School and Community Relations 1

School and Community Relations Improvement Project

Candice Greenwood

Roosevelt University
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School and Community Relations Improvement Project

School and Community Profile

Irene King Elementary School is located in Romeoville, Illinois, a southwest suburb of

Chicago. As of 2006, the population of Romeoville is 36,837 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). The

population of those less than eighteen years of age is 10,785 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). Irene

King is a Kindergarten through fifth grade school, with twenty-four classrooms. The school is

part of the Valley View Community Unit School District 365u. The school is led by both a

Principal and Assistant Principal. Currently, there are over six hundred students enrolled at Irene

King Elementary School. The student population is identified as 44.7 % Caucasian, 35.7%

Hispanic, 10.7% Multiracial, 7.7% African American, and 0.2% Native American. The majority

of the staff is Caucasian.

The school is a Title I school, currently in school improvement status. It has not met

adequate yearly progress targets for 2009-2010, therefore special funding has been provided to

the school to implement programs that will increase student achievement. The mission statement

includes the statement that the school will provide a learning environment that encourage[s]

growth in social and emotional behaviors, indicated through faculty meetings that in order to do

this we must go above and beyond what is typically expected of teachers.

As of 2009, over three thousand children in Romeoville had been affected by poverty in

the last twelve months (see Appendix A). At Irene King Elementary School nearly sixty percent

of the students have been identified as low-income students (Illinois State Board of Education,

2009). Many of these students have contacted the school social worker to inquire about food

resources in the community. A number of community resources have been identified, including:
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St. Andrews church, Good Shepherd church, Morning Star Mission, Plainfield Food Pantry,

FISH pantry, as well as the Will County Health Department and Family Case Management.

Needs Assessment

A number of staff at Irene King Elementary School were formally interviewed during the

course of this study. The school social worker reported some of the common types of problems

that she encounters. She said that staff are not often consistent with the interventions that are set

up for students with additional needs. She also stated that parents and teachers often fail to

communicate so she is asked to deal with their concerns or issues. Overall, she feels that many of

the programs and interventions on campus are not run with integrity. Specifically, she mentioned

that areas for improvement were: parent communication, program integrity, and proper use of

Positive Behavior Interventions.

The administrative staff offered several suggestions for areas to target to meet a need at

our school. The primary focus was on increasing parental involvement in the school. Currently,

the same handful of parents volunteer for all events, and it is often difficult to have parents come

to events that are focused on explaining student achievement programs or school improvement.

The topic of health and nutrition was also mentioned as needed, as many students on campus are

identified as low income and parents have called several times asking for community resources.

However, I met with the Principal to discuss the role of parent organizations and how the

organization can support a program initiative that could be developed on campus. She believes

that the role of Parent Organizations is to support the school for those extra things. When

meeting with the Principal to discuss the selected program initiative, she stated that there may be

money available for start up costs.

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Proposed Initiative

Considering the unmet needs of the schools population, the area in which I decided to

focus on was: Health and Nutrition, specifically hunger. Upon investigation, it was found that

several students had reported either to their teacher or to the social worker that they did not have

much food to eat during the weekend. Best practices call for confidentiality and research as a

base, so a survey was sent out to all teachers to determine if they could estimate the number of

students in their classrooms who might benefit from such a program. Several other schools in

districts across the country were also identified to have similar programs, and the program at

Irene King Elementary School will follow the precedence of these successful programs (Siple,

2011).

Research on Americas hungry children is vast and the statistics are staggering. Hunger

is a constant concern for an enormous number of children. The term food insecurity is used to

describe a situation in which one is unable to obtain enough food. Three years ago, it was

reported that 17.1 million households, representing 49.1 million people, [were] experiencing

food insecurity in the United States (Terpstra & Carrow, 2010, pg. 4). In Illinois, over eleven

percent of household experience food insecurity. With our nations current economy, many

families may not be able to afford to feed their entire family nutritious and consistent meals. This

program targets those children most at need and attempts to help fill the gap.

The backpack program sends home a rolling backpack filled with food, with twenty five

students on Fridays. One backpack is intended to feed three children during the weekend. More

than 75 people can be fed each weekend through the program each week. The food will be

donated by local food banks or through business and other donations.

The initiative does not appear to be an expense to the district. However, several policies
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and procedures need to be followed in order for the program to begin. Initially, an Extra-

Curricular Request form must be filled out and submitted to the Executive Director of Human

Resources. I would need to provide information answering such as: Rationale for requesting the

activity/program, the population of students is being targeted, the number of participants, the

district costs, the building or equipment needs required for the program, and the staffing.

The program itself is aligned with Section 6:50 of the IASB Policy Manual (School

Wellness), as well as Section 204 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.

