The Tallahassee City Commission met Wednesday to determine the year’s agenda. The commission discussed development and community needs. Commissioner Gil Ziffer wants a community school on the Southside that would eliminate learning obstacles and provide healthcare opportunities.
“The general idea is if you can put kids in an environment where they can learn, they will hopefully continue in school and go on to working situations, and we are able to lower our crime rate, and from a city standpoint we’re able to lower the amount of police force we need to have in the area so that our taxpayers benefit, our community benefits, and more than anything else, the folks that live in these areas benefit because they’re having more productive lives,” says Ziffer.
Leon County school district administrators say they support the project. But in order to make it last, the community school organizers need to find long-term partners and funding sources. The city and school district lost out on a grant that would have funded an organizer to get the project off the ground. The district has had community schools in the past, but shuttered the programs due to the expense.
