Tyler Heights's community-school model credited with higher attendance, 900 enrichment hours and expanded dual-language offerings

Anne Arundel County Public Schools staff used Wednesday's meeting to showcase the district's wellness and community-school work, centering on Tyler Heights Elementary as an example of intensive family engagement and multi-tiered supports.

Tyler Heights leaders said the school serves a high-poverty, multilingual population: presenters reported 93% of students receive free or reduced-price meals and said 72% of students are English learners or receive English language development services. The school team said Tyler Heights is a Title I, community-school site with a dual-language Spanish program in its third year.

That suite of supports — a resource pantry, primary-care partnerships that connected more than 50 families to sliding-scale primary care, vision services that delivered over 50 pairs of glasses this year, a uniform closet and an on-site extended-day program — correlated with attendance and academic gains, presenters said. "We have 93% of our students receiving free and reduced meals," Tyler Heights' principal Julia said, and staff linked that concentrated support to improved school climate.

Sarah Daniels Larson, the school's community-school program manager, said the school seeds almost 900 hours of enrichment this year across more than 40 clubs and multiple partner-driven events, and that extended supports include bilingual family coaching, social-emotional learning groups and family navigation services.

Board members asked about scaling liaison roles to additional campuses, transportation for after-school clubs and how the model supports student volunteerism. Presenters credited careful needs-and-assets mapping, strong school leadership, a voluntary liaison cohort and parent-led programs for higher volunteer rates and sustained engagement.

What happens next: Board members commended Tyler Heights as a model; district staff said the wellness hub and liaison cohort will expand to more schools next year and that staff will return with implementation milestones.