Inyo County Community Schools Planning Grant
Inyo County Office of Education received a two year planning grant from July 2023 to June 2025 to support a west county consortium of school districts (Round Valley, Bishop, Big Pine, Owens Valley and Lone Pine) in implementing a needs and assets assessment and applying for Community School implementation funding.
About Community Schools
A community school is defined as any school serving pre-Kindergarten through high school students using a whole-child approach that includes an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development, and community engagement.
There is no one-size fits all model to a community school. The community schools’ approach does not prescribe specific activities and structures, but instead it is a school improvement strategy grounded in the principle that all students, families, and communities benefit from strong connections between educators and local resources, supports and people.
Listening Project
Every community school is different because every community is different. Figuring out what it looks like in our community starts by getting everyone involved. Community School Coordinators worked with school teams and steering committees to implement a Listening Project from January to June 2024.
The Listening Project was an inclusive, systematic process for listening to and learning from students, staff, families, and community members about what they love about their school and what their vision is for their school and community. Information was collected via online surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. Percentages in the graphs below indicate the number of people who participated in the listening project by educational partner and by school district.
Listening Project data is currently being analyzed, and a Findings Report will be shared with all educational partners in Fall 2024.
Stay Connected
While the Listening Project surveys have closed, the conversation regarding how our schools can transform into a Community School is ongoing. If you weren’t able to participate in a survey or want to stay involved, please consider signing up for our email newsletter list. We send out a newsletter every other month, bursting with news and updates. Email sjohnson@inyocoe.org to be added to the mailing list.
For more information
Our brochure includes a basic introduction to the Community School framework, outcomes, and a time line for our local activities. On the tabs above, you can catch up on reading past newsletters, meet our Community School Coordinators and Steering Committee members, and learn more about the Community Schools movement with a list of resources on the Interesting Reads tab.
Click on the link below to download the brochure.