Pittsburgh Public Schools staged a citywide parent resource fair and back-to-school event on Friday in anticipation the first day of classes for the new school year on Monday, Aug. 31.VIDEO: Watch Bob Mayo's reportBeyond the event at King Pre K-8, both the school district and city government say they're busy with additional efforts to connect families, communities, and schools."I think they're improving. I think they're helping out the community a lot more, and I really appreciate it as a parent," said Catherine Bell, of the North Side, who has four children attending city schools. "They show that they actually care about the neighborhood and the community and the kids."Superintendent Linda Lane said it's a focus in this new school year."One of the things we're working a lot on is culture and climate we have in schools. We want climates where teachers can teach and kids can learn," Lane told Pittsburgh's Action News 4."There's a new spirit of collaboration between the City of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Public Schools," Mayor Bill Peduto said.Peduto joined Lane in a rally to show city government and schools, while operating independently, share a commitment to Pittsburgh's kids."When the students are not in your schools, what can we be doing to help to enhance their lives? We can't make choices for them. We can give them more opportunities to succeed," Peduto said. "As I look at this year, I look at the opportunity to start creating after-school programming and working with the Pittsburgh Public Schools in order to be able to do so."The mayor also indicated interest in after-school activities in city schools."There's an understanding that we want to start to look at these buildings as more than just a place where kids are for a few hours during the day. To begin to see them as what they are, community centers, and to be able to begin to provide wraparound services for the kids and their families, to be able to have a better chance at success," Peduto said.The city and district also indicated a shared commitment to public safety for students."The public safety office of the city and the bureau of police have been unbelievably helpful and cooperative. All of our zone commanders of the police department have gone out and met with high school principals, so they know each other and can exchange information when that needs to happen," Lane said."We want our city police officers to be in front of our kids in ways that they begin to build relationships with them," Lane said. "I know Chief (Cam) McLay is very much in support of community policing and we're very much in support of that. Some of the students have actually had opportunities to talk to police officers about some of their concerns, so what I really see is lines of communication opening up."16240532