Vista Community Schools
Vista Unified is gaining national recognition for its ongoing commitment to implementing the Community Schools concept. Three of the district’s Principals were recently featured in an article in The Journal of the National Association of State Boards of Education that explored the ways that California’s investment in Community Schools is yielding results.
Community Schools are public schools that offer extra wraparound services to students and their families beyond basic educational and extracurricular activities that address the broader needs of the local community.
The services vary from school to school and are often custom fit for the needs of the school’s community. Many services are offered in partnership with local organizations and can include food and clothing assistance, parenting classes, medical and dental help, and more.
These vital services enable schools to form deeper connections with the communities they serve and to better respond to a community’s needs in ways a traditional school model generally does not.
California’s statewide framework for Community Schools includes four pillars: integrated student supports, extended learning time and opportunities, family and community engagement, and collaborative leadership and practices for educators and administrators.
Fourteen VUSD schools are currently serving as Community Schools. Three of those schools - Bobier Elementary, Foothill Oak Elementary, and Vista High School - were featured in The Journal of the National Association of State Boards of Education, where the principals described how being Community Schools enhances the student experience.
Bobier Elementary Principal, Melanie Paliotti, emphasized the importance of directly seeking input from students and families to learn their needs rather than assuming or relying on past trends. This includes asking students about preferred after-school sports, clubs, and enrichment activities. It also entails community outreach events such as Coffee with the Principal events, student leader lunch meetings, and various committees.
[caption: Community surveys help Bobier Elementary to determine the desire for various after-school programs]
“Our work as a Community School has fostered a more proactive, connected, and supportive environment,” says Paliotti. “With the help of our Community Liaisons, families remain engaged and informed, strengthening the bond between home and school. Our intentional systems ensure that every student is supported academically, socially, and emotionally, creating a culture of care and a community that thrives together.”
Bobier also fosters close partnerships with community organizations and institutions to provide students and families in need with essential resources such as jackets, blankets, shoes, backpacks, vision care, and dental care.
Anna Lozano, the Principal of Foothill Oak Elementary School, points to the school’s partnership with Palomar Family Counseling Services, and specifically its Prevention & Early Intervention program as a recent success. The program provides ‘Dinosaur School’ at Foothill Oak, which includes social-emotional classroom lessons for TK-3 grades, small group counseling support for TK-5th-grade students, and a parenting workshop series.
[caption: Parents and students celebrate the completion of a parenting workshop to equip parents with skills and resources]
Lozano says that recent official recognition as a Community School and its associated grant funding has alleviated some of the workload and provided much-needed support for efforts already in place to help students and families: “Our staff is happier and more connected because the work is balanced and we have created systems to ensure we can continue this work even if staffing or funding changes. This work is truly integrated into what we do as a school now, so being a Community School is who we are, not what we do.”
Megan Ratliff, Principal of Vista High School, explains how VHS has implemented the Community School’s pillars: “We offer universal mental health screening with free licensed therapy services, a full-day Wellness Center, referrals to other health services and community resources, food distribution, a clothes and supplies closet, and a full-time Community Liaison in the Community Room.”
For the ‘expanded learning opportunities’ pillar, VHS has extended campus hours from 7:30 am - 5:30 pm and offers a variety of student clubs including Esports, cooking clubs, and the ‘quick feet club’, which helps students train for skills required to join high school athletics programs.
While the three schools were highlighted in the recent article, Major General Murray High School and Alta Vista High School are also VUSD Community Schools.
Both offer regular visits from Vista Community Clinic’s dental and mobile physical wellness clinics for students.
[caption: Vista Community Clinic’s mobile dental clinic makes stops at several VUSD Community Schools to offer free dental health screenings]
Joel Miller is the Principal of both schools and describes how specific evenings have developed into fun weekly get-togethers for the community. “What started as a credit recovery program at General Murray has really grown into a big community night every Thursday. We now even have steel drum lessons that are taught to both adults and kids in the community.
“It’s pretty cool - people can get their medical appointments, they can visit our community garden, they take a steel drum class while their kids are getting credit recovery, and then there can be a cooking class that spills over from the daytime that often is still going on!”
Consistency is key to supporting students through school, stresses Miller. “We want the community to be able to depend on us. It takes a village, as they say. And it takes the community to get these kids through to the finish line and beyond.”