By Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

This week, first graders through high school seniors return to Somerville Public Schools, and next week will be the first day of school for our newest Highlanders in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Parents have been busy preparing their kids, getting them all the materials they need for the new school year. We’ve been preparing, too—not only teachers, administrators and educators in the schools, but those of us on the City side. Somerville Public Schools have a commitment to development of the whole child, because we know that the factors that determine academic achievement do not exist only in our schools. If we want our students to excel, we have to holistically support them—and their families—in and out of school.

It’s why last week we held our first-ever “Community Cabinet,” bringing together 90 leaders from the City side and the school side to brainstorm on the issues that affect education but can’t be addressed by the School District alone. For instance, how do we ensure that all children participate in high-quality programming after school and during the summer? Our Recreation Department should be involved in that conversation. Our Economic Development Division can be part of the conversation on continuing adult education that helps our residents gain employment, while our Planning and Housing divisions work on designing the infrastructure such as housing, public spaces and transportation that supports family well-being, which is critical for young students. When we’re planning for rising student enrollment, we also need to plan for facility needs, which means our Capital Projects and Planning Department needs to be intrinsically involved.

With the Community Cabinet, Somerville again leads the way. This is something no other urban district has done before, and marks the beginning of a new conversation and collaboration between City and school leaders on the complex issues that affect our children’s development.

This is a tried and true concept in Somerville, where we try to account for what people intuitively know: that an event or decision in one area doesn’t stay isolated to that area, but has a ripple effect elsewhere. One of the best illustrations of this kind of systems thinking in action is the construction of I-93 and the McGrath Highway Overpass. Planning for cars led to ensuing ripple effects, from neighborhoods cut off from one another and the elimination of rail and trolley stops, to stymied economic development, to air pollution leading to higher rates of heart disease, asthma and other ailments in our community. And a less walkable and bikeable Somerville contributed to rising childhood obesity rates.

That’s an example of negative outcomes from the web of issues that make up the fabric of our community, but for an example of positive outcomes from these kinds of interrelationships—and an example of City and schools working collaboratively—we can look again to childhood obesity and how our community has combatted the problem. Shape Up Somerville went beyond serving healthier food in our schools. It included policies to get kids active both in school and in the community through planning and infrastructure work. It also increased access to healthy food for families and adults, so students wouldn’t only eat fresh healthy foods in school. The results were real and measurable: fewer Somerville children were obese or overweight after two full years of the Shape Up intervention, and our program served as an inspiration for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program.

We need to keep the lessons we learned through Shape Up Somerville in mind when we encounter an issue involving our students or education. Somerville Public Schools are now the top performing urban district in the state for student growth. Yet overall achievement still reflects some gaps that need to be addressed. We need to find ways that we can support all our students holistically to close those achievement gaps and help every student reach his or her full potential. And of course, it is crucial that parents and guardians stay involved in their children’s education too, whether simply helping with homework or volunteering in our schools as a classroom helper, mentor, after school tutor or otherwise. Students whose parents are involved in their education earn higher grades and test scores, are more likely to enroll in advanced classes, and have better social skills and behavior.

Education affects every aspect of life in our community, including our employment rate, our local economy and our crime rate. A community’s success is based first and foremost on how highly it values education, and as we know, education is about more than academic success. We’ll continue working collaboratively to make sure that we are meeting the needs of the whole child, and hope that you will join us in supporting our children as they strive to reach their full potential—in school and outside of school.