The Worthington City School District's breakfast program may help children who come to school hungry, but what about children who are dealing with poverty, depression, dysfunctional families, drug use at home or other social and economical issues?

Director of Student Support and Safety Jim McElligott said the Family and Civic Engagement Team, although it is another of the state's unfunded education mandates, may be key to addressing these issues.

"There is nothing more important than our purpose for this team," he said. "Kids can't learn well if they are coming to school with social and emotional issues that are not being dealt with. It is looking at the whole kid and not just the academic piece, and it is critical to get the community involved in finding the right resources to help these kids."

McElligott said he hopes the team will be a mix of community parents, small-business owners, counselors and people from nonprofit organizations.

"We're looking at faith-based organizations, representatives from community-involved nonprofits such as Healthy Worthington and Partners for Citizenship and Character, and want to get counselors involved from each grade level," he said.

He said the overall goal of the team is to expand the involvement of family and community members in schools "to result in healthier communities with increased positive learning outcomes for youth, as evidenced by increased graduation rates, reduced disciplinary referrals, decreased dropout rates, reduced truancy and increased readiness for school."

McElligott said Worthington's Family and Civic Engagement Team will funnel ideas and needs into the Franklin County Family and Children First Council.

"All 16 school districts will report to these councils, with their assessment as to where they are as a community," he said. "The councils will then take all those plans and assemble the right people at the table to better coordinate resources for families and schools."

If one of the social or emotional barriers for some students is a mental health illness that has not had a proper assessment, the school district will send plans for such students to the council and the council will help to put the right people in place to break down those barriers, McElligott said.

He said the committee will conduct an analysis of what the school district already is doing in terms of social and emotional issues, what the city does and what local nonprofits do to help build a healthier community.

"We'll look at what Healthy Worthington does to help make the community stronger; we'll look at what is happening in our economy and find areas where we are not helping," he said. "If we have hungry people in our community, how are they being fed? Once we have that analysis, we hope it will help us understand where the gaps are."

The analysis is expected to be complete by the end of next school year, he said.

"Our major goal is to help strengthen families," McElligott said. "If parents have tools to help take care of the social and emotional issues they have to deal with, then we can better teach kids academics when they are in our classrooms."

"It is critical to get the

community involved in finding the right resources to help these kids."

--Jim McElligott