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Southern Kern staff outline community schools implementation, partnerships and staffing challenge
Summary
District staff presented the community schools implementation plan, described existing community partnerships and seed-grant expectations, and flagged a state expectation that site-level dedicated staff be funded by schools rather than stipends.
Fallon Mitchell, staff member, presented Southern Kern Unified School District’s community schools implementation plan and described partnerships the district is using to deliver services to students and families.
Mitchell said the district is in year three of its community schools grant and that the implementation plan included in trustees’ packets is a working document. “I’m gonna keep it very short and sweet for you,” she told the board, then outlined the framework the district is using and the state’s new accountability approach.
The nut graf: the district told trustees the grant provides seed money meant to build sustainable services through partnerships and local funding, but Mitchell and another staff speaker cautioned the California Department of Education expects dedicated, site-level staff as part of the community schools model — a requirement that may not match current stipend-based staffing at some sites.
Mitchell gave multiple examples of community partners offering free services, saying the district already works with local organizations including Kern Family Health, the Chamber of Commerce, RMAC, East Kern Family Resource Center, CAPK, First 5 and an immunization clinic. She described one-site eye clinics the district has run twice, saying volunteers and a district-paid match covered students’ glasses and exams when transportation barriers prevented families from getting to care.
Mitchell and other district staff stressed that the grant money is “seed money” meant to build sustainability and partnerships rather than to permanently fund all positions or services. Mitchell said: “the district is not the grantee, the school sites are. So it is their money to allocate towards services.” That point was repeated as a constraint: the state expects school sites, not the district office, to be the grantee and to have dedicated staff on site.
Public comment during the meeting echoed enthusiasm for the program’s potential. A commenter who identified themselves as a community member said a recurring theme at regional sessions was creating a food pantry and wellness center, and called the initiative “transformative for our entire community,” urging the board to support the effort.
Board members and multiple staff praised Fallon Mitchell’s work and noted she was recently accepted to the Boost conference leadership team, a development the trustees said could increase partnership opportunities and visibility for the district’s community schools work.
Board actions tied to this topic included the board’s receipt of the implementation materials and staff updates; no new policy or binding allocation of funds to create site-based positions was recorded during the presentation. District staff indicated they are continuing partnership development and will update implementation plans annually or as needed.
Looking ahead, trustees asked staff to continue reporting on partnerships, sustainability plans and any state-directed accountability reviews attached to community-schools progress reports. The staff said progress reports will be attached to the district’s annual submissions to the California Department of Education and that CDE teams will check implementation as part of their accountability work.
