Building Community Schools
In a community school, school staff collaborate with families and community members to create safe, supportive spaces where students have what they need to learn. Families are partners and receive support to help them thrive. Communities benefit from stronger, healthier, more confident students and families.
Community schools can be an effective way to respond to student, family, and community needs, which includes access to resources that address barriers to student learning.
The County Office of Education provides technical assistance and support in designing community school initiatives based on districts' unique needs, assets, and aspirations, particularly with those districts receiving funding through the California Community Schools Partnership Program.
Through the County Office of Education's College, Career, and Community Partnerships department, led by Executive Director Marcela Miranda, school site leaders receive professional development, coaching, strategic planning, community engagement support, assistance with partnership development, and access to a supportive cohort of grantees engaged in similar work.
All across San Mateo County, school districts are embracing the community school model. The California Community Schools Partnership Program
(CCSPP) awarded a two-year planning grant in 2023 to five San Mateo County school districts, including La Honda-Pescadero Unified and Jefferson Elementary school districts, and an implementation grant earlier this year to the San Mateo-Foster City School District in support of their efforts to develop community schools.
"Marcela is 100 percent the right person for the job," shared Kristen Lindstrom, La Honda-Pescadero Unified’s Director of Special Education, Community Schools, and The Big Lift. "She is very knowledgeable – and if she doesn't know something, she does all she can to find out. Marcela is organized, helps us stay on task, and ensures we approach our work with an equity lens."
La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District
Stretched along San Mateo County’s southern coastline, the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District has cultivated robust community partnerships over the years to meet the unique needs of its students and families – 65 percent of whom are Latino/a/e or other people of color. Since receiving a CCSPP planning grant in 2023, the district has created even stronger and more intentional community partnerships to foster a more collaborative environment that supports student success. Read more about the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District’s community schools initiative