I’m a big supporter of community schools — where schools provide many programs and services to students and the community beyond traditional classes — and have previously published many posts about them.

The San Francisco Chronicle this morning published a front page story about a big community schools effort in Oakland.

One issue, though, that I’ve commented on in the past and suspect I’ll be saying again in the future is that often there is a lack of parent leadership in these community school efforts. Often, schools seem to only look at parents as “clients” to be served, and not as “partners” and “co-creators.”

Community schools are great. I just wonder how much better they could be be if parents were more participants in making decisions about them and not just viewed as a people needing help.