Communities In Schools Site Coordinators Boost Student Success Across Northern Michigan

Communities In Schools Northwest Michigan has placed full-time site coordinators inside northern Michigan schools to identify and remove the nonacademic obstacles that keep students from succeeding. The program targets chronic attendance issues, behavioral challenges and gaps in social-emotional and academic support, and it has expanded its footprint across the region to serve more students in Grand Traverse County and neighboring communities.

The organization’s executive director, Amy Burk, leads the regional effort to embed coordinators where students spend most of their day so supports align with classroom needs. Site coordinators connect students to counseling, basic needs assistance and targeted academic interventions, working alongside teachers, counselors and families. Kalkaska Middle School’s site coordinator, Shyenne Stapleton, is one local example of staff who operate inside a school building to address issues that otherwise fall outside the scope of classroom instruction.

Locally, CIS Northwest Michigan points to improved outcomes among participating students: higher percentages meeting college and career readiness benchmarks, better attendance rates and reductions in behavior incidents. Those improvements reflect the program’s emphasis on early, individualized intervention rather than reactive, schoolwide punishment. For Grand Traverse County, gains in attendance and readiness affect more than report cards: they translate into a stronger pipeline of graduates prepared for postsecondary education and local jobs.

From an economic standpoint, keeping more students on track lowers potential public costs tied to remedial education, workforce shortfalls and longer-term social services. Employers in the Cherry Capital area and across northern Michigan rely on a steady flow of educated young workers; programs that lift readiness rates help fill that pipeline. For school districts facing tight budgets, partner-funded site coordinators can be a cost-effective way to stabilize student performance without large increases in classroom staffing.

Policy implications include the value of sustained funding for in-school wraparound supports and closer collaboration between districts, nonprofit partners and county agencies. As CIS Northwest Michigan continues to scale, school boards and county leaders will need to weigh investments that extend coordinators’ reach against competing budget priorities.

For Grand Traverse County residents, the immediate takeaway is practical: stronger, embedded student supports can mean fewer skipped days, fewer disruptions and more students finishing high school ready for career training or college. Parents, educators and local employers can expect to see the program’s effects in classrooms and the local labor pool as coordinators continue their work and the initiative expands.