School Plan Needs Help To Succeed
When fifth- and sixth-graders at Discovery School read in the newspaper that the YWCA Transition School for the Homeless was about to close, they took action.
They wrote impassioned letters to Spokane School District administrators, imploring them not to take the homeless kids’ school away.
Like much of the Spokane community, the students at Discovery, a private school in downtown Spokane, feel a deep sense of empathy for these children. The pain of a homeless child resonates for many of us, deep where the memories of childhood with its fears of loss and abandonment lie.
A Spokane school district administrator visited the Discovery School kids to explain the complexities of this issue. Now it’s time for the rest of the community to explore them.
As it turns out, local school bureaucrats didn’t dream up this change. It’s a requirement for federal funding and it’s backed by the National Coalition for the Homeless.
Homeless advocates now believe that separate schools, such as the YWCA Transition School, can’t possibly provide the same quality of education as a neighborhood school.
In fact, studies show that each time children switch schools, their achievement levels drop by three to six months. So while the YWCA school provides a comforting sense of emotional stability, it may not foster the best academic environment for students.
Like children who must use wheelchairs, who speak English as a second language, or who come from a minority ethnic background, homeless children deserve the best education they can receive. Advocates believe they’re likely to learn more math in a class of fellow third-graders than they are in a Transition School class spanning the second through fourth grade.
They may be best served in the school they were attending before they became homeless. There, familiar faces and structure can help provide a safe haven, if, and this is a big if, the staffing levels are high enough to give kids the support they need.
District 81 and the YWCA have launched a task force to devise a way to return homeless kids to local schools, while continuing to meet their emotional, medical and material needs. They’ve invited homeless advocates from local agencies, churches and shelters, to help.
The YWCA plans to go on serving homeless kids with social workers, an after-school program, a medical clinic and a clothing bank. Under the new plan, many more homeless children might be served. Today, only 15 percent of the district’s homeless kids make their way to the YWCA. Organizers hope to reach 100 percent.
As the kids at Discovery School listened to the Spokane school district administrator, their vision enlarged. As their comprehension grew, let’s hope their compassion did not shrink.
Neither should that of Spokane’s caring adults. Members of the community must keep a careful watch on this process. Enriched math lessons can’t reach a child derailed by anxiety or shame. A slim staff, more absorbed by paperwork than children and stretched to cover too many schools, confuses kids, rather than supports them.
The community’s donations, Christmas parties and active concern must continue. The YWCA can’t succeed without the help of the entire community. And neither can the public schools.