Education
BY ANDREW CREELMAN
Communities in Schools provides support to San Antonio area students Support systems are critical to student success and decreasing drop-out rates in public schools, Jessica Weaver said. She’s the CEO and President of Communities in Schools of San Antonio, also known as CISSA, a nonpro t organization geared toward providing safety nets and social work programs for students in schools across the San Antonio area. The speci cs “It’s really about bringing in a comprehensive support network,” Weaver said. Across the metro, CISSA has full-time site coor- dinators in 12 independent school districts and around 200 individual schools and community centers, according to their website. In the 2023-24 school year, they managed cases
for nearly 12,000 area students from elementary, middle and high schools. How it works Weaver said CISSA partners with school districts that typically house students from historically disadvantaged communities, also known as Title I schools. “That really is the emphasis, trying to serve those students in those communities,” Weaver said. Site coordinators are placed inside schools in these districts, which Weaver said work full time and manage cases for students that are usually referred to them from school guidance counselors. “We’re a place for kids to be able to talk through things that they are struggling with,” Weaver said. These coordinators can help students get necessary school supplies, help resolve issues with teachers or other students and refer them to clinicians or other support programs that they may need. Weaver said these coordinators add an addi- tional “layer” of support on top of what school
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5 CISSA serves 12 school districts across the San Antonio region. 1 Uvalde
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Jessica Weaver said that she started working with the organization 36 years ago.
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ANDREW CREELMAN COMMUNITY IMPACT
CISSA provides the following services to schools they are embedded within across San Antonio: • Academic support • College readiness • Mental health support • Attendance improvement • Social services • Family engagement
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districts may already provide. “They help really identify those students that maybe need more individualized attention,” she explained. “We don’t want anyone falling through the cracks.” Assessing the need Weaver said the next goal for CISSA is lending more focus towards mental health and growing a peer-to-peer support system between individual students.
SOURCE: COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF SAN ANTONIO
1045 Cheever Blvd., Ste. 201, San Antonio www.cissa.org
CISSA places full-time site coordinators into partnered schools to provide support, opportunity and assistance to students.
COURTESY COMMUNITIES IN SCHOOLS OF SAN ANTONIO
STONE OAK 23026 US Hwy 281 N (210) 497-1322 DE ZAVALA 5219 De Zavala Rd (210) 561-0900
VINEYARD 1309 N Loop 1604 W (210) 408-8206
RECTOR 819 E Rector Dr (210) 340-2244
LEGACY 2003 N Loop 1604 E (210) 494-8600
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