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What makes a neighborhood a neighborhood?

Many people would say neighbors -- a sense of identity defined by a connection with others who live near one another -- are essential to the creation of such a community. And a strong indicator of that identity often lies in a shared school.

Allied Drive and its inhabitants lack a single high school to foster community cohesion, a factor Ald. Brian Solomon argued affects neighborhood students the most.  

“There’s terrible cohesion among school-age kids,” Solomon said. “It’s just a huge issue. As long as the kids are split up among different places, it’s very difficult for them to feel any sense of connection.”

High school students living in the Allied Drive area currently attend a handful of different schools, including alternative night schools located downtown and others as far as Verona, more than a 45-minute bus drive way.

Parenting is no easy job, which is why a local clinic joined forces with the school district and the public library for a morning of workshops on the subject this Saturday.

“Raising healthy, intelligent and well-rounded children is a team effort between primary care providers, parents, school educators and community leaders,” said Dr. Joanna Bisgrove, a physician at Dean Clinic in Oregon. “It’s that ‘it takes a village to raise a family’ philosophy.”

Parent University is scheduled to take place at Rome Corners Intermediate School from 8:30 a.m. to noon. The class is free for families with kids of all ages and will focus on how to help a child learn in the 21st century; health and wellness; and parenting awareness.