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The Catamount Community Schools Collaborative (CCSC) is a dynamic and longstanding research-policy-practice-partnership (RPP) between ¶¶Òõ̽̽, the Vermont Agency of Education, and state and community partners to support a sustainable ecosystem of community schools across Vermont. 

The CCSC is characterized by long-term commitment to collaborative management, research, and sustained improvements to the community schools approach, with a particular focus on rural communities. Community Schools are resource hubs that provide a broad range of well-coordinated supports and services for students and families. Our work seeks to address systemic issues of inequity in educational and health access among Vermont rural communities.

The CCSC aligns with national Models where institutions of higher education are lead partners in community schools implementation and sustainability through long standing mutually beneficial and democratic partnerships.

In partnership with the Vermont Agency of Education, the CCSC supports community school implementation and sustainability through the following:

1. Interdisciplinary ¶¶Òõ̽̽ faculty applied participatory research.

2. ¶¶Òõ̽̽ undergraduate and graduate student internship and service-learning placements.

3. Technical assistance, professional development, and community school implementation supports.

Community Schools Coordinator Info Brief (pdf)

Story: Creating a Sustainable Ecosystem of Community Schools in Vermont

The CCSC is funded through several braided federal, state, professional, and university funding mechanisms, including the following: 

1. A contract with the Vermont Agency of Education funded by Federal ARP-ESSER funds connected to Act 67 Community Schools Evaluation.

2. A seed grant from ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships (LIRP) to support Community Schools Extension Activities with interdisciplinary ¶¶Òõ̽̽ faculty and students.

3. A Congressionally Funded Community Project (CFCP) administered by the Office of Postsecondary Education, US Department of Education supported by a congressional direct spending request through Senator Sanders to expand the Community Schools model in Vermont leveraging CCSC resources, partnerships, applied faculty research and service-learning courses in partnership with the Vermont Agency of Education.

4. A small grant from the National Education of Research Practice Partnerships (NNERPP) to bolster youth voice in our community schools implementation and evaluation work.

Bernice Garnett, ScD, MPH, CCSC Principal Investigator

Peter Knox, PhD, MPA, CCSC Co-Investigator

Colby Kervick, EdD

Anna Elliot, PhD

, MD

Vermont Agency of Education

• Johannes Haensch, Program Manager, Student Pathways Division

Cabot School (K-12) 

• Peter Stratman, Educator and Community Schools Coordinator
• Jennifer Blake, Principal

Hazen Union School (7-12) 

• Vaiva Velzis, Community School Coordinator 
• Jason DiGiulio, Principal

North Country Supervisory Union 

• Samantha Stevens, Community School Coordinator 
• Shelley Lanou, Newport Town School Principal
• Elaine Collins, NCSU Superintendent 

Vergennes Union Elementary School (K-6) 

• Matt DeBlois, Principal 

White River Valley Middle School (7-8) 

• Mary Schell, Community School Coordinator 
• Pierre LaFlamme, Principal 
• Jaime Kinnarney, WRVSU Superintendent 

Community-Based Organization Partners:

• Kathleen Bryant, School-Based Nurse Practitioner, Gifford Health Care
• Jess DeCarolis, Education Consultant, Vermont Rural Education Collaborative
• Ned Castle, Ethnographic Documentarian and Filmmaker with