Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Homeless Children in America Are Left Behind

The PBS News Hour ran a segment on homeless children in America and the difficulties they face in school.  Being that I am a teacher now, hearing this kind of stuff always seems to make me a little upset.

Around 1.3 millon children in America will experience homelessness this year.  A third of all homeless people are families that have children.  Fewer than 25% of children who experience homelessness will graduate from high school.

Here is the clip:


The clip referred several times to the McKinny-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  Under this Act, it is the law for public schools to made special arrangements for children who are homeless.

The segment focused on the Seattle public school district and stated that the district is required by law to identify homeless children.  Yet the state of Washington saw a 12% increase last year in homelessness from the previous year and the district identified 6% fewer cases.  Advocates for the homeless say that this is a deliberate attempt by school districts to avoid paying the costs that accompany identifying homeless students.

The video gave the appalling fact that two years ago, 33% of school districts in New York state failed to identify and report a single homeless child.

Funny how when the cameras show up, the districts all of a sudden become all smiles and hand shakes and these poor social workers finally hear "yes, ma'am."  Requiring homeless children to supply medical records, school transcripts, and two pieces of mail from a homeless mother without a mailing address is pretty despicable.

It is not the school district's fault, it is the federal government imposing unfunded mandates and it is every American that tolerates this level of poverty in America.
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1 comment:

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