Abstract: This article discusses "full-service" charter schools that make the school days longer, more numerous, and filled with services. These schools offer children and their families programs from afterschool skill-building workshops to on-site mental health services. For example, the Codman Academy Charter Public School in Boston holds classes Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm, and Saturday from 9 am to noon. The schedule, founder Meg Campbell says, provides time for students to learn the basic skills that some of them were lacking when they arrived, as well as helps to "create a culture that's purposeful and academic and emphasizes character values." The school includes students' parents in both the school's leadership and its classrooms. "Full-service community schools are valuable resources in local communities because they provide for the seamless integration of academic, developmental, family, and health services to children and their families," says Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer who has introduced legislation to provide funding for full-service schools.
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