SAN ANTONIO — When students were stuck at home learning remotely, Communities In Schools went beyond the classroom to make sure they didn’t fall behind.
For over 30 years, the organization has been helping students. Their mission is to surround them with a community of support meant to empower them to stay in school and achieve success in life.
CIS is now in a little over 100 schools. As of 2020, the organization case managed 10,967 students, where 99% stayed in school and 94% graduated.
Anissa Cortez is the site coordinator at Kazen Middle School. She began working with Hollie, an eighth-grader, last year.
“I help Hollie in many ways,” Cortez said. “Academics, support, tutoring and then, of course, I help the family as well with giving basic needs assistance or referrals. So it’s just an umbrella of support for them.”
When the pandemic closed school doors, students needed to adapt to remote learning and CIS site coordinators were faced with new challenges.
Hollie was struggling with math and history. The problem was amplified by the disconnect of virtual learning.
“It was harder to learn from home,” Hollie said. “With her help, I understand it better.”
“It was hard to meet and the internet connection was spotty,” Cortez said. “I couldn’t see the assignments, so we would try to figure out how can I get the assignments or how can we look at it together.”
Cortez said with help from South San ISD, they were able to get Hollie a hotspot to give her a stronger internet connection. When schools began to reopen for in-person learning, Cortez advocated for Hollie and her two sisters to return to Kazen.
“Just explaining to her mom that she needs to be in-person,” Cortez said. “She needs to be able to get that one-one-attention. At first, there were only like two, three in her class when she came back, so she was getting a lot of that individual support.”
Cortez said all three of their grades began to improve. Hollie has been back on campus for about six months. She’s received perfect scores on some assignments and is involved in extracurricular activities like basketball and soccer.
“It’s been amazing to hear when she tells me she got a 100 on a test,” Cortez said.
Now that her grades are back on track, Cortez can help Hollie plan for her future.
“She applied to early college. That’s something we were able to talk about in person. We could be one-on-one to explain what early college is and the benefits of doing that,” Cortez said. “That was good for her.”
"It feels great to have the support while I'm in school," Hollie said. "I know someone is counting on me."
If you’re interested in learning more about CIS in San Antonio, click here.
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