U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona spent Monday in the School District of Lancaster, drawing national attention to the district’s community school model and its “it takes a village” philosophy. Walking through classrooms and talking with educators, families, and local partners, Cardona emphasized how schools can function as neighborhood anchors-linking academics with social services, health care, and family support. His visit, reported by LancasterOnline, comes as federal and state leaders increasingly view community schools as a key strategy for tackling post-pandemic learning loss, chronic absenteeism, and persistent achievement gaps.
Community schools emerge as a national blueprint for student and family support
As Miguel Cardona toured Lancaster’s campuses, a central federal education priority came into clearer view: transforming neighborhood schools into full-service hubs that meet both academic and non-academic needs. In Washington, this “whole child” approach is gaining traction as a realistic framework for long-term education reform.
Lancaster’s community school model, with its on-site health clinics, family resource centers, and mental health services, is being closely watched as an example of how local partnerships can be scaled. Cardona’s team pointed to Lancaster’s effort to integrate social services directly into school buildings-from counseling and food access to housing referrals-as a concrete way to stabilize families and lift student performance. Federal officials signaled that districts investing in similar wraparound supports may be increasingly well-positioned for future funding.
This vision fits squarely within the Biden administration’s push to expand community schools through competitive grants, technical assistance, and multi-year investments. Lancaster’s extensive partnerships with nonprofits, health systems, and workforce agencies demonstrate how federal dollars can be translated into real services that students and families see and feel every day.
Policy staff accompanying the secretary highlighted several pillars of Lancaster’s approach that are drawing interest in Washington:
- Integrated student supports led by dedicated, full-time community school coordinators on each campus.
- Family engagement programs that offer adult education, translation and interpretation services, and referrals to immigration and legal assistance.
- Health and mental health access through school-based or closely partnered clinics and counseling providers.
- Extended learning time via after-school, weekend, and summer programming funded through a mix of grants and local resources.
| Focus Area | Lancaster Practice | Federal Interest |
|---|---|---|
| Student Support | On-site coordinators | Scalable staffing model |
| Family Services | Multilingual outreach | Equity and access |
| Health & Wellness | Partner clinics | Chronic absenteeism reduction |
| Learning Time | After-school hubs | Academic recovery |
How Lancaster’s community school network operates day to day
Behind the scenes, a dense network of neighborhood partners is reshaping what it means for a district to support children and families. In the School District of Lancaster, community schools operate as coordinating centers that bring together health providers, food and housing organizations, youth development programs, faith communities, and local businesses.
Instead of school buildings going dark at dismissal, hallways and classrooms remain active well into the evening. Students receive tutoring, join art and robotics clubs, see counselors, and participate in college and career workshops. Families can attend financial literacy classes, meet with caseworkers, or pick up groceries-all without leaving the school campus.
Each community school has a central coordinator whose job is to build, manage, and evaluate these partnerships. Much like an editor tracking recurring beats, coordinators maintain a calendar of services, monitor usage, and adjust offerings as neighborhood needs evolve. This structure turns what might be scattered charity into a predictable, integrated support system.
District leaders describe the model not as a one-off initiative but as a shared community commitment that no student will be left to navigate complex challenges alone. In a typical week, families might engage with several partner organizations in a single school building:
- Health providers delivering routine checkups, immunizations, dental screenings, and vision exams on campus.
- Food and housing organizations coordinating weekend meal packs, on-site food pantries, and emergency housing referrals.
- Youth development groups running STEM clubs, music and arts programs, leadership training, and sports leagues.
- Workforce and college partners guiding students through career exploration, apprenticeships, FAFSA completion, and scholarship searches.
| Partner Type | Key Service | Student Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Health Clinic | School-based appointments | Reduced absences |
| Food Bank | Weekend meal packs | Improved readiness to learn |
| Nonprofit Tutor | After-school support | Higher course completion |
| College Partner | Mentoring & campus visits | Expanded postsecondary plans |
Why high-need districts are turning to the community school model
Across Pennsylvania and in many urban and rural districts nationwide, communities like Lancaster face deep-rooted obstacles that shape learning long before students take their first standardized test. Concentrated poverty, food insecurity, unstable housing, limited access to health care, and exposure to trauma often collide with under-resourced schools and high educator turnover.
