In ASD-W, we’ve moved from daily intervention to prevention by enhancing our social infrastructure: the people and the community connections they bring.
As a team of community school coordinators, we were tasked with coordinating the community use of our school/district spaces. We also took the opportunity to leverage these partnerships for greater connectivity between the schools and students, ultimately building strategic alliances to enhance healthier built environments for our learners — in other words, upgrading our facilities to benefit the school and the greater community.
The best part? The district didn’t have to play the role of a funder (you read that right!). Because of these connections, we’ve tapped into these collaborations to produce millions of dollars worth of enhancements to our district facilities.
Because of these connections, we’ve tapped into these collaborations to produce millions of dollars worth of enhancements to our district facilities.
Here are some of the key shifts from traditional coordination of rental space that provided a strong foundation for this to work:
1. Building a cohesive community school operations team.
A team of three community school coordinators is responsible for the community use of school spaces for all 70 of our schools.
- One coordinator focuses on all day-to-day rental agreements.
- One coordinator focuses on renewing contracts and communication best practices (SOPs, conflict management, etc.).
- The community engagement coordinator connects all the pieces and looks for opportunities to weave the partnerships together.
The members work with the budget and accounting team (accounts payable and procurement), facilities managers, custodial forepersons, school administrators/admin support, and the IT specialist.
2. Partnering with local governments.
Many local governments have a recreation mandate/interest to provide services to their constituents.
- We partnered with municipalities and recreation leaders to build reciprocal agreements for schools in their municipality. We trusted key recreation leaders to be the onsite school supervisor and manage bookings in approved areas of use for each school.
- Municipalities get the bonus of access to recreational infrastructure, offering programming for many of our learners outside of instructional time.
Our district receives a reduced remittance fee from the municipality that covers district/school expenses, and the remaining portion of the rental goes back to the municipality to help cover the cost of their staffing and equipment.
3. Partnering with community businesses and associations for other areas of use in our schools.
Our schools are busy places. We partner with the community for early learning/afterschool daycares, cafeterias, theatres, and nonprofit programming. We developed agreements and contracts with the operators of these areas to ensure a coordinated effort around the use and maintenance of the space.
4. Networking and relationship building rooted in trust, transparency, and strong communication.
A strong relationship rooted in trust and transparency was founded by having a team of school coordinators designated to manage relationships with community groups and users. We have monthly meetings with recreational leaders and touchpoints with each municipality and community partner to discuss wins, hurdles, and potential risks.
Our Return on Investment
How are we measuring success? Check out the return on these investments:
- Collaboration at the design phase of new schools: We’ve worked alongside local government, district, and department design teams to leverage investment opportunities in school spaces. In two of our recent new school building projects, a local government contributed over CAD$80,000 to invest in upgrades to the gymnasium to ensure larger seating areas, secured entrances, adjustable net systems, and score clocks, thereby making it more conducive for community use, such as hosting tournaments and other recreational events.
- Collaboration with funders: Through connections with the Government of New Brunswick’s Regional Development Corporation (RDC), we’ve coordinated a successful matching program to enhance our community spaces. In 2024, our district had over CAD$1 million worth of investments. Projects included replacing gymnasium bleachers, outdoor playgrounds/learning areas, and sports field rejuvenation projects. Through this matching grant opportunity, 50% of project fees were covered by RDC, and the remaining 50% were covered through school-raised funds (our community partners and municipal government investments).
By having a robust team of school coordinators working at the grassroots level, we’ve increased the number of applications processed and ultimately generated more billed revenue from users. A portion goes back to the district, and another to the school to offset any smaller investment at the principal's discretion to help with school-based needs.
Our overarching goal is to fulfill our district's vision, mission, and core values: To nurture learning in a healthy, safe, inclusive environment so students thrive and become confident, contributing community members. This is how school business professionals play a part in this success for our learners!