Madison board hears update on community schools staffing, full‑service sites

The Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education’s instruction work group heard a progress update on the district’s community schools strategy and related staff investments Wednesday evening.

Superintendent Dr. Gothard and Cindy Green, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning, introduced a presentation showing the district has expanded roles such as village builders, student engagement specialists and family liaisons and is funding eight “full‑service” community school sites. Adam Clawson, director of engagement, equity, diversity and inclusion, told the board the district has “resourced nearly two thirds of our schools” with community‑school staff and aligned the work with the Coalition for Community Schools’ transformation model.

The presentation gave board members examples from multiple schools and early outcome data. La Follette High School Principal Matt Thompson described two student engagement specialists on his campus who run mentoring groups, extracurricular teams and attendance supports; he said attendance for students on one specialist’s caseload is “up a little over 5%.” Thompson called the specialists “invaluable” and said they participate on attendance and mental‑health teams and daily floor meetings. Assistant Principal Yovan Radicevich added that the specialists also help staff reach families who otherwise were difficult to contact.

At Gillespie Middle School, Principal Melanie Theale and village builder Kira Hogan described a village‑builder caseload of roughly 30 students. The village builder leads student leadership groups, a catch‑up club for missing assignments and transition work with feeder elementary schools.

At Hawthorne Elementary, Principal Lucy Sieber said the school operates with a community school resource coordinator, two staff splitting a family‑liaison position and four part‑time village builders. Sieber described a full‑service school program that runs an evening resource fair with more than 15 community providers, a year‑round food pantry in partnership with Second Harvest, laundry and community room access, winter clothing distribution and family learning nights. She said the coordinator sits on the school’s core leadership team and that the community school team runs summer enrollment outreach and other family supports.

District manager Sarita Foster said the full‑service community‑school model focuses on “supporting students’ physical, emotional and social well‑being” and that Kennedy Elementary is completing its first year as a full‑service community school after conducting a needs‑and‑assets assessment and adding two community‑school staff members.

Clawson and Foster also presented system‑level numbers the district is tracking: village builders supported “over 30 classrooms” this year representing “totaling over 1,500 students”; student engagement specialists have supported more than 500 middle‑ and high‑school students, of whom about 210 participated in co‑curriculars; and 480 students participated in culturally relevant regional conferences. Clawson reported that, comparing year‑one to year‑two data for students on student‑engagement‑specialist caseloads, 81% of those students showed improved attendance.

Board members asked principals and staff to describe role coordination, caseload size and family‑engagement structures. Thompson and Radicevich said the school intends to do more cross‑coordination among student engagement, restorative‑justice and multicultural services staff. Gillespie’s Kira Hogan said she keeps about 30 students on her caseload and that referrals come from families, students and staff. Hawthorne’s Sieber described using a needs‑and‑assets assessment, climate survey data and targeted outreach to increase family participation; she said safety of walking routes to school was one of the top needs families reported.

No formal policy decision was taken at the meeting. The board did approve routine minutes from a prior instruction work group meeting (dated 03/03/2025) and later adjourned. Chair Muldrow said the presentation was intended to update the board and to solicit feedback on alignment and next steps.

The district presentation materials (slides) and school anecdotes showed the program is operating across elementary, middle and high school levels and that leaders plan greater role coordination and family‑steering committees going forward. Several principals invited board members to visit campuses to observe the work in person.

Votes at this meeting were procedural: a motion to approve the instruction work group minutes (dated 03/03/2025) passed unanimously (6–0), and a motion to adjourn passed unanimously (6–0).