The School District of Lancaster was represented at this year’s Building Solutions Conference in Harrisburg, where Burrowes Elementary leaders shared how community partnerships are helping strengthen instruction and create meaningful learning experiences for students.
Hosted by Pennsylvania’s Statewide School Improvement Team, the annual conference brings together educators and school leaders from across the Commonwealth to exchange strategies, tools and successful practices that support continuous school improvement.
Burrowes Elementary Principal Michele Duroni and Senior Community School Director Dr. Alex Rohrer presented “Utilizing community partnerships to support academic goals within the school.” Their session highlighted how intentional collaboration between schools and community organizations can support academic priorities, strengthen classroom instruction and increase student engagement. Dr. Jeremy Raff, also attended the conference and participated in professional learning alongside educators from across Pennsylvania.
The presentation reflected the School District of Lancaster’s commitment to Family & Community Engagement, one of the five focus areas outlined in the district’s 2024-2029 Strategic Plan. The plan calls for building alliances with community organizations and using data to determine where community resources can make the greatest difference for students.
“There are untapped resources in our community that we need to explore,” Duroni said. “Community-connected classroom instruction doesn’t replace curriculum or teacher instruction. When community partnerships are aligned to school goals and lessons are planned intentionally, classroom instruction is vitalized and student engagement increases.”
Rohrer said the conference theme closely reflected the approach used at Burrowes Elementary.
“The theme of this conference was Building Solutions, which aligns so closely with how we approach everything at Burrowes in a solutions-driven manner guided by data,” Rohrer said. “Data gives us our map, but community partnerships provide the roads. Together, they help us guide students toward academic success, meaningful learning experiences and impactful opportunities that extend far beyond the classroom.”
The conference gave SDoL leaders an opportunity to share the work underway at Burrowes while learning from schools across Pennsylvania. The ideas brought back to Lancaster will help strengthen the district’s continued use of data, instruction and community partnerships to support student success.