Pensacola, Fla. (May 21, 2021) – C.A. Weis Elementary, A Community Partnership School has become the first school in Florida to become a fully affirmed UCF-Certified Community Partnership School.

The first of its kind in the Panhandle, the Community Partnership School is a long-term commitment among Children’s Home Society of Florida, Community Health Northwest Florida, Escambia County School District and the University of West Florida, bringing together high-quality academics, health care, counseling, support, mentoring and more — all where students and families are comfortable: in their own school.

C.A. Weis’ UCF-Certification represents the intentional, dedicated collaboration to align necessary resources to help ensure student success and well-being, as the school successfully passed all 12 rigorous benchmarks, including governance, structure and leadership, after-school programs and comprehensive wellness services. Earning and affirming the title of UCF-Certified Community Partnership School is a distinct honor that represents years of work focused on implementing the model and changing the trajectory of students’ lives.

Focused on meeting needs identified by parents and teachers, the Community Partnership School – which launched in 2016 – offers parent resources, onsite counseling, targeted enrichment programs, onsite health care, solutions to overcome food insecurity and more.

Since implementing the innovative Community Partnership Schools Model, the Community Partnership School has increased access to health care, family education and after school activities while reducing discipline referrals by over 90% and out of school suspensions by nearly 94% from 2016-2020.

During the 2019-2020 school year, the Community Partnership School provided more than 350 students with counseling, health and dental care, and facilitated more than 2,000 referrals from the community, connecting families to resources from new school uniforms to counseling.

 

Featured image provided by Gregg Pachkowski, Pensacola News Journal / gregg@pnj.com