School systems are a well-regulated hierarchy, but they cannot always account for region-specific problems that may disrupt classes. To ensure that schools are able to provide the best services possible at all times, a school district’s emergency and engagement plans should be reviewed to make sure they are accurate and up to speed with leading practices.

ICMA has great resources for you to use and become more knowledgeable about school practices.  many of these resources can be found in Public Schools and Town & Gown topic pages, here are sources for more information.

• In response to a lack of funding, Oceanside, California, had to cut off bus services for some of its lowest income residents. In a nomination form for the J. Robert Havlick Award for Innovation in Local Government, you can read an account of how the city staff worked with a local nonprofit and the local school district to develop a bus transportation program at a low cost to parents within the school district.
• “Helping Johnny Walk to School” offers steps that states and localities can take to encourage more community-friendly schools.
• A great display of how cities and their schools can work together to build multipurpose facilities can be found in “Joint-Use Agreement for Administrative Building Shared by City and School District”
• Columbia, Missouri, developed a great health plan that can be implemented for the teachers in your area. Read about it in Dixie Darnell’s article “City of Columbia Employee Wellness Program.”
• If your college town has many game-day property rentals, you may benefit from the insights that were shared as answers to Kim Griffo’s question on the KN, especially as football season is quickly approaching.
• Students at Rosa Parks Elementary School in the San Diego, California, can enjoy the benefits of a community garden right on their school’s campus. “Gardening in the San Diego School District” is a case study on introducing children to the important aspects of gardening.
• Premium content: The Cheektowaga Police Department and the Cheektowaga Public Schools system, after experiencing co-habitation problems, decided to work together to keep drugs and guns out of public schools. They developed the Memorandum of Understanding as an accord for the relationship between the two entities.  

If you have great stories about how thinking ahead and making preparations ended up benefiting schools in your community, reach out to the Knowledge Network and let us know about it.

Aloha,

James Davidson

ICMA's Knowledge Network Intern

jdavidson@icma.org