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Today we're lifting up Dr. Stacey Webb – Principal of Lanier Jr Sr High School and the steady hand guiding the school through its centennial era.

At Lanier, becoming and sustaining a Community School isn't something that happens overnight. It's a future built over time. A future that honors the school's history while opening the doors to where it's headed.

On what it means to lead Lanier, Dr. Webb put it this way:

"Lanier has always been more than a school — it is a pillar of pride, resilience, and transformation within our city."

Dr. Webb, we see you. Thank you for honoring Lanier's history while building its future, and for leading a school that holds both at once.

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 8: Nothing About Us Without Us.

Explore the full Chronicle collection: https://democraticeducation.org/community-schools-chronicle-issue-8/

Sign up here for The Community Schools Chronicle newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheChronicleEmailList

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools.

As the 2025–2026 school year comes to a close, we're proud to share the eighth edition of The Community Schools Chronicle — a special edition, and the final issue of our first volume.

This issue — Nothing About Us Without Us — is a look back at an entire year of community schools at Lanier Jr Sr High School . Not a highlight reel, but a year in the life of a school that has been steadily becoming what its community always knew it could be. Programs running Monday through Friday, every cohort full. Students earning certifications. Parents stepping into leadership. A Resource Center that became one of the most visited rooms in the building.

Inside, you'll find the programs, partners, and people who built this year:

• This Year at Lanier — A look at the scale of the work: the cohorts, the programming, and a school built around what students and families need.
• The Programs — Strong Arms of Mississippi, Metro Booming Training Academy, Girls and Grits, Restorative Justice Circles, the Student Empowerment & Resource Center, and Pathways to Success with Alcorn State University.
• A Message from Lanier Principal Dr. Stacey Webb — An end-of-year reflection on the growth, promise, and impact of community schools at Lanier.
• Who Made This Year Possible — Appreciation to the partners, funders, and families who made all of it real.

This issue is also a thank you — to every student, family, teacher, administrator, partner, and funder who poured heart and soul into this work. Lanier sits in a neighborhood that the rest of the country tends to write about only when something terrible happens. What's happening here every day is a different story. And it's a story worth telling.

The full Chronicle is linked below via the IDEA Blog, and you can also click here to view the PDF version: https://bit.ly/Chronicle8thEdition

📬 Want to receive future editions directly to your inbox? Sign up here for The Community Schools Chronicle mailing list: https://bit.ly/TheChronicleEmailList

The Community Schools Chronicle is produced by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools and community partners across Mississippi. We’re telling the story as it unfolds. Thank you for being part of it.

We also want to extend our gratitude and appreciation to all of the partners and funders who make this work possible.

The Community Schools Initiative at Lanier Jr./Sr. High School and the Lanier Feeder Pattern lives inside Jackson Public Schools — the district whose commitment makes this work institutionally real. One Voice and IDEA serve as co-lead partners alongside JPS, anchoring the strategy and building the infrastructure that holds it all together.

This work is sustained by the funders who have invested in what's possible in Jackson: The NEA Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Chirag Foundation, and Focus for Health Foundation.

*Note: a thank you to all of our partners in the Jackson Community Schools Initiative is continued in the comments.

Special Edition: A Year of Community Schools at Lanier — Nothing About Us Without Us This issue — Nothing About Us Without Us — is a look back at an entire year of community schools at Lanier. Not a highlight reel, but a year in the life of a school that has been steadily becoming what its community always knew it could be.

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Momentum in Jackson Community Schools isn't built in a single moment.

It's built in the daily decisions to show up, to coordinate, to share leadership across schools, families, and partners. That's what's happening in Jackson. And it's compounding.

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 3: Jackson Schools Bring the Heat.

Explore the full Chronicle collection:
https://democraticeducation.org/the-community-schools-chronicle/

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools.

The NEA Foundation has been invested in Community Schools in Jackson since the early days.

Sara A. Sneed, President & CEO of The NEA Foundation, has not simply watched, but has been a champion of Community Schools in The South for years.

Her message is clear: this work deserves sustained investment — not as charity, but as partnership.

"Let us listen deeply, invest wisely, and walk in partnership with Southern communities."

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 6: Community Is the Strategy.

Explore the full Chronicle collection:
https://democraticeducation.org/the-community-schools-chronicle/

Read more about The NEA Foundation's Community Schools Initiative and The Southern Regional Alliance for Community Schools: https://www.neafoundation.org/projects-initiatives/community-schools-initiative/

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools.

In a Community School, what does real community engagement actually look like?

It looks like people showing up with intention. Not just once, but over and over again. Across students, families, educators, and partners.

At Lanier Jr Sr High School , that kind of engagement is everyday. You can’t miss it. It’s the heartbeat of the school. And it’s shaping what’s possible on campus and across the broader community.

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 4: A Summer of Progress, A Year of Promise.

Read more stories from across Jackson’s Community Schools:
https://democraticeducation.org/the-community-schools-chronicle/

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools.

Today we’re lifting up Mr. Thigpen – Social Studies teacher, bus driver, and a steady presence at Lanier Jr Sr High School .

At Lanier, Community Schools isn’t just a strategy. It’s a lived experience shaped every day by people who show up for students in more ways than one.

When asked why he teaches and drives the bus, Mr. Thigpen put it simply:

“I understand that like a child's needs, learning starts long before first period and continues well after dismissal.”

Mr. Thigpen, we see you. Thank you for showing up for students, start to finish.

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 7: The Steady Work of Community.

Explore the full Chronicle collection:
https://democraticeducation.org/the-community-schools-chronicle/

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Jackson Public Schools.

Community isn’t an add-on. It’s the strategy.

When students, families, educators, and partners move together, schools become places of connection, support, and possibility.

That’s where real progress lives.

From The Community Schools Chronicle, Issue 6: Community Is the Strategy.

Explore the full Chronicle collection:
https://democraticeducation.org/the-community-schools-chronicle/

The Community Schools Chronicle is a storytelling project by IDEA in partnership with Public Schools.

Congrats to all these amazing leaders and to our very own Dr. Webb of the illustrious Lanier High School!!