Communities in Schools changes its name
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on July 9, 2017 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/PHYLLIS MOORE
Selena Bennett, executive director of Communities Supporting Schools in Wayne County, said the non-profit returns to its original mission, she said, ensuring at-risk students graduate high school and become productive citizens.
Communities in Schools of Wayne County has a new name -- Communities Supporting Schools in Wayne County.
Selena Bennett, executive director of the non-profit, said she received notification this past week that it was effective retroactively, on July 1.
The date is significant, she said, since it aligns with the agency's fiscal year.
Moreso, though, is the fact that the local agency is now unaffiliated with the state and national Communities in Schools organization.
Late Thursday afternoon, the state CIS made its own announcement in an e-mail to affiliates across the state.
"CIS of Wayne is in the process of transitioning to Communities Supporting Schools," it read. "They have provided services to students for more than 20 years resulting in life-changing impact. This work will carry on under the new name.
"Selena and her board were very thoughtful in their approach, assessing their capacity and aligning their work with the needs of their students and their community. Selena will remain a close partner and friend to CIS going forward and we wish (her) and her board all the best."
In the same e-mail, Jill Cox, state CIS interim CEO, announced that the CIS in Moore County is making a similar change, returning to its former status as Moore Buddies Mentoring.
The loss of the two agencies brings the number of affiliates in the state down to 28, Mrs. Bennett said.
"When we started there were 47, so in the last six years, some of them have pulled out and become independent non-profits," she said. "Some others have gone up under the state umbrella and are called embedded sites."
The moves are reflective of a trend, she explained, that formerly independent CIS agencies have decided to operate in other ways.
"We have great respect for the work of CIS North Carolina and the national office," she said. "We just felt that their model at this time was not what we need for our local community."
CIS of Wayne County has built up its role working with six schools, providing success coaches to work with at-risk students. The schools served include Goldsboro, Southern Wayne and Spring Creek high schools, and Brogden, Grantham and Mount Olive middle schools. The agency also operates Teen Court.
In the schoolwide effort alone, some 2,040 students were served in the past year.
Funding will not be affected by the changeover, she said.
"We are getting no funding whatsoever," she said. "We don't get any from state or national so it does not affect our funding.
"We are funded 100 percent from local sources and as we began this process we discussed it at length within the school leadership team and with our local funders because we wanted to be sure that we had their support if we pulled out of the state network."
The evolution of this has been in the works for awhile, Mrs. Bennett said, and was done at the behest of her 15-member board.
"We have not done this quickly," she said. "We have spent two years looking at the possibilities and we have spent the last six months with concentrated strategic planning.
"What we had found was that the model had become so complex -- state and national -- that we didn't have the personnel in place or the resources to meet all of the standards that we were required to meet. We felt that it was better to focus on the needs of our own community and by freeing us up from the stringent requirements it gives us the flexibility to provide the very same services. We're not changing the services. We're just changing the way we achieve the results."
The mission will remain true to its original intent, she said -- to keep kids in school so they will graduate and be productive citizens.
"We'll still be focused on academics, attendance and behavior because without those three factors, students are not going to be successful," she said.
The board has also hired a consultant who has worked extensively with CIS at the state and national level, to ensure the new agency is aligned in best practices as a non-profit.
That, coupled with the move to customize a new strategic plan will help the agency be more effective in Wayne County, Mrs. Bennett said. They have a long-held relationship with Wayne County Public Schools and believe the new model will enhance that even more.
"We're excited," she said. "We feel that this is going to open doors for us to serve students, not only within the schools that we are working in but schools in the community, and to be advocates for education in ways that we have not really been able to do before."
Dr. Michael Dunsmore, superintendent of schools, praised Mrs. Bennett and the agency for its "incredible foundation" and bringing in the expertise and support through its success coaches and other efforts.
"I think it's a hugely important program that benefits a lot of kids," he said. "I'm going to do everything I can to support that. I'm excited about what it's going to bring.
"She's got great leadership there and really is doing a lot of great work."
With everything made official this week, Mrs. Bennett said her staff is now in the process of changing the website, logo, etc. so that by July 31 the change-over will be made complete.