The schools are now eligible to provide additional services to students thanks to grants provided via the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future program.<\/p>\n
State grants can be used to provide medical, dental, mental health, or behavioral support services, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jon O’Neal told the Carroll County Board of Education Wednesday evening.<\/a><\/p>\n O’Neal said the district could also provide support to residents who live near the schools, depending on the needs identified in a Blueprint-funded evaluation.<\/p>\n Board of Education President Tara Battaglia said providing these services could improve student achievement.<\/p>\n “More than likely these are students who it’s very difficult for them to get to the dentist. It’s difficult for them to have access to medical care,” Battaglia said.<\/p>\n Taneytown Elementary’s needs assessment, which was announced in February 2024, will be concluded soon, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Nick Shockney told the school board on Wednesday. Officials do not yet know which services will be prioritized and how much money the school is eligible to receive.<\/p>\n The first year a school is designated as a community school it gets a state grant to fund the hiring of a community school coordinator. The coordinator conducts a needs assessment to determine what services would benefit the community. During a school\u2019s second year of eligibility, additional services are funded by a state per-pupil grant.<\/p>\n “To give some credit where credit’s due to the state, this is a program that is state-funded,” O’Neal said. “There is not a local share here, it is a grant from the state.”<\/p>\n Eligibility is based on a school\u2019s three-year concentration-of-poverty average, beginning the year a school is deemed eligible. A school that becomes ineligible can receive the personnel grant for two school years after the school loses eligibility, but may not receive the per-pupil grant,\u00a0according to Maryland law<\/a>.<\/p>\n The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price meals determines a school\u2019s concentration of poverty status.<\/p>\n The threshold for community school eligibility has decreased by five percentage points for each school year since it began in 2020, when a school with a concentration of poverty of at least 80% was eligible for the grant. That percentage was lowered to 55% this year, where it will remain. O’Neal said Carroll benefits from seeing how other districts have operated community schools.<\/p>\n “We certainly are able to look at the experience of other systems by the time even we got to Taneytown,” O’Neal said. “There’s some continuum across the state of what that would look like, but there’s no prescribed, ‘it needs to be this.’ It needs to be a needs assessment for the students and the families in that community. The personnel grant in the early years pays for the person to do that assessment.”<\/p>\n Baltimore County Public Schools operated 91 community schools last school year.<\/a><\/p>\n “I’ve heard some feedback from colleagues from other systems,” Board member Patricia Dorsey said, “and they’ve had all positive things to say about their community schools and the amount of services that can be provided to families, even linking it with student achievement rising.”<\/p>\n Crossroads Middle School, an alternative school designed to serve students temporarily, has exited eligibility.<\/a> Gateway School<\/a>, the county\u2019s alternative high school, is eligible to become a community school this year, O’Neal said. Alternative schools are designed to monitor and improve student behavior to promote success.<\/p>\n “The population is designed to come and go, and as they need services,” O’Neal said. “They go back to their home school perhaps, so the student population that’s in place when the school is identified as eligible may well not be the same population in place when the needs assessment’s completed, so that’s a complexity we’ve been seeing.” <\/p>\n Gov. Wes Moore’s administration proposed the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act this legislative session, which would have paused funding increases to community schools<\/a> for the next two years. Maryland’s legislature voted against reducing funding for community schools.<\/a><\/p>\n Have a news tip? Contact Thomas Goodwin Smith at thsmith@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster is now eligible to receive additional resources from the state, as a designated \u201ccommunity school,\u201d based on student population characteristics related to poverty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99999,"featured_media":11397021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-06-16T19:37:30Z","apple_news_api_id":"35d7a2a9-6185-4aa1-b44d-955008087f6d","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-06-16T19:37:30Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ANdeiqWGFSqG0TZVQCAh_bQ","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[75,78,80,76,87,85],"tags":[24315],"feature":[],"location":[301,223],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[487],"class_list":["post-11503840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carroll-county-times","category-cct-education","category-cct-latest-headlines","category-cct-news","category-education","category-news","tag-carroll-county-schools","location-carroll-county","location-maryland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"75","primary_tag":24315,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"Robert Moton Elementary in Westminster eligible for poverty funding","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"","print_slug":"CCT-L-COMMUNITYSCHOOLS-0613","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster is now eligible to receive additional resources from the state, as a designated \u201ccommunity school,\u201d based on student population characteristics related to poverty.