Community Schools Updates
Charles Carroll Barrister: seeing issues with attendance across the board. Coordinators across the area are seeing kids dropping off so are developing incentives to keep attendance strong. There is reluctance among families to have kids do homework after the school day because they will have been online all day, have been working on a list of possible incentives for attendance. In general when kids are present they are engaged–CCB has been doing a lot to have open communication between families and the schools, have community webpage and social media which are connecting with families.
Steuart Hill: Joe began at Steuart Hill in August, so began focusing on school climate especially working in a virtual school environment. Early on attendance was a major issue–started at 67%, increased to 80-83%, still consistently problem solving around this issue. A lot of the issues are due to technology–Joe has been the main point of contact for IT issues, many of the issues came from the laptops themselves not actually access to the internet and negotiating different platforms. Had also been planning a clean up which had to be canceled at the last moment–had a number of volunteers signed up, had been finalizing a dumpster, but the event was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns, as was the Fall Festival which was scheduled for Friday.
Joe will be working on designing a Parent University–a holistic approach for a safe space for parents to study and breathe together and receive supports and resources as needed.
Southwest Baltimore Charter School will be open for 15-20 kids for education supervision in the next week or so–these are kids who are having issues with the virtual learning environment. Quincy asked if meals were being provided at the schools? Yes at Charles Carroll Barrister everyday. Also at Franklin Square.
Vivien T: planning to open up the building for the CTE students who need access to the equipment at the school. Students’ needs have been met in terms of other resources.
Felecia: the coordinators in the area meet once a month on a collaboration call–there is a concern around attendance, schools are now working on focusing on holiday support, there are students that are falling behind with virtual learning and the need for tutor support is there–there are some concerns about the efficacy of virtual tutoring but that may be the only option. Franklin Square and Vivien T are both planned to open along with Southwest Baltimore Charter.
Catholic Charities–planning to open soon for limited students
Potential areas of need: support around the holidays, attendance, tutoring
Stephanie asked if anyone had used the Enoch Pratt library hotspots? No one had
Brenda asked about identifying resources for families–211, Unite Us are good resources, community members could also volunteer alongside to support families as needed. Auna will connect will connect with Elizabeth around supporting community members in need through 211
Southwest Baltimore Charter School: Biggest need is wifi, also interested in the Unite Us network
SubCommittee Updates
Youth Engagement Subcommittee met, discussed recruitment as well as training for adults and young people who will participate in the Committees. A small group is going to work on developing training materials. The subcommittee has also begun developing a recruitment strategy in identifying community groups beyond the school system who may be interested in working with us or helping to identify potentially interested young people.
Pods Subcommittee: seem to have stalled moving forward, so don’t really have an update. One of the issues was an issue of funding
Committee Elections
Lou nominated Abigail, Abigail accepted. Abigail came in wanting to be a facilitator and not having a agenda for what the committee is going to do–is proud of the role the committee has played in pushing the SWP towards inclusivity and racial equity.
Abigail was elected by acclimation
Announcements
On Saturday Hollins Roundhouse, Hollins Market, and Black Cherry Puppet Theater will have two performances at 1 and 3 and there will also be candy and pumpkins handed out.
Music in the Park at Union Square Park on Sunday, George Kleb from Bon Secours Community Work’s band will be playing. 4pm
