process collecting qualitative and quantitative data.
Lou is going to the neighborhood associations sharing updates and the crowdfunding model–if 80% of the residents gave $90 a year we could self-fund the community school model. It is a big lift, but is a great model for funding community schools. To make real change there needs to be a longer term commit to funding community schools, especially in making an impact academically. The Committee discussed the feasibility of the proposal.
Jane is concerned about what the feeling will be of the people who don’t attend the neighborhood association meetings.
UnderArmor is offering to donate marketing and branding capacity to the SWP for the advertising campaign.
We will need a lot of volunteers–Jane is willing to help with focus groups at one school, and Lou is asking at the neighborhood association meetings.
Next Meeting
Dr Stanley from the University of Baltimore will be attending the 5pm meeting in October, Lou is suggesting that the Committee meet at 6pm–and that the principal’s meeting be moved as well. Elizabeth will send out an announcement and a reminder.
