Clothes, van rides, counseling. How Fresno schools are fighting back at absenteeism

Running a school is more than showing up in the morning, greeting the kids, and offering classes for them, says Matthew Phanco, principal at Thomas Elementary in Fresno.

“There are often days I feel more like a marriage counselor,” he said. “One of the reasons that kids don’t come to school is because mom and dad are fighting. I was literally having this four-hour conversation with this family, the child was falling apart and not wanting to come to school.”

Phanco sees the “Community Schools” model as a solution, which helps students focus on learning by providing support and services outside of classrooms.

When a school becomes a community school — like Thomas Elementary and four other Fresno Unified schools in highly impoverished areas last year — it can tap state money to develop special student services, such as mental health counseling, food, clothing, use of washers and dryers, and more. It focuses on the practical obstacles that many families are facing.

“Another child we had wouldn’t come to school because he only had one pair of pants and his pair of pants were dirty and he couldn’t wear them,” said Phanco. “We had a lot of clothes that have been donated, so we went to the closet and we picked out 12 pairs of pants for this kid.”

The five existing community school campuses in Fresno Unified - Birney, Holland, Norseman, Thomas and Fort Miller - are in the most impoverished communities in the nation, according to a district press release on the program. Test scores are significantly below grade level, and the students have high suspension rates and chronic absenteeism double the state average.

The model has proven effective in reducing chronic absenteeism, said a statement from the governor’s office. Principals say it helps to address circumstances that prevent kids from wanting to go to school, such as not having clean clothes to wear, or missing the bus and having no other transportation to school.

In the school year 2024-25, more community schools are coming to Fresno. California’s education department’s second cohort of funding is granting a total of $56 million to 44 schools in Fresno Unified, Clovis Unified, Central Unified and the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools to transform their campuses into community schools.

With the support of the grant, schools can hire coordinators focusing on connecting families and identifying their needs. The schools then bring in resources to fulfill the needs.

Phanco remembers advising his new coordinator, Tashon Smallwood, to be an advocate for the community and not a school administrator. “‘I don’t want you to look like you work for the school, I want you to look like you work for the community,’” Phanco said to The Fresno Bee, recalling the conversation. “So he’s out every morning and after school; kids are coming up to him, families are coming up to him and starting to rebuild the trust.”

Food and clean clothes were surveyed as the most frequent obstacles faced by families, community schools’ principals said. Most sites established partnerships with community organizations and distribute the donated goods to families regularly. Schools also provide services based on unique needs. For example, Thomas Elementary offered dental and vision care for kids, and provided parenting classes, as well as after-school tutoring — so that students have a cool place to stay and reduce their exposure to gang violence; Fort Miller Middle School ran a van to pick up students who miss the school bus, and hired counselors to address mental health issues and career planning.

The state grant provides financial support and recognizes what has been happening for years when teachers and staff at schools have paid out of their own pockets to help children, said Fresno Unified Trustee Andy Levine. The dedicated coordinators who work to develop partnerships in the community, such as with churches and charities, also relieve the burden on teachers who used to make those connections in their own time.

“It was brand new (last year), a lot of unknowns when schools decided to opt in,” said Levine. “It’s recognizing what teachers, principals, and staff are already doing out of pocket and in additional time, it’s sort of take that off of your plate … to be able to do that work so that teachers can focus on teaching.”

For the next school year, Clovis Unified and Central Unified are at their first time to build community schools. Fresno Unified and Fresno County Office of Education are second-time receivers to expand their program.

“The six sites that received the funding will now have additional funds to expand services,” said Maria Cortez, Central Unified’s communications and public relations officer. “Each school community has diverse assets and needs.”

Before joining the program, Central Unified had already implemented some support to elementary and secondary sites and the community, said Cortez, such as food pantry, intervention counselors, certified school psychologists, and a library center. Now with the state grant, the district can better meet the needs of students.

The 14 new community schools in Fresno Unified will conduct a series of listening tours in August and September, said Darrin Person, Fresno Unified’s executive director of community schools. The district’s communication office will announce the schedule and children, parents and community members are all welcome to participate.

Fresno Unified district is also hiring coordinators for the sites, he added. As of early June, more than 150 applications have been received.

Clovis Unified said the services and specifics of community schools are undecided. It is working with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools that provide oversight for grants to move forward, said Kelly Avants, the district’s chief communications officer. Parents, student and staff meetings will be held to develop a final implementation plan, she added.

Fresno County Superintendent of Schools oversees Fresno County’s education and provides support and services to school districts, especially the smaller ones that don’t have the capacity to run their own programs in certain areas, such as special education.

The county office led four nearby small school districts - Coalinga Huron Unified, Mendota Unified, Riverdale Joint Union, Washington Unified School districts, and the FCSS Violet Heintz Education Academy site - to apply for the grant and was awarded $18 million to build 17 community schools this year. Together with last year’s community schools, the county office will run 27 sites.

“A school site would begin with an Advisory Council where there would be a representation of all of the educational partners, community members, and students. Time and attention to relation building is the priority,” the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools replied to The Fresno Bee in an email. “The Advisory Council would work together to better understand the assets in a community. A needs assessment would follow, and then time to better understand the responses.”

Central Unified also provided that each community school site would set up a committee at the beginning of the academic year to involve diverse education partners and community members. The committee will determine the services, create a plan and supervise the implementation.