The goals are nutrition education including supporting and promoting good nutrition for the

students. By providing healthy snacks, the program aims to help students in need develop a

positive relationship with nutritious food. Additionally, my school district has a Food Allergen

policy which targets the most common allergy: peanuts or nuts. The program will not offer

peanuts or peanut butter in this program. However, since many manufacturers use soybean or

cottonseed oil that has been processed in a facility that also handles peanut products, If this is

stated in the information we receive from our distributors, we will share this information with the

families. (aligned with Section 7:285 of the IASB Policy Manual)

If the program evolves and the need for kitchen use becomes required, an Application

for Use of Facilities form will be completed and administrative action will be required to

acquire the proper District Food Service Personnel who will have to be present (and paid) to

handle food. Further, all employees of the district are required to have a negative TB test and

have completed trainings in food handling and health related issues such as: universal

precautions, minimization of exposure, and hand washing.

Also, since the programs success relies on the donations of local food banks, and

donations of food or money from the local community and businesses, proper handling of money
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and gifts is necessary. The IASB Policy Reference Manual Section 4, 4:80 Accounting and

Audits has information for myself and my administrator regarding controls for handling cash,

and control requirement for checks should money be donated (IASB, 2010). Cash donations and

material donations will be solicited. Both local small businesses and community and national

foundations will be petitioned to. Potential funding sources include: the Abbott fund, the

American Dietetic Association Foundation, the Community Foundation of Illinois, and the

Northern Illinois Food Bank. Each organization will be contacted via phone, mail, and through

electronic mail. Each correspondence will include detailed information about the program

initiative, including the number of students who will potentially be impacted. Extensive research

will be conducted to ensure that the program matches an area of focus for the organization or

business interest.

When the Executive Director of Human Resources has approved the program, then a

formal survey will be sent to teachers asking for specific names of students who they believe will

benefit from participating in the program. Then, a comprehensive list will be compiled and the

first twenty-five participants will be given a permission slip that will need to be filled out and

signed by their parent or guardian. The permission slip will include an explanation of the

program as well as a confidentiality statement. Only twenty five students will be able to

participate initially, as a result, parents will only have a short window in which they can reply to

the permission slip.

The food bank will deliver the food to the school in pre-bagged and pre-screened

packages on Thursdays. A school volunteer will meet the truck each Thursday afternoon and will

direct the driver to unload the packages into a storage room, noting that food must be kept at

least six inches above the ground. On Friday mornings, before school, school volunteers will fill
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each backpack with one of the pre-packed bags. Each Friday morning, due to confidentiality,

one of two designated volunteers running the program will deliver personalized hall passes to the

students selected to participate in the program. The hall pass will be used during the last five

minutes of the school day and allows them early dismissal. The students then pick up their

backpack, which is labeled only with a number, from a discreet location and hand their hall pass

to the volunteer (the only means of record keeping). On Monday mornings, the students return

the empty backpack to the location. The volunteer then moves all backpacks to a storage room

until the following Friday. The program will be advertised via the school and district website,

and parents will be encouraged to contact school administrators if they are interested in

participating in or donating to the program.

The program will be evaluated by the percentage of students who participate each week,

as well as anecdotal information. Once a quarter, parents will be contacted and will be asked a

general question such as, Are you finding the backpack program helpful? Do you have any

suggestions or concerns? Periodically, if a student chooses to open the bag contents, the school

volunteer will also inconspicuously look as a means to determine the quality and child-friendly

nature of the food.

In conclusion, the backpack program will directly impact many students who are in need

of food at Irene King Elementary School. Food during the weekend is currently an unmet need

that has been identified, and the program is a simple and straightforward way to address the

need.
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References

Illinois Association of School Boards. (2010). IASB Policy Reference Manual. Retrieved from

http://policy.microscribepub.com/cgi-bin/om_isapi.dll?chlientID=405484062&infobase

=illinois.nfo&jump=IASB%Policy%20Reference%20Manual%softpage=PL_frame

#JUMPDEST_IASB Policy Reference Manual

Illinois State Board of Education. (2009). Irene King Elementary School Illinois Interactive

Report Card. Retrieved from http:/iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolid=

56099365U262002

Siple, J. (2011, January 21). Backpacks filled with food feed kids on weekends. Minnesota

Public Radio. Retrieved from http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/01/21

/backpack-food/

Terpstra, A. & Carrow, L. (2010, February). Running on empty: Nutritional access for

children in Cook County, IL. Chicago: Social IMPACT Research Center.

United States Census Bureau. (2009). American Fact Finder [Data File]. Retrieved from

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTGeoSearchByListServlet?ds_name=DEC_2000_S

F1_U&_lang=en&_ts=320788298959
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APPENDIX A

POVERTY STATUS IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS,

BY FAMILY TYPE OF RELATED CHILDREN
Romeoville village, Illinois
Estimate Margin of Error
Total: 10,632 +/-505
Income in the past 12 months below poverty level: 863 +/-332
In married-couple family: 485 +/-287
Under 5 years 139 +/-90
5 years 10 +/-16
6 to 17 years 336 +/-208
In other family: 378 +/-176
Male householder, no wife present: 32 +/-38
Under 5 years 0 +/-119
5 years 0 +/-119
6 to 17 years 32 +/-38
Female householder, no husband present: 346 +/-169
Under 5 years 199 +/-143
5 years 10 +/-18
6 to 17 years 137 +/-108
6 to 17 years 928 +/-266

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005-2009 American Community

Survey