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"","print_content":" Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster is now eligible to receive additional resources from the state, as a designated \u201ccommunity school,\u201d based on student population characteristics related to poverty.<\/p> Taneytown Elementary became eligible to become a community school last year.<\/a><\/p> The schools are now eligible to provide additional services to students thanks to grants provided via the Blueprint for Maryland's Future program.<\/p> State grants can be used to provide medical, dental, mental health, or behavioral support services, Assistant Superintendent of Operations Jon O'Neal told the Carroll County Board of Education Wednesday evening.<\/a><\/p> O'Neal said the district could also provide support to residents who live near the schools, depending on the needs identified in a Blueprint-funded evaluation.<\/p> Board of Education President Tara Battaglia said providing these services could improve student achievement.<\/p> \"More than likely these are students who it's very difficult for them to get to the dentist. It's difficult for them to have access to medical care,\" Battaglia said.<\/p> Taneytown Elementary's needs assessment, which was announced in February 2024, will be concluded soon, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction Nick Shockney told the school board on Wednesday. Officials do not yet know which services will be prioritized and how much money the school is eligible to receive.<\/p> The first year a school is designated as a community school it gets a state grant to fund the hiring of a community school coordinator. The coordinator conducts a needs assessment to determine what services would benefit the community. During a school\u2019s second year of eligibility, additional services are funded by a state per-pupil grant.<\/p> \"To give some credit where credit's due to the state, this is a program that is state-funded,\" O'Neal said. \"There is not a local share here, it is a grant from the state.\"<\/p> Eligibility is based on a school\u2019s three-year concentration-of-poverty average, beginning the year a school is deemed eligible. A school that becomes ineligible can receive the personnel grant for two school years after the school loses eligibility, but may not receive the per-pupil grant,\u00a0according to Maryland law<\/a>.<\/p> The percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price meals determines a school\u2019s concentration of poverty status.<\/p> The threshold for community school eligibility has decreased by five percentage points for each school year since it began in 2020, when a school with a concentration of poverty of at least 80% was eligible for the grant. That percentage was lowered to 55% this year, where it will remain. O'Neal said Carroll benefits from seeing how other districts have operated community schools.<\/p> \"We certainly are able to look at the experience of other systems by the time even we got to Taneytown,\" O'Neal said. \"There's some continuum across the state of what that would look like, but there's no prescribed, 'it needs to be this.' It needs to be a needs assessment for the students and the families in that community. The personnel grant in the early years pays for the person to do that assessment.\"<\/p> Baltimore County Public Schools operated 91 community schools last school year.<\/a><\/p> \"I've heard some feedback from colleagues from other systems,\" Board member Patricia Dorsey said, \"and they've had all positive things to say about their community schools and the amount of services that can be provided to families, even linking it with student achievement rising.\"<\/p> Crossroads Middle School, an alternative school designed to serve students temporarily, has exited eligibility.<\/a> Gateway School<\/a>, the county\u2019s alternative high school, is eligible to become a community school this year, O'Neal said. Alternative schools are designed to monitor and improve student behavior to promote success.<\/p> \"The population is designed to come and go, and as they need services,\" O'Neal said. \"They go back to their home school perhaps, so the student population that's in place when the school is identified as eligible may well not be the same population in place when the needs assessment's completed, so that's a complexity we've been seeing.\"<\/p> Gov. Wes Moore's administration proposed the Excellence in Maryland Public Schools Act this legislative session, which would have paused funding increases to community schools<\/a> for the next two years. Maryland's legislature voted against reducing funding for community schools.<\/a><\/p> Have a news tip? Contact Thomas Goodwin Smith at thsmith@baltsun.com.<\/em><\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1750102735","print_workflow_exported_username":"Molly Fellin Spence","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"24229","print_status":"24232","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"tribune"},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"premium","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":11397021,"title":"CCT-L-SCHOOLBLDGS-0423-p28","filename":"CCT-L-SCHOOLBLDGS-0423-p28.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/CCT-L-SCHOOLBLDGS-0423-p28.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/cct-l-schoolbldgs-0423-p28\/","alt":"","author":"36","description":"","caption":"Pre-kindergarten space will be added at Robert Moton Elementary School - 1413 Washington Rd, Westminster, MD 21157. (Jeffrey F. 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