MADISON, NY - The Madison Central School District is pleased to announce that it has joined the Connected Community Schools family as a partner district beginning with the remainder of the 2021-22 school year. That announcement was commemorated with a ceremonial ribbon cutting on Thursday, April 21st in the MCS Auditorium.
The ceremony was widely attended by the MCS community. Honored guests included the Connected Community Schools staff led by Melissa Roys and Danielle Martin, State Assemblyman John Salka, State Senator Rachel May, Village Mayor Barbara Clark, and representatives from the Mid-York Weekly and Daily Sentinel.
The mission of Connected Community Schools is to ensure that the basic needs of students and families are met. When these needs are met, students and their families can succeed and thrive both inside and outside of the school setting.
With the help of on-site staff members assigned to the district, Connected Community Schools will help to coordinate, streamline, and deliver needed services to students and families so that they have the best possible opportunity to succeed. Supports exist in areas such as housing, food insecurity and medical, dental and mental health support.
Superintendent of Schools Jason A. Mitchell feels that student well-being is central to this new partnership.
“You only have to look around you here in this auditorium to see why we are here…our students,” Mitchell told attendees. “Our partnership with Connected Community Schools is focused on doing all we can possibly do to support our students and their families.”
Services can be accessed on-site at Madison Central School through the newly-established Connected Community Schools Hub. In addition to providing a starting point for support services, the Hub can provide students and families with no-cost essentials such as food items, hygiene needs and school supplies. They are available to any student or family with need. These essential items can make the difference for a student to be ready to learn, participate, and realize the maximum potential of their educational opportunities.
The initiative also provides embedded in-building programming, where community experts are invited to educate and organize engagement opportunities for students and families.
Connected Community Schools provides access to these opportunities through the power of the Central New York communities it serves. The Rome, NY-based organization combines the efforts of over 200 businesses and community-based agencies in pursuit of finding solutions to wide-ranging challenges facing students, their families and the school community.
As community support has grown, the number of school districts partnering with Connected Community Schools has grown. From their beginnings in the Rome City School District, the initiative has expanded its reach to serving 13 school districts including Madison Central.