School Districts and Poor Children

Posted on January 4, 2010 by townsend

• Schools see more minority, poor kids, By Gary Scharrer and Ericka Mellon, January 2, 2010, San Antonio Express-News: “Almost six in 10 Texas public schoolchildren are from low-income families, marking a troubling spike in poverty over the past decade, a state report shows. The increase coincides with a significant jump in the number of Hispanic students, while fewer Anglo students were enrolled last year than 10 years ago, according to the study by the Texas Education Agency…”
• How school districts help families with less, By Kerry Lester, December 22, 2009, Daily Herald: “Melissa Buenik knows that if students are hungry, it’s much harder for them to learn. So, the Mundelein High School social worker helps teachers identify teens who might not be getting enough to eat at home. ‘We look for observable behavior in class. Agitation, sleepiness, little things like that,’ she said. ‘Once we ask, kids are pretty quick to respond and tell us, ‘Yeah, my family is having financial trouble right now…'”
• High numbers of Shasta County school kids living in poverty, By Amanda Winters, December 20, 2009, Redding Record Searchlight: “Recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a high rate of school-aged children living in poverty in Shasta County and school officials aren’t surprised. ‘There’s not a lot of employment here,’ said Merle Stolz, superintendent of Indian Springs School District, where the Census Bureau estimates 31 percent of children live in poverty. Stolz said the Big Bend school’s participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program is near 100 percent. During the 2008-2009 school year, 11 of the school’s 14 students were enrolled in the program…”
• Students cope with poverty, By Iricka Berlinger, December 21, 2009, Tallahassee Democrat: “Brittany White is angry. She is angry that she has to live at HOPE Community, a six-month transitional housing program for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, where she shares a tiny, cramped room with her mother and younger sister, Yolanda. She is angry at her mom that they can’t afford new clothes – or anything new for that matter. She is angry because she doesn’t like feeling different from her classmates…”