Family Connection-Communities In Schools of Athens Executive Director Erin Thompson Podvin stands outside of the Clarke Central High School Front Office on Oct. 30. Communities In Schools returned to CCHS for the 2024-25 school year. “(Site coordinators focus on) what the biggest needs are in the school, and they work collaboratively with school staff to figure out where that support (is) most needed,” Thompson Podvin said. Photo by Wyatt Meyer
Communities In Schools focuses on preventing CCHS students from withdrawing from high school by connecting them to community resources and programs.
Communities In Schools, a nonprofit organization stretched across 27 states, is returning to Clarke Central High School.
According to Family Connection-Communities In Schools of Athens Executive Director Erin Thompson Podvin, FC-CIS uses CIS to improve the well-being and success of students, garnering support from community groups and increasing students’ access to toiletries or clothes.
“The (CIS) site coordinators focus on ABCs: Attendance, Behavior and Course Completion. What they’re doing is working on (identifying) the non-academic barriers to students having good attendance, good behavior and completing their courses,” Thompson Podvin said.
“(My CIS site coordinators were) monitoring our attendance, making sure that we had the resources that we needed (and that) there were organizations at (HCHS) that were helpful.”
— Gabriel Smallwood,
Cedar Shoals High School CIS Site Coordinator
After moving away from CIS during the 2019-20 school year, the program has come back for the 2024-25 school year. The return was financed by a grant from the investment company Ballmer Group that allowed CIS to hire more site coordinators and a program manager.
Because of the pause in service, CIS site coordinators, including Dana Scheffen and Daniela Crumley, are working to spread the word about the organization to CCHS students again. The two coordinators are reaching out to students who need support in and outside of school and asking them if they want to join the program.
“When I meet with (students), I say, ‘Let’s go over your grades,’ and then we usually talk about it, like, ‘Do you need any support (in that class)?’” Scheffen said. “I let them know that if they’re interested in working with me, we’ll put a plan together. From there, I can help hold (students) accountable to those goals.”
While CIS has goals for its site coordinators, the support it provides depends on the school. The CIS program at CCHS primarily focuses on working with students who need academic support.
Gabriel Smallwood, Cedar Shoals High School Communities in Schools Site Coordinator and former Clarke Central High School College Adviser, speaks on-stage in E.B. Mell Auditorium during the 2024 Black History Month program. Smallwood received support from Communities In Schools as a student at Henry County High School in 2017 and 2018. “The environment (at HCHS) overall was something that we needed additional resources for, just for students,” Smallwood said. “It was a school that was Title One, very similar to schools here in Clarke County, and just overall, I feel like having Community in Schools (be in the) school helped a lot.” Photo from the ODYSSEY archives
“Currently, (CIS is) partnering with the Freshman Academy and our MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) initiative to help students who are struggling in the classroom that are not identified with a disability,” CCHS Assistant Principal Terry Liggin said. “Adding another support system (and) mentor to help navigate the students who struggle the most through school can always be useful.”
As someone who went through CIS as a Henry County High School Class of 2018 Alumnus, Cedar Shoals High School CIS Site Coordinator Gabriel Smallwood also found the program beneficial, which eventually inspired him to become a site coordinator.
“(My site coordinators) celebrated the small and big things, like (the CIS students) coming to school on consecutive days,” Smallwood said. “(They were) monitoring our attendance, making sure that we had the resources that we needed (and that) there were organizations at (Henry County High School) that were helpful.”
Outside of academics, CIS is brokering support from organizations outside of CCHS, including the University of Georgia AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows, a group dedicated to combating food insecurity around the Athens community. Food Fellow Grayson Smith is helping to run and improve the CCHS Resource Room in Room 157, a place where students can recieve food, clothes and hygiene products.
“The goal is to help run it, but hopefully reach out to some students and see if there’s a better way that (the Resource Room) can be used to serve the students here,” Smith said. “Then, we can see if there’s a (better) way to facilitate it (by) signing in, just trying to make it as streamlined and as accessible as possible.”
Clarke Central High School Communities In Schools Site Coordinator Dana Scheffen (back) and University of Georgia AmeriCorps Community Food Fellow Grayson Smith (front) arrange clothing in the CCHS Resource Room, Room 157, on Oct. 25, 2024. The site coordinators organized support from community organizations to support students and give them time to build their caseloads. “We are brokering a mental health support group from the UGA, and they’ll be coming in for students from the mental health counselors that could use support,” Scheffen said. “We’re also brokering support from (the) AmeriCorps Community Food Fellows and (Smith) will be starting in the Resource Room.” Photo by Marcus Quarles
CIS has supported other CCHS staff in their duties. One such staff member is School Social Worker Dy’Nazha Hughes, who has some similar duties to the site coordinators, including connecting students and families to services.
Hughes can’t be at CCHS every day of the week, so she appreciates that CIS is be a constant support.
“I can’t get to everybody. Even though I want to provide that support, I know (there are) some (times) where it would be more suited for students to reach out to (the CIS site coordinators), especially because they do a lot of work in the Resource Room and making connections,” Hughes said.
Like Hughes, Scheffen values being present for the students on her caseload. As the former Community School Organizer, Scheffen worked with fewer students, so she is excited to build more relationships with students as CIS grows.
“Personally, my goals are to be a solid person for the kids that I work with,” Scheffen said. “I’ve met some cool kids so far, and I’m excited to meet some more, help them meet their personal goals and work through (them) at a younger age, (to) develop those habits now.”
