MINNESOTA
Teacher and tutor Nancy Gruber wants to make sure students such as Yemi Adedeji get the help they need with their schoolwork.
Adedeji, a 9-year-old Lincoln Elementary School student, lives with his mother and six siblings in a house on Eighth Avenue South that serves as a shelter. After school, Adedeji and Gruber work on his math homework. She assists and sometimes reads the problems while he marks the answer on his worksheet. "It's very fun," Adedeji says of math.
St. Cloud school district has boosted its efforts to identify and provide services such as transportation, meals and tutoring to homeless students. As a result, the district has identified a greater number of homeless students from the previous year and required additional time be added for tutoring.
"They are really working hard to find them, especially the upper grades because they are the ones that tend to get lost in the shuffle," said Pat Moss, a child and life-skill advocate for the St. Cloud Housing Coalition. Moss works with school staff to make sure the students who live in Housing Coalition shelters get their school needs taken care of.
The idea of providing these services for students is to make sure they get an education that might prevent homelessness when they get older, said Barbara Duffield, policy director for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. The Washington, D.C.,-based organization works to assure excellent and equitable education for homeless children.
Homeless students might confront issues such as anxiety, poverty and instability, making it difficult to concentrate and succeed in school, Duffield said. "What we know both from the kids and families and schools, (is) school can really be the safest, most stable, healthiest place for a child when everything else is out of control," Duffield said.
St. Cloud leads
St. Cloud is reporting about 194 homeless students this year,
up from 127 last year. The number was above 200 in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
Providing services for homeless students is mostly a St. Cloud issue in
this region. Sauk Rapids-Rice, Foley and Big Lake each reported one
homeless student in 2006-2007. Becker reported four, according to the
Minnesota Department of Education. Statewide, schools reported 5,573
students in 2006-07 with unsuitable housing situations. More than
800,000 students attend school in Minnesota.
The effort in St. Cloud has been stepped up to make sure the students who are eligible for the services receive them. The law requires the district to have someone on staff as a liaison. That person provides meals and transportation so students can stay in the same school even if their living arrangements change and gives educational assistance. "It is more than just students whose families live in cars or shelters. Students living with grandparents, friends or neighbors can qualify", said Misha Barkos, whose work for the district includes the task of finding those students.
The district uses money from a federal grant and money set aside for homeless students through a program that provides extra help for reading and math. It spent $54,000 on homeless programs the past two years.
Added efforts
Barkos, a social worker at South Junior High School, works with
the nine shelters in St. Cloud. The district has added lines on
registration forms and designed brochures to help draw out people who
are reluctant to be identified, but who could be helped by the services.
The district opened a welcome center in July that provides a central place for parents to register children for school. Barkos spends an evening a week there explaining available services. She also stays in touch with school secretaries who are among the first to see new students, and the district distributes a sheet that lists steps for schools to follow when they become aware that a student is homeless.
Federal law requires schools to keep homeless students in the same school. That way the children maintain some stability. Districts are required to bus them to school and provide free meals and educational services. "We want the children to get back into a routine. They need to get back with their friends. We want as much stability as we can make for them," Barkos said.
Long-term impact
Gruber works with 32 students, sometimes in groups at the
schools and at shelters as she does with Adedeji. "When I meet with
them, I know my primary reason is academics. I'm also there for
emotional support," Gruber said.
Teresa Jennings, Adedeji's mother, said the assistance her son gets is helping him do better in school. In addition to the time he spends with Gruber, the school sends home daily reports about his progress and behavior in school. "Miss Gruber is really good with children. She has a lot of patience," Jennings said. Jennings said the attention her son has received has helped him enjoy school more. "Every day he gets up for school, he is eager to go to class," Jennings said. "He doesn't miss any days."
Dave Aeikens
2 April 2008
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080402/NEWS01/104020012/1009
