BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Leaders in Broome County have been sharing their strategies for successful community school initiatives.

A community school is a partnership between schools and organizations. It helps low-income students thrive inside and outside of the classroom.

Local education officials, as well as leaders from as far as Alaska, met in Binghamton Wednesday.

They talked about ways to address absenteeism, low grades, and parent engagement.

"We have so many committed school districts. They don't have to do this work together. It certainly is a benefit to their children and their families, but sometimes it takes more time,” said New York State Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia.

"At each school it's different based on what the needs are. At U-E we've just started a program called the bus bucks program where we're looking at kids, predominantly kids that have difficulty with attendance, have poor attendance. What kind of incentives can we provide for them to be able to attend school?” said Binghamton Community Schools Principal Investigator Laura Bronstein.

Other local districts with community school programs include Binghamton, Johnson City and Elmira.