APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Walking into their first day of school, everything may look the same to students at Jefferson Elementary School. But this year, the school is changing to a “community school” framework.
“We really need to reach out to our community because there’s a lot of people that can help in valuable ways,” said Lori Leschisin, the school’s principal.
They hope to make Jefferson Elementary School a hub in the neighborhood. Not just for students but parents and even those who don’t have children in schools.
While this is the first of its kind in the Appleton Area School District, Leschisin says she’s seen it all over the country.
“Even the senior citizens would come in and say ‘hey, I’ll do a knitting class at noon,’” said Leschisin.
The school will soon have a community resource center, as well as a full-time community resource coordinator that will help it build a relationship with businesses and organizations throughout the area. Kong Mua is the person filling that position.
“I personally believe in building students up from three phases — socially, emotionally and educationally,” said Mua.
While teachers focus mainly on academics in their day-to-day classes, the school wants to foster those other aspects to make students more well-rounded.
“Education should be our main focus, but we still need those other two components because they’re going to be key,” said Mua.
It could mean more after school and weekend activities. Leschisin says the school will also use its resources to support community members.
Parents will be given a needs assessment survey.
“Maybe there’s a need for medical help, and it’s like, OK we have certain families where this seems to be a common theme we’re hearing and then we can work with those community agencies and get them in contact with those parents,” said Leschisin. “It could be auto repair, it could be transportation, it could be an assortment of things and once we know where the needs are we can make our community school cater to that.”
Because a “community school” adapts to the needs of the community, Leschisin says no two are the same.
