AAPS Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships | A2 Schools Podcast | Week of November 7, 2022

In this week's podcast, Dr. Swift and Andrew Cluley talk with  Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement Nancy Shore.

We discuss the crucial role community members, parents, non-profits and area businesses play in making the Ann Arbor Public Schools a special place. Shore highlights volunteer options in the AAPS, some of the crucial partnerships that help the district serve students, and winter giving opportunities that are currently available.

If you want to know more about AAPS Community Engagement and Strategic Partnerships you can watch the presentation to the Board of Education last month here, or listen to the bonus podcast of presentation here.

In AAPS good news we celebrate Pioneer girls field hockey winning the Division One State Championship over Skyline 2-1. The two teams faced each other in last year's state championship as well, with Skyline winning the title in overtime in 2021. Congratulations.

Transcript

:05

Andrew Cluley

Welcome to this week's edition of the A2 Schools Podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Cluley, Director of Communications for the Ann Arbor Public Schools. As always, I'm joined by our Superintendent, Dr. Swift. Thanks for being here today.

:16

Jeanice Swift

It's great to be here, Andrew. Thank you.

:19

Andrew Cluley

And today we also have our guest Nancy Shore. She's the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement. Thanks for being here, Nancy.

:27

Nancy Shore

Hey, happy to be here. Thanks, Andrew.

:29

Andrew Cluley

Well, as you might imagine, since Nancy is here, we are going to be talking about partnerships and community engagement in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. And I know, Dr. Swift, it's a really important thing for the district, for any school district to have their community involved and Ann Arbor definitely is involved in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

:47

Jeanice Swift

You know, I love that Andrew, I'm always reminded that quality schools are known by the quality of our community engagement. We're so fortunate in Ann Arbor to have a highly engaged community. And, you know, not a week goes by that I don't hear from folks saying, how do we help or how do we get involved? And you just have to say, I'm so grateful that we have a community who really wants to bring forward their efforts to help us serve our children better.

1:18

Andrew Cluley

And Ms. Shore that's right to the question, my first question is, if you're a parent listening right now or a community member, maybe you are part of an organization or a business and you want to get involved in volunteering and helping out the Ann Arbor Public Schools. What do you do? What are those first steps?

1:34

Nancy Shore

Well, great question, Andrew. So something that I do want everybody to know is that we are fully open for people to come in and get involved. So if you're a parent or maybe you're in a neighborhood and you want to get involved in your local school, I would say the first place to start is going to that school.

1:51

Nancy Shore

So most schools have opportunities either to be involved in one time activities to help out in a classroom. We have some great skill sets in our schools around literacy and math, and so there may be a great opportunity there, or to get involved in the library. So I would say that if you're specifically interested in going to a school that that you're close to or you're a parent, then just go to that school and ask them what opportunities are available. If you're a community member or a student or somebody who is is really open to maybe seeing where there may be some some places that you can plug in, then you can go on to our website,

2:30

Nancy Shore

at a2schools.org/volunteer and see some of the volunteer opportunities there that are available across the district. There are also opportunities sometimes for one time events and activities. For example, we sometimes have teachers or a building staff that need help with putting their book room together. And so one time coming in doing that, we've had that opportunity and then there's also opportunities just to help and give back.

2:55

Nancy Shore

So we do have on the a2schools website as well a support students link because we're always looking for a wish list items if somebody wants to do a drive to support our students. So there's really lots of opportunities. And then of course all of the advisory boards in other types of engagement that we do all the time. You can look on our website and see opportunities available in those realms as well.

3:16

Andrew Cluley

So really sounds like no matter what your skill set is, there's something that you could probably do that would help out in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.

3:22

Nancy Shore

Absolutely. And of course, I would be remiss not to mention our PTOs because almost all of them have ways for you to get involved in engage, and that's typically through a school. So absolutely, there's lots of ways to get involved. And if you have your own idea, that's also a great opportunity either to email us at the Partnerships Office or talk to a school about what idea you may have, because sometimes that idea can blossom into a new opportunity.

3:45

Jeanice Swift

You know Nancy, one of the celebrations and there have been so many this fall is seeing so many adults reengaging at the schools. And I rarely ever stop by a school that I don't see our volunteers. About how many folks are we working with, do you know?

4:07

Nancy Shore

So at the district level where we bring in volunteers that are both community members as well as University of Michigan students and others in the community, it's a little over 200, and so that's just people coming in. And so we know that our parent bases are even more. I happen to be an Ann Arbor parent, so I get to see sometimes some of the volunteering and engagement that happens at the school level. So it's it's got to be in the hundreds, if not many more.

4:32

Jeanice Swift

That's wonderful.

4:33

Andrew Cluley

And Ms. Shore Where are the areas of the greatest need in terms of community engagement?

