Community Schools / Overview

Community Schools Information Page



In 2016, Erie's Public Schools, in partnership with United Way of Erie County, announced the pilot of Community Schools at five EPS sites: East Middle School, Edison Elementary, McKinley Elementary, Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary and Strong Vincent Middle School. Since the initial community schools pilot in 2016, Diehl Elementary, Harding Elementary, and Perry Elementary have all been announced as community schools. Diehl was announced in November of 2018, and Harding and Perry elementary schools were announced in May of 2019.

Due to the reconfiguration of the district in 2017, and the closing of Emerson-Gridley and Wayne, two of these pilot sites were moved to newly named community schools at East Middle School and Strong Vincent Middle School.

In 2021, the district and United Way announced that the community school model would expand to all other district elementary and middle schools: Lincoln, Grover Cleveland, Jefferson, and JoAnna Connell elementary schools and Wilson Middle School. Lincoln Elementary and Wils on Middle are now established community schools; the remaining elementary schools will be community schools by July 2022.

Community Schools are a strategy for organizing school and community resources around student success. Each Community School is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, services, supports and opportunities leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Schools become centers of the community, open to everyone, all day, every day, evenings and weekends.

Each community school has a corporate partner who provides financial resources to support the hiring of Community School Directors at each location. The Corporate Partners for the eight community schools are: Wabtec Corporation (Edison Elementary), Hamot Health Foundation (East Middle School), Highmark (Strong Vincent Middle School), LORD Corporation (McKinley Elementary), an anonymous donor and Erie Insurance Group (Pfeiffer-Burleigh School), and Eriez Magnetics (Harding and Perry Elementary Schools). Diehl Elementary School has the corporate partner support of multiple local businesses: Accudyn Products Inc., American Tinning & Galvanizing, Custom Engineering, Lincoln Recycling, McInnes Rolled Rings, Reddog Industries, Inc., Smith Provision Company, Inc. and Team Hardinger. Corporate partners have not yet been named for our newest community schools, Lincoln Elementary School and Wilson Middle School.

Erie's Public Schools and United Way of Erie County are also pleased to announce the selection of Lead Partners for each site who will employ the Community School Directors and lead the work of organizing services through the community school strategy. These Lead Partners were chosen through an open RFQ process and were matched with schools based on student/family needs and identified services. The Lead Partners for the district's community schools are Achievement Center (Edison Elementary), Safe Harbor Behavioral Health Of UPMC Hamot (East Middle School), Edinboro University (McKinley Elementary), Gannon University (Strong Vincent Middle School), Family Services of NWPA (Pfeiffer-Burleigh School) and Mercyhurst University (Diehl Elementary), YMCA of Greater Erie (Harding Elementary) and Erie Family Center (Perry Elementary). Lead partners have not yet been named for Lincoln Elementary and Wilson Middle schools.

East Middle School




Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Edison Elementary School

Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Diehl Elementary School

Lead Partner    Corporate Partners

Harding Elementary School



Lead Partner Corporate Partner

McKinley Elementary School



Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Perry Elementary School



Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary School



Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Strong Vincent Middle School

Lead Partner Corporate Partner

Community School Director Contact Information

Tami Krzeszewski-Conway, Community School Director of Edison Elementary School

Rachel Pierce, Community School Coordinator of East Middle School

Amy Grande, Community School Director of McKinley Elementary School

Katrina Byrd, Community School Director of Strong Vincent Middle School

Meghan Easter, Community School Director of Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary School

Karen Donnelly, Community School Director of Diehl Elementary School

Shanna Potter, Community School Director of Harding Elementary School

Scot Galloway, Community School Director of Perry Elementary School

Julia Boyd, Community School Director of Wilson Middle School

Liz Nies, Community School Director of Lincoln Elementary School