These fast-growing Fresno Unified schools could raise student achievement. Will they last?
Mariela’s eyes brightened when she saw the pair of pink sneakers.
The 5-year-old transitional kindergarten student at Fresno Unified’s Jackson Elementary School had been coming to class wearing an outgrown pair of yellow slippers. Emma Chavez, Jackson Elementary’s community school coordinator, sought to change that and, on a recent December afternoon, brought the girl a new pair of shoes to try on.
Mariela ran from one end of the classroom to the other, stomping her feet in excitement and flashing the lights on her new shoes. She admired their floral patterns and didn’t want to change back into her slippers.
Recognizing that students like Mariela encounter barriers keeping them from focusing on learning, California launched a $4.1 billion program in 2022 to turn public schools into “community schools” that serve as resource hubs for families.
Fresno Unified has 19 schools offering these “wraparound services” — such as food, clothing, washers and dryers, and parenting classes — and plans to convert as many as one-third of its campuses into community schools by August. But the $26.5 million in state grants won’t last, and district leaders must find ways to sustain a community school program they say holds much promise in improving student achievement and getting kids to show up to class.
Chavez said educators become “very intentional” in identifying families’ needs and finding them the resources to even the playing field for needy students.
“I feel like a lot of times, education is not a priority because other needs are not being met for families,” Chavez said. “It’s hard for a family to focus on the kids’ education when they’re worried about how they’re going to feed their family.”
Mariela and her mom, Mariana Garcia, are among the dozens of families Chavez has helped since joining Jackson Elementary as a community school coordinator in September. The family recently migrated to the U.S. and lives on the modest income of Mariela’s dad, who works at a local factory. When Chavez learned that Mariela and her siblings needed clothes, she connected them to a local charity, Randy’s Closet.
The district’s first community schools established food pantries, installed washers and dryers and other services. Thomas Elementary in northeast Fresno, for example, offers dental and vision care for kids and provides parenting classes, as well as after-school tutoring to reduce students’ exposure to gang violence.
It’s unclear how long Fresno Unified’s rapidly growing community school program will last.
“What’s been the critique of community schools is it becomes another grant, like ‘Here’s the money for five years,’ then it goes away, nothing really sustains beyond those five years,” Carlos Huerta, executive director at Fresno Pacific University’s Center for Community Transformation, recently told a group of Jackson Elementary community leaders. Huerta’s team is working on a report looking at potential solutions for the district.
Getting the community involved
Located in the impoverished southeast Fresno adjacent to the city’s historic Huntington Boulevard, Jackson Elementary teaches children from both grand homes and more modest bungalows. The school also receives a handful of students each year who are new to the U.S. from Spanish-speaking countries, said Rodolfo Gonzalez, the school’s principal.
Gonzalez said they value Chavez’s passion and her Spanish-speaking skills. Half of Jackson’s students are in the dual-immersion program.
The goal is to make the community school function without Chavez, said Gonzalez. There is no guarantee that the schools will retain coordinators after the 5-year state grant ends.
“The idea is that within five years, we’ll figure out different resources to continue this program, and to build our capacity in being able to look for resources for the site,” said Gonzalez.
The school is trying to recruit parent volunteers and secure partnerships with community organizations to try and sustain the community school program.
“We see that it was going to cost $0.7 to $0.8 a meal at Fresno Unified to provide for food pantries at certain schools, but the church across the street was costing $0.15 to $0.2 per meal,” said Huerta, of Fresno Pacific University. “So rather than doing two food banks, what if we coordinated support services from that church to bridge the gap, and then it also allows the recirculation of those funds for something else.”
District officials acknowledge that each community schools’ offerings should depend on their community’s needs. At Washington Elementary, laundry services are in high demand, and the school is considering bringing in washers and dryers. But Chavez said in the Jackson community, she found four nearby laundromats.
“Why don’t we help that business out by getting vouchers for the parents to go there instead of us? What if the machines break down?” she said.
Meeting the needs
Each morning, Chavez receives referrals from classroom teachers of students in need.
Oftentimes, classroom teachers notice students who come to school without a sweater or kids who wear the same shirt for several days. One student was recently referred to Chavez for wearing shoes that were hurting them because they were too small.
Alejandra Garcia-Diaz, a first-grade teacher at Jackson Elementary, said it’s “easy to tell” when a student is in need of help beyond the classroom.
“Kids also share a lot, like if they have parents who are working for extended periods of time or they’re home and it’s just older siblings helping them with their homework,” Garcia-Diaz said.
Chavez used program funds and community donations to purchase two racks of jackets for the students who she saw shivering in the cold and set up a clothing corner in the classroom. For families in need of everyday clothing and other basic needs, she connects them with charitable organizations such as Cornerstone Community Care.
For small schools like Jackson Elementary, which has just over 350 students, partnering with churches and charities is more cost-effective for helping families, Chavez said.
On any given week, Chavez takes several families to Randy’s Closet for clothes and the food pantry. The neediest Jackson Elementary students received turkey boxes for Thanksgiving and toys for Christmas.
There are some early signs that the community school program is making an impact on student attendance. Jackson Elementary ended the fall semester with an average daily attendance of about 94%, above the district’s average.
Parents must “help themselves”
No matter how much the school provides, parents ultimately need to take the initiative to “help themselves,” Chavez said. She highlights resources for parents by posting leaflets in her classroom promoting financial literacy classes offered by Educational Employees Credit Union.
“It was giving parents the tool on how to save money, basic stuff that a lot of parents don’t know because of not knowing the language, or having barriers getting the knowledge, or maybe they weren’t born here in the United States,” said Chavez.
Garcia, 5-year-old Mariela’s mom, once told Chavez that she was waiting for relatives to take her to the DMV to take her behind-the-wheel test so she could obtain her driver’s license. Chavez volunteered to take Chavez, instead.
On a rainy Tuesday morning the last week of the fall semester, they arrived at the DMV an hour before Garcia’s appointment. Sitting on the bench and watching the names scroll by on the screens, Garcia told Chavez about working in the fields in her younger days and how she became a stay-at-home mom. Now that her daughter has started school, she hopes to find a part-time job at a nearby business once she obtains her driver’s license.
Garcia smiled as she returned to the DMV lobby after passing her driving test.
“I’m not nervous anymore,” she said, hugging Chavez.
This story was originally published January 4, 2025 at 11:30 AM.
