Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2 of Community Room! Our guests today are dedicated to growing and nurturing community-mindedness and elements of community schooling in their lower-mainland district. This is a relatively small district and we will talk about that and what that can mean for new initiatives in a district. We wanted to have these two folks here today, as we thought it would be an informative conversation about how some districts begin to plan for deepening these understandings, and making the impact of community school elements and this approach, more deeply felt.

RESOURCES:

nccs.org
acebc.ca

QUOTE:

“Children flourish when communities support their minds, bodies, hearts, and families. Thriving children strengthen their communities in a virtuous cycle.
Community schools are a long-term strategy for student success. They are a partnership of community members and leaders working together to ensure children are surrounded with support. All children and communities deserve community schools, designed around the innate strengths and needs of the community.” - From "Transformation" from nccs.org


"Start small and build gradually. You needn’t open a full-scale community school or launch a multi-school system from the outset. ... By building gradually toward a comprehensive program, the team’s leadership will be able to observe how well the partners work together and consider ways of resolving any issues that arise before growing the strategy. Also, this kind of gradual expansion allows trust to grow among partners at the site.
- From "Building Community Schools: A Guide for Action" from nccs.org


BIO:

Rick Bloudell is a Manager of Community Programs and Partnerships His portfolio includes Community Schools and Neighbourhood Learning Centres for his district, most recently opening and overseeing operations at brand new Welcome and Wellness Centres located at the secondary school. He previously spent over ten years working for a local municipality. Rick graduated from Simon Fraser University with a degree in business, specializing in Human Resources, as well as a certificate in Labour Studies.

Tanis Anderson started her career in education as an Education Assistant. From there she became a classroom teacher, teaching Grades K-4, where she taught in Community Schools and Community Minded Schools. From there, she became a Literacy Helping Teacher and shifted into a program Consultant Role in Literacy K-12. Last year she moved school districts to take on a new job, as District Vice Principal for Early Learning. Her portfolio includes supporting early learning and literacy, StrongStart, community programming, childcare and food security. Tanis received an undergraduate and Masters degree at Simon Fraser University.