Stevens questions community access to DOE buildings outside school hours
Stevens raises provider concerns about restricted community access to school buildings. Asherall calls it 'a dance' and says principals increasingly see Beacons as valuable for family engagement, leading to more collaboration.
Providers have raised concerns that the school administration restricts community access to DOE buildings outside of school hours.
How does DYCD ensure that beacon sites remain accessible to community members outside of school hours?
Has the agency received complaints regarding restricted access to the DOE facility?
It's a dance.
It's a dance.
I think that principals and school administrators and New York City Public School in general know the value and the importance of community engagement.
And I think that one of the things that they've highlighted before is that our beacon programs are really good at engaging families and engaging them.
larger communities.
And so the principals are now figuring out how do I leverage that resource and that opportunity to expand my reach, their reach of families and community members.
And so we are seeing an uptake in more collaboration and engagement and dialogue to ensure that
the families outside of the school are being served.
And so we support the schools, we support the CBOs in making sure that those things are in place.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's always a dance, but again, I know just because beacons have been around for so long, they have like a very different relationship.
As well.