Oakland Schools Struggle, but Emeryville May Point a Way Up is the headline of a New York Times article today about an effort to connect schools with social service agencies. I’ve written about these kinds of projects — called Community Schools — previously.

They certainly help. My concern, though, about many of them is that they focus on looking at parents and families as “clients” and not as “partners,” and tend to avoid working with community groups that can provide grassroots political support. I wonder if community improvements can be sustained over the long-term with that kind of vision….