Weis Elementary, A Community Partnership School has become the second school in Florida – and the first elementary school – to become a UCF-Certified Community Partnership School.

The first of its kind in the Panhandle, the Community Partnership School is a long-term commitment among Children’s Home Society of Florida, Community Health Northwest Florida, Escambia County School District and the University of West Florida to reshape the future for students overcoming significant barriers to learning, from access to health care to economic instability.

Weis’ UCF-Certification represents the intentional, dedicated collaboration to align necessary resources aimed to ensure student success and well-being. To achieve the certification, Weis successfully passed all 12 rigorous benchmarks including governance, structure and leadership, after-school programs, and comprehensive wellness services.

Focused on meeting needs identified by parents and teachers, the Community Partnership School – which launched in 2016 – offers parent resources, onsite counseling, targeted enrichment programs, onsite health care, solutions to overcome food insecurity and more.

Since implementing the innovative community Partnership School^™ Model, Weis has improved two letter grades, advancing from an F to a C rating.

Additionally, the Community Partnership School has increased access to health care, family education and after-school activities while reducing disciplinary referrals by 43 percent and cutting the number of suspensions in half compared to the 2016-2017 school year. UCF honored Weis’s core partners at a celebration held Monday, July 16.

A partnership among CHS, the University of Central Florida and Orange County Public Schools first brought the successful Community Partnership School model to Florida in 2012. Florida’s flagship Community Partnership School – Evans Community Partnership School – was the first to become a UCF-Certified Community Partnership School earlier this year. CHS now operates more than a dozen Community Partnership Schools statewide.