Heart of Florida United Way and district plan community partnership school at Osceola High

Heart of Florida United Way and the School District of Osceola County presented plans to establish the district’s first community partnership school at Osceola High School, aiming to open after a yearlong ramp-up and with a director hired next semester.

The model places health, social and expanded-learning services on campus so students and families can access them at school. Kelly Astro, senior vice president for community impact at Heart of Florida United Way, told the board the partnership will deliver on-campus health care, mental-health counseling, tutoring, after-school programs and family supports “right on the campus” of Osceola High School.

The district and United Way say the model matters because it addresses barriers to learning that occur outside classrooms — hunger, unmet health needs, housing instability — by co-locating services and coordinating partners. Astro cited outcomes from a comparable site, saying at Evans High School in Orange County graduation rates rose from 63 percent to 93 percent after implementing a community-school approach.

Astro described six core partners that will anchor the Osceola High site: Heart of Florida United Way as convener; the School District of Osceola County; Orange Blossom Family Health for on-site health services; Rollins College and the University of Central Florida as higher-education partners; and the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida to help lead expanded-learning activities. An expanded network of collaborators named in the presentation includes Second Harvest Food Bank, United Arts of Central Florida, the Mental Health Association of Central Florida, Helios Nutrition and Jobs Partnership, and the Orlando Health Foundation’s Howard Phillips Center for Children and Families.

Astro said the effort is intended as a sustained program, not a one-year pilot: “This is not a pilot. This is not just a 1 year kind of thing that we’re all gonna come in and then walk away from,” she said, and added partners are “in it for the long haul.” She told the board the group hopes to hire a site director by next semester and to “really launch this a year from right now.”

Board members did not vote on the plan at the meeting; the presentation was a launch discussion and an invitation to further planning conversations between district leadership and the partners. Funding sources and the full operating budget were not specified in the presentation.

Next steps presented were partner planning meetings, hiring a director, and continued coordination with the district and named collaborators; the timeline as stated places an initial director hire next semester and a public launch about a year from the announcement.