BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — A professor at American University in Washington D.C. has included Massena Central School District in a national blog article regarding the Community Schools Forward Task Force.

According to Superintendent Pat Brady, Reuben Jacobson recently reached out to Director of Community Schools Kristin Colarusso Martin and Brady to participate in the project.

“The focus of this project is how districts and their partners start and sustain community school initiatives,” Brady said.

According to Brady, Jacobson is writing a blog for the Brookings Institute, in conjunction with AASA (the Schools Superintendents Association) and other national organizations to share stories about community schools around the country.

“He asked that Kristin and I be interviewed for the blog given our experience with such a program in Massena,” Brady said.

Jacobson’s article, which is now available online, highlights Massena Central predominantly at the very beginning and sporadically throughout the rest of the story.

“In Massena, New York, on the border with Canada, Superintendent Patrick Brady reflects on the changes in his community—the city had been the economic center of St. Lawrence County. It houses the New York State Power Authority and the Moses-Saunders power dam. It was a manufacturing town with General Motors and Reynolds Metals, a major producer of aluminum. However, the decline of manufacturing and other economic changes have led to an increase in the poverty rate and its associated challenges,” the story begins.

Jacobson goes on to highlight the work Colarusso Martin has done in recent years to implement a strategic vision that places the school at the center of the community.

“As Community Schools Director Kristin Colarusso said, their community schools initiative has ‘taken away the walls that separate the school and the community. It’s brought everybody together’.”

To read the full article, visit www.brookings.edu .