City Schools updates community‑schools policy to match state law and add new supports, steering committee changes

Baltimore City Public Schools staff briefed the Board of School Commissioners on Jan. 20 on recommended revisions to policy ADH, the district’s community‑schools strategy, and said the updates chiefly align local rules with recent state legislation and implementation guidance.

Tina Hike Hubbard, chief of communications, engagement and enrollment, and community‑schools managers described limited, targeted language changes prompted by two state statutes. The revisions add emphasis on “shared accountability and collaborative leadership,” expand the district’s examples of wraparound services and incorporate new state evaluation and public‑reporting requirements.

District staff said Baltimore City currently has 154 designated community schools and that the district’s model includes coordinator positions hired either by the district or by community‑based organizations; staff said 98 coordinators are hired by local community‑based organizations. The proposed policy language, staff said, applies to all community schools regardless of whether the coordinator is a district employee or hired by a lead agency.

Staff highlighted a state rental‑assistance program tied to the legislation, describing it as a $10 million program being developed by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. “This program had $10,000,000 associated with it, and it is being developed by the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development,” staff said, adding that the program will not be administered by the schools and that the state will issue referral guidance for local education agencies.

House Bill 428 (as presented) and other legislative changes also added specificity about community‑school evaluations. District presenters said they were already working to align their needs assessments, action plans and annual evaluations with state reporting requirements and that they plan to publish implementation documents after local review and MSDE approval.

As part of the policy revision process, staff described proposed changes to the community‑school steering committee intended to increase community representation: expanding the number of community‑school coordinators on the committee, adding a community member‑at‑large and adding targeted outreach to invite charter‑school leaders and charter representatives to participate. Staff said 12 of 13 lead agencies participated in a supervisors’ meeting; no objections to the proposed language were reported from most stakeholder groups, according to staff presentations.

The presentation was delivered by Tina Hike Hubbard with community‑schools managers Sheila Drummond and others; Chris Battaglia, the district’s outgoing director of community engagement, was also recognized by board members for his leadership in building the district model. Several commissioners praised the program as a state and national model and thanked staff for their work.

Board members asked no substantive questions beyond technical clarifications, and staff asked for the board’s feedback before final adoption of the revised policy and associated administrative regulations.

The changes discussed are administrative and intended to align district policy with state law; staff said they do not make the district responsible for administering the state rental‑assistance program.