By Tom St. Myer
Pine Forest High School is on the precipice of becoming the second Community Partnership School in Escambia County.
Superintendent Tim Smith told Inweeky that Children’s Home Society of Florida secured grant funding to proceed with plans to transition Pine Forest into a Community Partnership School. Children’s Home Society, Escambia County Public Schools, Community Health Northwest Florida and the University of West Florida will serve as the community partners. The same four community partners successfully transitioned C.A. Weis Elementary to a Community Partnership School in 2016 and oversee its operations.
“Now we’re just planning and moving forward,” Smith said. “I’m very excited about it.”
Smith said the school district partnering with Community Health to open a portable clinic at Pine Forest High School laid the groundwork for their Community Partnership School proposal to gain traction. The two agencies secured a $200,000 grant from Health Resources and Services Administration to fund the portable unit on the Pine Forest school property.
Pine Forest is located in the 32526 zip code, a growing area on the west side of Pensacola that is currently without a health center. Almost half of the students at Bellview Middle (49.6%) and Pine Forest (49.2%) report they do not have a primary care provider. Those percentages far exceed the overall school district average of 34.3%.
Each Community Partnership School model in the state is unique to its environment, but the foundation includes on-site access to health and wellness services, on-site food pantries, counseling, leadership opportunities, cultural enrichment activities, after-school activities and parent resource centers.
Weis celebrated its sixth anniversary as a Community Partnership School in January, and the positive impact since implementing the model is evident by any measure.
The elementary raised its school grade from an “F” in 2015-16 to a “C” in its first full academic year as a Community Partnership School in 2016-17. Discipline referrals reduced by more than 90% and out of school suspensions by nearly 94% from 2016-2020. In 2021, 49% of Weis students experienced learning gains in ELA reading and 51% of students improved in ELA math.
Statewide statistics indicate the success of Weis falls in line with other schools in the program. The Community Partnership Schools graduation rate is 95% compared to the state rate of 90%.
