Henrico Schools aims for deeper community reach with year-round Community Learning Centers

In recent years, Henrico Schools officials have made more of an effort to open up the county's public schools to community partners  – and to the community itself.

The goal is to shape schools into “community hubs” that serve all sorts of needs for families, according to Robin Rowland, the chief operating officer for the Henrico Education Foundation, a nonprofit that works directly with HCPS to bridge disparities between students.

For hundreds of Henrico students, those hubs are HEF’s Community Learning Centers, which run after school all year round for nine different schools, free of charge to families. With outside partners coming in almost every day, the CLCs are able to provide students with a “wildly diverse” set of activities – cooking, yoga, cheerleading, piano, coding, entrepreneurship, pilates, and even cosmetology.

Many students will get to have new experiences they would have likely never had access to without the program, Rowland said. But the program, which runs for a few hours after school ends, also allows students to just have more interaction with their peers, with adults who are their mentors, and with learning.

“It’s the interaction to be honest…I think that’s invaluable,” Rowland said. “If your choices are to go home and plug into some sort of device and not talk to anybody, or go into an enrichment program where your friends are there and mentors are there and you spend a few more hours having fun about learning, your next day at school feels different.”

HEF launched the first CLC programs in 2019 with grants from the Virginia Department of Education at three elementary schools but quickly added more schools after seeing high demand. Schools are selected based upon a number of factors, such as the area’s income level and the school’s academic scores and rate of chronic absenteeism.

During the school year, staff at the CLC centers give extra help to students on their academics, often focusing on areas where that particular school may see lower scores.

During the summer, CLCs focus more on providing enrichment activities after students finish their day at HCPS’ Summer Academy. The excitement for the summer CLC program has even led to more students signing up for Summer Academy programs, Rowland said.

“They have this after school enrichment option with fun things to do as soon as Summer Academy is done for the day,” she said. “And then that summer learning loss just doesn’t happen and a greater number of kids are actually attending Summer Academy because of that option to do something cool and innovative after they do the academic portion.”

The majority of the time, most of the CLC programs are at their max – about 75 students depending on the school – and have long waitlists of families eager to join, said Brittany Baker, the CLC center director at Montrose Elementary.

“You’ll always hear in the hallway, since they all know I’m in the program, I hear, ‘Ms. Baker! Can I get in the program?’ and I have to be like, ‘We’re actually at our max,’” she said. “And then by the end of the year, I’ll hear parents be like, ‘I don’t know what y’all are doing in that program, but whatever it is, it’s allowing my student to feel more comfortable being himself and open up to new ideas.’”

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A big part of the program is mentorship, with an emphasis on staff building relationships with students and students connecting with each other. Not only do teachers in the schools see the impact of the CLCs academically, but CLC staff also see the students’ personal growth, said Kamara Webster, the Senior CLC center director for Glen Lea Elementary.

“It’s great to be able to see them grow from when they start the program, they have a little attitude and their little sassiness, but from the beginning of the school year to the end you can see them mature,” Webster said. “It’s something great.”

Parent engagement is another component of the CLCs’ “full-service community school model,” Rowland said. Each month, the program holds at least one family event, which could range from a financial literacy class to a game night or field day.

“There’s always some element of community support available at a fun event,” she said “We have a really high immigrant population, so a lot of things are done as English as a Second Language classes. We’ve done a cultural fair, so that works on inclusion in your classroom and in your school in general.”

By building those close relationships with students and parents, the CLC staffers (who often are some of the teachers who already work at the school) get a better understanding of what a student’s life is like at home and what they need from the program, Baker said.

“I honestly think a lot of [mis]behavior is because we as adults, we’re not listening to what the students are even telling us. Out of building that relationship with them, we see the things like, ‘Oh, you’re just doing this because you’re hungry right now,’” Baker said. “As far as [mis]behaviors, when we do have misbehavior in the program, it’s very minimal, and I really think that’s because we do have that closer relationship with the students.”

The results of the CLCs are substantial, Baker said, not only on academic performance but on behavior and mindset. Experiencing new activities and getting that extra mentorship will push many students to open up and have more excitement with learning.

“I can see grade-wise and behavior-wise, I see that what we are doing is actually helping,” she said. “Because we’re giving them further tools that the teachers are giving them as well, but just pushing them a bit further. Just getting them to trust you enough to engage with something foreign, and being the one that’s like, ‘Alright, let me model this for you, let me show you how this can be fun.’”

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Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s Report for America Corps member and education reporter. Her position is dependent upon reader support; make a tax-deductible contribution to the Citizen through RFA here.