COMPASS Community Schools Participate in "Lights On Afterschool" On October 18

All 11 COMPASS Community School sites – in the Allentown, Bangor and Bethlehem Area School Districts – participated in “Lights On Afterschool,” a nationwide celebration of afterschool programs on Thursday, October 18. These events, which were part of 7,500 such events around the nation, urged communities to support afterschool programs by helping to promote positive, educational experiences for all students. The 13th annual “Lights On Afterschool,” organized by the Afterschool Alliance, highlighted the achievements of students in afterschool programs and drew attention to the need for more opportunities to serve the millions of children nationwide who are unsupervised and at risk each weekday afternoon.

Highlights of “Lights On Afterschool” at COMPASS Community School sites included:

Bangor Area School District
DeFranco Elementary School and Bangor Area Middle School
Students and community members participated in the Bangor Area Community Schools’ “Exploring Your Future” program while embarking on a field trip to Crayola’s solar fields in Forks Township. Participants learned how solar energy is used as a renewable resource and how the environment factors into Crayola’s decision of manufacturing its products. Several leaders from the Bangor community accompanied this group of nearly 60 students for the experience, which was the first student group in the Lehigh Valley to visit the Crayola solar fields. The trip was made possible thanks to the 21st Century Learning Center for funding the students transportation.

Bethlehem Area School District
Broughal Middle School, Calypso Elementary School, Donegan Elementary School, Fountain Hill Elementary School, and Lincoln Elementary School
Bethlehem Area Community Schools, along with the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley, collaborated to provide students, families and community members with an opportunity to come together and explore the worlds of health and science. Participants enjoyed live chatting with NASA representative, Lyle Tavernier from the jet propulsion laboratory, about the Mars Curiosity Rover, and experienced “Oasis in Space” in the planetarium. Other highlights, including wearing yellow to support “Lights On Afterschool,” and a variety of programs – “Crafting Confidence,” “Reading Rocks,” and “Drum Circle” – were also provided through open house opportunities that evening.

Allentown School District
Central Elementary School, McKinley Elementary School, Roosevelt Elementary School, and South Mountain Middle School
Allentown Community Schools offered a wide array of afterschool programs to celebrate “Lights On Afterschool,” and kicked off a yearlong series of “Book Blast” – a school-wide, family literacy event designed to help parents and children discover a love for reading by equipping them with vital reading strategies. Other highlights of the evening included a Family Bingo Night and a mixture of activities promoting math and reading intervention, as well as science, dance and art programming.

A complete list of Pennsylvania celebrations is available at www.afterschoolalliance.org/loaFindEvent.cfm.

About COMPASS Community Schools
United Way’s Community Partners for Student Success (COMPASS) partnership links 11 Lehigh Valley schools with their communities in ways that are giving public education in the Lehigh Valley resources and supports that are crucial during these tough economic times. COMPASS provides the funding for the Community School Coordinators and Directors, convenes the partners to identify systems-level solutions and strategies that support youth succeeding in school, connects resources to these school sites to support enhanced school day learning, provides on-site coaching and training to strengthen implementation of the Community School model and collects and analyzes data to evaluate progress of this systems level work. COMPASS Community Schools have experienced tremendous growth in family and community involvement, improvements in academic performance for individual students, and improved school climate.

On the national level, the Community School model has garnered significant attention following the appointment of Arne Duncan as the U.S. Secretary of Education. As the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Secretary Duncan utilized the strategy to create more than 150 Community Schools in high need neighborhoods and has since championed the strategy as an innovative approach to supporting schools across the country. Endorsement of the Community Schools model via the national Coalition for Community Schools has been received from more than 170 national, state and local organizations, including the two largest teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.

Community Schools seek to organize programs and services into one place, creating “one stop shopping” for students and families. These programs and services are designed to remove barriers to learning, create positive youth development opportunities, empower parents to strengthen their role as partners in education, and to use the community as a living textbook. To learn more about Community Schools, visit http://www.communityschools.org

Mission of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley
The mission of United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley is to provide the leadership, convene the partnerships and develop the resources and solutions that improve our community. We remain committed to these goals and sincerely appreciate the continued support of partners, program providers and donors throughout the Lehigh Valley.