by David Ball
Staff Writer
Kim Henderson-Mote is responsible for the success of an important group of high school students at A. Philip Randolph Academies of Technology school.
As student advocate for the Communities in Schools program, Henderson-Mote makes sure about 100 at-risk students are receiving the proper attention, both at school and at home, in order to graduate and succeed in college or a career.
“Every year I see more results, and it continues to grow,” she said. “I think Communities in Schools is needed in every school. Unfortunately, we’re not in every school.”
The program could’ve been in even fewer schools. Last year, there were two student advocates at A. Philip Randolph, but budget cuts forced the district to eliminate both positions this year.
However, Henderson-Mote’s position came back thanks to a three-year partnership with CSX Corp. to fund student advocates at Career Academies at A. Philip Randolph, Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology and Raines High.
The CSX partnership is the first of its kind for the Communities in Schools program, but one program administrators hope catches on in the local business community as school district funding continues to dry up.
As for CSX, a company official said the partnership simply made sense from the standpoint of a company looking to benefit the community as well as its growing staff.
“We are in tune with the fact that kids that stay in school become better candidates for jobs, and we have a lot of positions to fill,” said Tori Kaplan, CSX director of corporate citizenship and events.
“We realize the challenges that are out there for young students to stay in school,” added Kaplan. “For us, it is a win-win.”
The company sponsored the student advocates at schools that already partner with CSX for their Career Academies in information technology and automotive technology. Career Academies offer high school students a specialized vocational education along with core academic classes.
However, the Communities in Schools program is an added layer that identifies students in danger of dropping out. Program Development Director Jodie Leach describes it as a holistic approach to ensuring that students succeed.
“We basically help to eliminate all the other barriers to a student’s success,” she said. “It’s everything from medical issues, to students coming to school hungry, family issues, drug use or anything else. The student advocate is important because they will sit with the student to find out what is wrong and how they can be helped.”
As Duval County School District employees, student advocates all have four-year professional degrees, many with social work and education backgrounds. Currently, 14 student advocates serve about 1,700 students across the county.
At A. Philip Randolph, 11th-grader Daniel Wallace hopes student advocate Henderson-Mote can help him catch up on missed math and language arts studies so he can graduate.
“It’s a nice program,” he said. “It would take me longer to graduate without it. It just gives you options.”
Leach said the CSX partnership has given nearly 300 students the same options.
“This is the first business partnership Communities in Schools has, and it is very important,” said Leach. “We were faced with funding cuts, and we were very fortunate through terrific community stewards like CSX that we grew. But we grew in spite of lost funding.”
She added, “CSX is doing something unique to help kids that would otherwise fall through the cracks graduate and be prepared to come into a work force.”
What’s more, the three-year commitment from CSX ensures a stabile program for the students.
“We felt like three years would allow the program enough time to get on its feet and get some momentum behind it,” said Kaplan. “We wanted to ensure we were supporting the efforts of Communities in Schools for the following years.”
Leach said it would cost around $55,000 a year to completely sponsor a student advocate, including salary, supplies and administrative costs. Kaplan wouldn’t elaborate on CSX’s total contribution, but she said the costs are worth it.
“The draw for us is that Communities in Schools is a national organization,” said Kaplan. “Because our business spans 23 states, we have the opportunity to look at this model in Jacksonville and carry it forward. The problems we have are not unique to this city.”
Although not every company could afford to sponsor multiple or even a single student advocate, there are plenty of options for local companies of all sizes, said Leach.
“Greene-Hazel (and Associates) insurance offered their entire staff two hours off once a week to come into the schools and mentor,” said Leach. “I believe more than 90 percent of their staff is now volunteering to mentor.”
For more information on the Communities in Schools program, visit www.cisjax.org.