HARD TIMES CHILDREN IN NEED: SCHOOLS HEAR CRY FOR HELP

Casualties of the economic downturn can be seen in the classrooms of some metro Atlanta public schools where students are showing up to learn hungry and homeless.

Job losses, foreclosures and evictions weighing on struggling parents have been saddling some metro area schools with challenges outside the curriculum. As the state’s unemployment rate recently climbed to 7.5 percent —- its highest point since July 1983 —- some parents called on schools for help with groceries and clothes for their kids.

At Gwinnett County Schools, the state’s largest district, administrators report a marked increase in the number of needy students turning to counselors for support as well as parents qualifying for free or reduced-price meals for their kids. School buses routinely shuttle between extended-stay motels so students can still attend classes if they lose their homes.

“The economy is wreaking havoc on a number of people,” said James Taylor, who is executive director for academic support for Gwinnett schools. “Homelessness has increased …. Some kids may come forward. There are others where you see things and follow up. You have to have a keen eye.”

Approximately 1,090 students in Gwinnett schools are now considered homeless —- either living in extended-stay motels or bunking with relatives as a result of their parent’s economic situation, district officials said. Last year, there were 920 homeless students.

The district had a 4.2 percent jump in the number of students qualifying for discounted meals this school year. Of the 120,000 lunches served each day, about 46 percent go to kids who eat free or reduced-price meals.

The needs of Gwinnett schools’ poor population are great. Some lack health insurance. Utility shutoffs can lead to nights without lights or heat.

Parent Belinda Martin relied on the benevolence of Stripling Elementary when her 6- and 8-year-old daughters started the school year ill-equipped. Martin and her family had to move to a motel after her husband lost his factory job. They now sleep in a room with two beds and six people.

“I lost my car, my apartment, everything, and we had to pick up and move,” she said. “When the kids first started school, I wasn’t able to afford the supplies. Some of the teachers gave them supplies to use.”

Other metro districts also are noting a steady rise in hardship, including those with both poor and affluent populations. In Cobb County schools, the number of students who qualified for free or reduced-priced meals rose to 38.2 percent from about 36 percent the previous year.

At DeKalb County schools, where 66 percent of students eat free and reduced-price meals, the number of campuses with majority poor populations has grown. DeKalb added four schools to its roster of Title I campuses receiving federal aid for the needy.

Atlanta Public Schools, which has a 76 percent poverty rate, however, closed three Title I schools and had fewer students qualifying for free and reduced-price meals, as poverty dipped slightly.

“We’re losing student population,” explained Joe Manguno, Atlanta schools spokesman. “As the shelters and housing developments are shut down in the city of Atlanta … the poorer part of the population is moving out to the suburbs. Homeless students are going with those families. You are going to see [increases] in Gwinnett, DeKalb and Clayton.”

The DeKalb system has received state allocations ranging from $35,000 to $200,000 in recent years to aid its homeless population, which topped 1,490 students last school year, said Dale Davis, DeKalb schools spokesman. DeKalb has 694 homeless students, but Davis said school officials expect the numbers to increase by May.

“We help with immunizations, educational materials, graduating senior’s caps, gowns and rings,” Davis said. “If a family had to move to an extended-stay motel and we need to get bus service to those students, we would re-route the bus to get them to school.”

In Gwinnett, school officials also are working to ease the load on cash-strapped families.

At Meadowcreek Elementary, an outreach program helped 17 students get eyeglasses. The school teamed up with the Lions Club to pay for the exams and Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church to provide transportation to a neighborhood Wal-Mart so the kids could be seen at U&M Family Eyecare.

At Lilburn Elementary, helping the needy is practically a full-time job for Care Team coordinator Bobby Hokett, who also serves as a guidance counselor for fourth- and fifth- graders. About 88 percent of the school receives free or reduced-price lunch.

“We are constantly getting calls for help,” he said.

One caller before Christmas was seeking money for rent. “We don’t have that kind of help, but we try to take care of some of their other needs,” Hokett said. “If we help with the food bill, they can put their money toward their mortgage.”

Holiday food and toy drives at Lilburn Elementary helped 46 families eat and provided gifts for their kids. The school also delivered beds and clothes recently to families who were burned out of their apartments.

“When a crisis happens, we have a system in place to help,” said Wandy Taylor, Lilburn Elementary principal.

Hokett knows firsthand that help with necessities can reduce stress on a family in between homes or parents between jobs. He was once homeless when he attended Gwinnett schools.

Hokett, one of eight siblings, said his late father, a construction worker, was often out of work. They lived in a weather-beaten trailer and sometimes ate food tossed from the shelves of a Kroger.

“We were actually eating out of the Dumpster, but no one knew,” Hokett said. A relationship Hokett’s family developed with a classroom volunteer at Lilburn Elementary led to a blessing for his family. In 1995, “Room mom” Robin Foster rallied the school community to build a house for Hokett’s mother, Linda, 62. They raised $30,000.

“It was enough to build the house, furnish it and haul off the trailer,” Foster said.

“I pinch myself sometimes when I come home,” Linda Hokett said.

The Gwinnett school system has a network of agencies at its disposal to link families with the services they need if they can’t get the job done themselves.

“We are all about teaching and learning, but you have to meet people’s basic needs in order for that to happen,” Bobby Hokett said. “Sometimes that need can be helped with a gift card for food.”

NEEDS RISING

GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Number of homeless students

> 2007-08 school year: 920 between August and December

> 2008-09 school year: 1,090 between August and December

Number of Title I schools receiving federal aid for needy students

> 2007-08: 27

> 2008-09: 31

COBB COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Number of homeless students

> 2007-08 school year: 1,611

> 2008-09 school year: 947 between August and January

Number of Title I schools receiving federal aid for needy students

> 2007-08: 35

> 2008-09: 37

ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Number of homeless students

> 2007-08 school year: 1,218

> 2008-09 school year: 750 between August and December 2008

Number of Title I schools receiving federal aid for needy students

> 2007-08: 107

> 2008-09: 104

DEKALB COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Number of homeless students

> 2007-08 school year: 1,490

> 2008-09 school year: 694 between August and January

Number of Title I schools receiving federal aid for needy students

> 2007-08: 89

> 2008-09: 93

LUNCH DEMAND

Percentage of students on free and reduced-price lunch

GWINNETT COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

> 2007-08: 41

> 2008-09: 45.6

COBB COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

> 2007-08: 35.9

> 2008-09: 38.2

ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

> 2007-08: 76.1

> 2008-09: 76.3

DEKALB COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

> 2007-08: 65.5

> 2008-09: 66