Families in Poverty and Schools – Wisconsin

Students from needy families place burden on schools, By Frank Schultz, April 28, 2013, Janesville Gazette: “Mud, slips, rips and other accidents often mean a trip to the aides’ room at Adams Elementary School. That’s where Jackie Wastak and the other aides store most of their replacement clothing. They have everything from shoes and boots, underwear, socks, pants and tops sorted by size in cardboard boxes. Often, it’s not an accident. Sometimes it’s a boy who comes to school with no heels left in his shoes. ‘They walk everywhere,’ Wastak said of some families. ‘They don’t have cars. They literally walk the soles off their shoes.’ Wastak started at Adams in 2000. Then, there was a box of one-size-fits-all clothing under the cot in the nurse’s office. Needs have grown…”