The COVID-19 pandemic has upended K-12 education. It's also affected the other essential services schools have evolved to provide from food assistance to help navigating the legal system.
Over the past year, Bill Reynolds has turned to the Helen Arnold Community Learning Center for help, including rental assistance. The rideshare driver has struggled to provide for his family of six because of the pandemic 鈥� he quit driving early on out of concern for his pregnant wife.
鈥淓ven when I went back to driving every so often, not because I wanted to, but, out of necessity, I just wasn鈥檛 making a significant amount of money,鈥� Reynolds said.
Helen Arnold is one of Akron Public Schools' two Family Resource Centers. They are hubs for wraparound services, explains Yvonne Culver, coordinator of school counsellors with the district.
鈥淲raparound services are those services that don鈥檛 directly tie to the classroom, but students would be unable to successfully do the academic work if they weren鈥檛 there,鈥� Culver said.
During the pandemic, Akron Schools have connected families with services that many never needed before. But even as the need has gone up, the ability to deliver has gotten tougher because counselors and other school personnel can鈥檛 physically interact with their students.
鈥淥ne of the things that I ask counselors to do is to go into the cafeteria at lunch time and notice who鈥檚 sitting alone,鈥� Culver said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 do those kinds of things. So, it鈥檚 a little bit more difficult to see who鈥檚 isolated on a video screen.鈥�
With distance learning, Culver says she tells her teachers to look out for students who aren鈥檛 talking, to notice those who were once engaged but are now quiet, and to connect them with school counselors.
鈥淪o, we have to find a way to build the trust so the student can share those needs so that then we have the capacity to link them with the services to fill them,鈥� she said.
A Model For Wraparound Services
Akron鈥檚 I Promise School was built on wraparound services. Before the pandemic, parents attended GED classes down the hall from their children. The Legal Aid office worked on eviction appeals. A clinic provided health care, and families shopped the food pantry.
Victoria McGee, or 鈥淢s. Vic鈥� as many of the students and families know her, is the director of the school鈥檚 family resource center.
鈥淲e really look at families very holistically. We serve as a one-stop shop,鈥� McGee said.
Even in the midst of the pandemic, the school has added the most ambitious project to date: transitional housing called the I Promise Village, and it plans to break ground on permanent living space this spring.
Big projects like these, as well as smaller services like financial coaching, go well beyond a typical school district鈥檚 budget. And they would not be possible without a partnership with the LeBron James Family Foundation.
But McGee says the foundation鈥檚 imprint goes beyond money.
鈥淥ur families, with our wraparound support services, they know when they see the logo from the LeBron James Family Foundation that it鈥檚 a no-judgment zone. What you need, if we can provide it, we're going to provide it,鈥� she said.
Collaborating To Better Serve Families
I Promise is not the only partnership Akron Public Schools has nurtured and needed during the pandemic. It has partnered with United Way to run the family resource centers.
鈥淲ith all the unfortunate things that have come with COVID, I think it鈥檚 also brought some lessons learned in innovative, more nimble ways we can serve families,鈥� said April Porter, education coordinator with United Way.
For example, they have partnered with DoorDash to deliver food and school supplies to families. And all Akron Public School families can now access鈥攙irtually鈥攖he wraparound services that had been available just to students at the Helen Arnold and Robinson centers.
Porter says that expanding services will extend beyond the pandemic.
鈥淚鈥檝e been talking about our work as an ecosystem, right? An ecosystem of family engagement, partnership engagement and school engagement,鈥� she said.
Akron plans to open a third resource center this spring, with the ultimate goal of having six resource centers to serve the entire district.
For Reynolds, the assistance that schools, such as Helen Arnold, offer to families like his is empowering and shows that they truly care.
鈥淓veryone looks at Helen Arnold, not just as a school, but as a family,鈥� he said.
This story is part of WKSU鈥檚 a statewide multimedia collaborative looking at the challenges and opportunities facing public education in Ohio.
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