NEW SHARON — Cape Cod Hill Community School is seeing gains in attendance, student engagement and family involvement through its community school model, but Principal Carol Kiesman said sustaining those services in a rural area will require continued funding.

“We focus on the well being of the whole child, including their family,” Kiesman said. “Although academics are extremely important, we know that many children (and families) also are contending with basic needs being met, social emotional health, and physical and mental health struggles. We meet each child (and family) where they are at and go from there.”

Kiesman said the school pursued the model because many families in the community face food insecurity and other unmet needs that can affect learning.

“Our community has many homes in which food insecurity exists as well as many other basic needs,” she said. “Knowing that children can not do well academically if these needs (and other traumas) are not helped, lead us to pursue the community school model.”

About 40 students take part in the school’s before-school and after-school programs, according to Kiesman, and there is a waiting list, especially for child care.

Kiesman said the school has seen strong results since the program began, particularly in attendance and student engagement.

“Yes, there has been great improvement in attendance (especially in the areas of truancy and chronic absenteeism),” Kiesman said. “Student engagement academically has improved, based on the formal data we collect and informal observations and data collection by staff.”

She said students’ sense of belonging has also extended beyond the classroom.

“Students feel welcomed and included in all aspects of their day, which in turn gets shared at home, which then makes families feel the same,” Kiesman said. “Family attendance/engagement has grown over the past few years in various events and activities we offer.”

At the same time, Kiesman said the biggest challenge is keeping those services in place as participation grows and grant funding begins to taper off.

“The biggest challenges are sustainability,” Kiesman said. “We need to provide enough staffing for all of the before and after care programs, and staff need to be compensated for their time.

“As numbers have increased on participation rates we have had to increase staffing, which has depleted our funding,” she added. “We are searching for more ways to obtain funding to keep these services running for students and their families.”

Kiesman said the school’s grant coordinator is exploring other grants, partnerships and agreements to help maintain services, including food and clothing pantries, behavioral health support and dental health clinics.

She said the school also works to include families, community members and homeschool families through a family den, where people can access the internet, computers, printers and fax services, wait for their children and connect with the grant coordinator about available resources.