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Albany district cites lower chronic absenteeism, seeks funding to expand community schools
Summary
District director reports decreases in chronic absenteeism and expanded food and health services at eight community schools but says additional grant funding will be required to add more sites.
Mikaela Townsend, director of community schools for the City School District of Albany, told the school board the district’s community‑schools initiative has produced measurable reductions in chronic absenteeism and expanded food and health services for students across eight sites. The district’s community‑schools work is funded through foundation aid and a partnership with United Community Schools, Townsend said.
Townsend said the district received $4,600,000 in community‑school foundation aid last year, with roughly $2.4 million supporting the eight community schools, about $1.7 million used for academic and social‑emotional learning supports, and $500,000 allocated to the Albany International Center. She said the district’s partnership network now includes more than 140 community partners who provide food, dental services, enrichment and volunteers.
Townsend told the board the program’s outcomes include a 7 percent decline in chronic absenteeism across seven community schools over three years and a 15 percent decline in schools where a community‑school site coordinator has served two or more years. She also reported that 556 students received dental services through a Seal‑a‑Smile program and that the district distributed 101,414 pounds of food through school pantries last year.
Board members asked whether the district plans to add more community schools. Townsend said expansion requires additional grant funding and that the district continues to pursue grants and university partnerships to support growth.
Townsend described several programmatic elements board members pressed on, including site‑coordinator retention and succession planning. She and board members discussed that coordinators who remain in a school longer are better able to build partnerships and sustain programming; several board members urged the district to develop internal succession supports so relationships and partnerships survive coordinator turnover.
The presentation concluded with a short list of priorities for the coming year: deepen partnerships with SUNY Albany and Russell Sage College, strengthen city and county relationships, expand family‑engagement programming, and plan for sustainability of school pantries and site services.
Townsend said the program will continue seeking grant funds before the district can make formal commitments to expand the number of full community‑school sites.
