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Ettrick Elementary's pilot family support center expands services with $20,000 grant to reduce attendance barriers
Summary
Superintendent's report highlighted Ettrick Elementary's family support center, created with a $20,000 REB grant; services include a food pantry, laundry service and a hair salon to reduce barriers to attendance and increase family engagement.
Superintendent Dr. Jeffrey Murray presented a video and briefing on Ettrick Elementary School's family support center, a site-based program funded with a $20,000 REB (recognition and educational benefit) grant intended to remove practical barriers to student attendance.
Dr. Murray said the center includes a free food pantry, a hair salon and on-site laundry services; everything in the center is free to families. He described community partnerships that supply services and cited outcomes staff reported, including wait lists for haircuts and laundry slots and parents' reports that on-site services reduced missed work hours and transportation costs.
"The impact has been far greater than what we expected," Dr. Murray said, describing parents who use the services and volunteer in classrooms while doing laundry. The division credited a CIS site coordinator and local partners for helping the project scale beyond its original, attendance-focused goal.
School board members praised the program as an example of addressing noninstructional barriers that affect attendance and learning. Board members said the program had a wait list for several services and asked staff to consider replicating the model where practical.
Details from the presentation and Q&A: - Grant amount: $20,000 REB award used to seed the center. - Services: free food pantry, hair salon (used to reduce missed school time), laundry service (division supplies detergent and fabric softener), and family volunteer opportunities. - Partners: the site coordinator and a community partner identified in the presentation as "Jazz" (partner providing cosmetology training hours in exchange for hands-on practice).
Why it matters: School staff told the board the center reduced practical obstacles to attendance, allowed parents to volunteer in classrooms while using services, and connected families more closely to the school; board members said the model could be used elsewhere if similar community partnerships are available.