4:38

Nancy Shore

So that's a great question. And I would say a lot of what we talk about when we talk about helping and supporting our students is that we know that there's a lot of research out there that shows that just one positive adult role model in the life of a child can make such a huge difference. And so we're really looking for those positive adult role models.

4:57

Nancy Shore

And so a lot of the opportunities that I get are from teachers who would love to have somebody volunteer as a classroom helper. There's also some that are a little bit more skills based, like helping in math and literacy, because we also understand how important academic support is for our students. But we're doing it in an intentional way.

5:15

Nancy Shore

So we do have some opportunities to provide a little bit more training to help with literacy and math. And then, as I mentioned before, we often have just a need for some set of helping hands. So be that in the library to help organize books or helping out in the lunchroom during times when kids are needing some more support.

5:35

Nancy Shore

There's lots of different opportunities, but most of it revolves around directly supporting our students. And then one final one that I will mention is that we do know we have a large English language learner population, and while we do provide lots of supports for those students, it's always nice to have somebody who may speak that student's language coming into the school and providing support so we do have opportunities where a volunteer can work directly with one of our EL teachers to support a student who may share their same language.

6:02

Andrew Cluley

Oh, that sounds like a really great opportunity for someone to really make a difference in a child's life.

6:08

Nancy Shore

Yeah. I mean, one story that I just had recently is that we did have a family who had a Ukrainian refugee at one of our schools, and we were able to find actually a University of Michigan student who was also from Ukraine, who was able to come and provide direct one on one support to that student, which is, again, in addition to what that student was already getting. But just to have a person who spoke the same language was so meaningful and so it was great to see that happen.

6:33

Jeanice Swift

And, you know, it's those kind of connections that truly make all the difference in the lives of children and families. I'm just so impressed with that, example.

6:43

Nancy Shore

Yes, absolutely.

6:44

Andrew Cluley

We've been talking a lot about sort of one on one volunteering efforts. But I know that your your title includes partnerships in it. So can you talk about what type of partnerships the Ann Arbor Public Schools has and what kind of things that we're doing with these partnerships?

7:01

Nancy Shore

Sure. So our office is called the Strategic Partnerships Office. And so that is specifically looking at partners that we have that we work with at the district level that may have areas or being involved in multiple schools. Or they might just work with us at the district to say, where can I have the most impact in what I do?

7:21

Nancy Shore

And so we have over 80 strategic partners and they range from our community partners, so many nonprofits that we work with. And so the ways that they interact with us or maybe they provide an afterschool activity for students so that they can get additional academic support after school or they're providing case management during the day, and we can work in concert with them to provide wraparound services.

7:42

Nancy Shore

We also have many business partners and they do so many great things, so they provide internship opportunities for our students, job shadowing, coming in one day. So we recently had a professor from U of M Robotics that came into one of our fifth grade Project Lead the Way classrooms and did a little activity with a robot with their students.

8:02

Nancy Shore

And so that was something where we had that partnership that blossomed into that one activity. And we also have a lot of our nonprofit partners said nonprofit partners, business partners, and then we have our educational partners. So through the University of Michigan, we have many, many different partnerships. Some of them are service learning partnerships with particular courses or classes, and some of them are partnerships around the kind of work that we do to support our students.

8:28

Nancy Shore

So it really is a gamut. And if you are a parent that is at a business and you're looking for how your business can can engage with us, then you can go on our strategic partnerships website, contact me and we can start the ball rolling on that. So it's great to have organizations partner with us as well because then we can also broadcast opportunities to all of their employees, which again allows us to expand our reach and have them be involved in a multitude of ways.

8:55

Jeanice Swift

And you know, Nancy, I'm so impressed always with businesses, corporations, higher ed who build into their design time to partner in support our children and support our schools. So I just want to give a shout out to and I know it's a large number of our business partners, just want to give a shout out to every one of those.

9:21

Jeanice Swift

We appreciate the drives for winter clothing and all of that, but much of this is far beyond that, that they are giving time to their employees on a regular basis to be in our schools, supporting our children, our staff, our families and community. That's a big deal.

9:39

Nancy Shore

Absolutely. And it becomes a relationship. So it isn't just one time activities. We have many businesses that are involved in multiple different ways, from volunteering to providing in-kind donations. And so it really becomes a lot more of an exchange. And so it is really beautiful. I do, I do want to acknowledge our bigger partners, Ann Arbor Spark and the Chamber, because they're the ones that we work in concert with to connect with a lot of these businesses. And so I do want to acknowledge their support of the work that we do here as well in their commitment to education.

10:10

Jeanice Swift

You know, it's all community really is schools and community, business, nonprofit, higher ed and then all these individuals who just want to make a positive difference. What an exciting time.

10:25

Nancy Shore

Absolutely. Everybody has a role to play in supporting our students.

