District Developing Integration Plan Officials Say They Hope To Help More Kids Through Neighborhood Schools

The YWCA Transition School likely will close this summer, but that doesn’t mean homeless kids will be abandoned, educators say.

They’ll usher students to classes at neighborhood schools, prep their new teachers, perhaps arrange counseling for traumatized children.

Spokane School District 81 has formed a committee of educators and interested citizens to consider how best to help the kids adjust to their new schools.

The committee is impressed with the Vancouver, Wash., school district, where teachers recently made a similar shuffle. Coordinators there say they work closely with shelters, which alert them when homeless children arrive. Then they help track down student records and help families enroll their kids in the school nearest their shelter or temporary home.

The Vancouver district has gone from teaching 50 to 100 students in one classroom to placing about 250 homeless students a year in various schools.

The YWCA school in Spokane now serves about 45 homeless kids at a time - up to 250 each year. The new plan would allow the district to reach hundreds more, teacher Edie Sims said.

“I’d love to see us double the number of kids we serve,” she said.

Educators say they’ll help kids stay in their new schools - even busing them there if their parents move again. They’ll also help families get dental and health care, Sims said.

The National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C., believes homeless children have a better shot at equality in neighborhood schools, said Barbara Duffield, the coalition’s education director.

Sims, who has taught at the Y school for one year, agrees. No matter how hard she and other teachers try to match the education offered at neighborhood schools, they fall short - especially in subjects such as math, music and art, she said.

“I just see them being able to access so much more than in our school. (Federal law) says we should be giving an equal education, and there’s just no way we can duplicate that.”