What is a Community School?
A community school is a public school that is the hub of its neighborhood. Community schools unite educators, community partners, and families to provide all students with top-quality academics, enrichment, health and social services, and opportunities to learn and thrive.
Community schools bring staff, students, families, community members, organizations, and businesses together to develop a grassroots vision that promotes student achievement, creates safe and welcoming conditions for learning, and supports the health and well-being of families and the community.
What Does This Mean for Deer Park?
Deer Park already has activities that are aligned with components of community schools – after school programs, Food Pantry, Family Nights and much more. As a Year One BCPS Community School, we are gathering information to determine what additional programs and services are needed here at Deer Park. This information will support the development of our community school strategy or plan.
This year we will work together with community and school stakeholders to:
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- Complete a School Community Needs Assessment with feedback from students, families and the community.
- Establish a diverse and committed Shared Decision-Making Team who will oversee the development of our Community School Strategy.
- Promote Deer Park as a Community School inside and outside of the school to raise awareness about what we are doing here at Deer Park Elementary School.
Deer Park Community School Facilitator
Hello, my name is Julia Hayman Hamilton. I am excited to support the creation of a community school plan for Deer Park Elementary School. I have worked in BCPS for eighteen years and in the field of community programs for even longer. I hope you will join our efforts to support student and community success. We welcome any feedback and questions about our community school efforts.
Please feel free to contact me by email: [email protected] or phone: (443) 809-6632.