10:29

Andrew Cluley

And speaking of making a positive difference, this is November. And obviously with Thanksgiving's coming up, there's a whole bunch of end of year holidays and a lot of people at this time of year are looking at a way to give back what sort of special opportunities are there in the Ann Arbor Public Schools at this time of year. So to really make a difference for for our students.

10:47

Nancy Shore

Yeah. Thank you for that question, Andrew. So we have an opportunity that is on the website at a2schools.org/wintergiving. And there's a couple of different ways that if you wanted to get involved and support students that need support over this this time, there's a couple of ways that you can do that. So first of all, we do a district wide gift card drive, and this is because many schools are doing their own individual school based activities, but they sometimes need more help and support.

11:16

Nancy Shore

Maybe they don't have a PTO, maybe they are, their PTO is doing a lot of other good things and it needs some extra support. And so we strategically use those gift cards to apply them to families and students that need them the most. Another opportunity is that we work with our McKinney-Vento liaison, Alicia Maylone, and she supports our families experiencing homelessness at AAPS.

11:38

Nancy Shore

And many of those families don't have transportation or the ability to access a place to shop. So instead of giving them a gift card, she will put together a wish list and then we'll have businesses provide those gifts and then she can help get those delivered to those families. So it's really, a really wonderful partnership that we have with a couple businesses and we're always looking for more.

12:00

Nancy Shore

So on that website, a2schools.org/wintergiving, there is a form where if you wanted to support providing gifts for McKinney-Vento students, you could also do that, our students experiencing homelessness. And then finally, we use this site as a collector of all of the requests from individual schools. So we know that each school is involved in their own winter giving activities.

12:22

Nancy Shore

And this is just a way to allow our larger community, who may not have a student currently in school, maybe close in a neighborhood close to a school, and then they can actually see some of the needs and then they can focus their efforts or energies on supporting a specific school. And those specific school needs include gift cards, they include winter clothing, they include wish lists. So if you go on the site, you'll be able to see a variety of different ways to get involved.

12:48

Andrew Cluley

It's great to see that there's an opportunity for the community, and I know from past years that that opportunity is is met time and again by our community.

12:57

Nancy Shore

Yeah, absolutely. We have people that give every single year and we're so grateful for all of them.

13:02

Jeanice Swift

We truly are. I've never, it's just shocking how very supportive and and caring and connected our community is. You know, Nancy, I've been witness to those drives and it's just always inspiring how, how engaged in and how much our community rises.

13:26

Nancy Shore

Yeah. And I think that it also shines a light on the fact that we do still have need in this community. I know for a fact that I'm hearing from from families and staff that inflation is hitting some families pretty hard. And so, those of us who can give, this is what community is about, right? Those who can give and then we support our community. And so this is just a way to do that and reinforce that we're here for each other.

13:51

Jeanice Swift

I love it. You know, before times we were about one in four of our students coming from a home impacted by poverty. But your point is well taken, is that with inflation and certainly Ann Arbor's, you know, higher cost of living, our families do feel that crunch. We know that.

14:11

Andrew Cluley

Well, let's turn to some good news in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, we are celebrating the Pioneer Field hockey team. They recently won the state championship in Division One, 2-1 by defeating defending state champion Skyline High School. So it's great to see a pair of Ann Arbor Public Schools teams battling for the state title.

14:33

Jeanice Swift

You know, Andrew, congratulations to Pioneer. I was over there just a few days ago when they were celebrating this win, and I'm so proud of them. And what an embarrassment of riches that Skyline and Pioneer have traded out state championships. But that's what we do here in Ann Arbor Public Schools. And I'm so proud of these students.

14:56

Andrew Cluley

And actually it was a literal trade because last year the finals were the exact same two teams Pioneer and Skyline and Skyline had won in overtime that year. So two very obviously evenly matched teams that can both be celebrated here in Ann Arbor.

15:11

Jeanice Swift

That's just wonderful. Congrats to all the students and coaches and parents. What a great job.

15:18

Andrew Cluley

Well, thank you very much for being with us today, Dr. Swift.

15:20

Jeanice Swift

It's wonderful to be here. Thank you.

15:23

Andrew Cluley

And Nancy Shore, the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement, thank you for joining us today as well.

15:28

Nancy Shore

Thank you, Andrew. Dr. Swift.

15:30

Jeanice Swift

Thank you.

15:31

Andrew Cluley

And thank you for listening to this week's edition of the A2 Schools Podcast. As always, if you have any questions about the Ann Arbor Public Schools, the first place to go is our web site, a2schools.org. If you have a question that you'd like to be asked or maybe a topic you'd like discussed on our podcast, don't hesitate to email communications@a2schools.org and we'll work on getting that on a future edition of the A2 Schools Podcast, and thank you very much for listening today.