Teachers and principals frequently report that large portions of their day are spent addressing immediate crises-students arriving hungry, chronic illnesses going untreated, or behavioral issues driven by stress at home-rather than focusing on rigorous instruction. At the same time, families may juggle multiple jobs, lack transportation, or navigate language barriers that make traditional school engagement models ineffective.
In this reality, narrow reforms focused only on curriculum materials or testing regimes are insufficient. They do not fundamentally change the conditions that hinder learning before students even sit down in class.
Community schools, like those spotlighted during the U.S. Education Secretary’s visit to Lancaster, are increasingly viewed as a systemic answer to these layered challenges. By turning campuses into coordinated service hubs, districts are attempting to address root causes, not just symptoms.
In Lancaster, the community school framework means:
- Integrated student supports that address health, nutrition, mental health, and social-emotional needs during the school day.
- Expanded learning time through after-school, weekend, and summer programs that reinforce academics while offering enrichment, internships, and hands-on learning.
- Family engagement anchored by bilingual staff, culturally responsive outreach, flexible meeting times, and parent leadership opportunities.
- Collaborative leadership where principals, teachers, community partners, and families co-develop goals, share data, and adjust strategies together.
The approach aligns with a growing body of research showing that community schools can improve attendance, academic outcomes, and graduation rates when implemented with strong partnerships and stable funding.
| Challenge | Community School Response |
|---|---|
| Chronic absenteeism | On-site health clinic and coordinated home visit teams |
| Low family engagement | Community events, interpreters, and parent resource centers |
| Achievement gaps | Tutoring, extended learning, and data-driven interventions |
| Student trauma | School-based counselors and social workers |
What other districts can learn from Lancaster’s whole child strategy
Districts around the country are looking to Lancaster for practical guidance on how to build sustainable, districtwide community school systems-not just isolated pilots. Local leaders emphasize that the model works because it is embedded in policy, staffing, and budgeting, rather than treated as a temporary project.
Several design choices stand out:
- Dedicated site coordinators at each community school, responsible for needs assessments, partner management, and program alignment.
- Multi-year memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with health providers, social-service agencies, and nonprofits to ensure continuity of services.
- Data-sharing agreements that allow schools and partners to track student wellness indicators alongside academic metrics.
- Board-level commitment to integrated supports, reflected in policies and budget decisions that protect community school roles even during lean fiscal years.
Visiting policymakers often point to Lancaster’s governance and scaling strategy as particularly instructive. Instead of treating each community school as an independent experiment, the district uses a common framework for:
– Conducting needs assessments in each school community
– Selecting and aligning partners based on local data
– Evaluating impact using consistent indicators across sites
At the same time, individual schools retain flexibility to tailor services to their neighborhood context-whether that means focusing on newcomer immigrant families, addressing high mobility, or responding to specific health trends.
Early lessons surfacing in policy discussions include:
- Codify the model in school board policy and collective bargaining agreements so it endures leadership transitions.
- Braid funding streams-including federal relief funds, Title I, state grants, Medicaid reimbursement, and local philanthropy-into a unified community school strategy.
- Embed new metrics such as attendance, clinic visits, participation in family events, and use of resource centers into district accountability plans.
- Convene cross-agency councils that meet regularly on school campuses, bringing decision-makers into direct contact with students and families.
| Policy Lever | Lancaster Approach | Replicable Step |
|---|---|---|
| Staffing | Site-based coordinators | Fund one coordinator per school |
| Partnerships | Multi-year agreements | Standardize MOUs districtwide |
| Data | Joint wellness dashboards | Include health and engagement indicators |
| Governance | Community advisory input | Create local school-partner councils |
Key Takeaways
As Miguel Cardona’s visit wrapped up, Lancaster leaders and community partners described the day not as a victory lap, but as a reminder of the work still ahead. The School District of Lancaster’s community school model is intentionally evolving, and its success depends on long-term funding, stable policy support, and sustained trust with families.
For the Biden administration, Lancaster offered a concrete look at how federal priorities-equity, mental health, family engagement, and academic recovery-can be translated into everyday practice in classrooms and hallways. For local educators and residents, the national spotlight validated years of behind-the-scenes organizing, partnership-building, and experimentation.
Whether the “village” that has taken root in Lancaster can be replicated elsewhere will hinge on decisions made by school boards, state agencies, and Congress long after the media coverage fades. Yet for a few hours on that Monday, a single Pennsylvania district served as a living example of what a more connected, community-centered vision of public education can be-and how community schools can help close gaps that traditional reforms have left untouched.
