Boarding Schools For The Homeless In The Windy City?
MayorBob.
Posted to Etcetera on Tue May 27, 2008 at 05:46:56 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the nation's third largest public school system. Over 400,000 students attend classes in 655 schools. Unfortunately, around 10,000 of those 400,000 kids have no home to go to once school is over. Trying to get an education in a stable home environment is difficult enough; things get a whole lot tougher for the kid living in a succession of homeless shelters. The school district thinks they might have an approach which will help homeless kids - take them out of homeless shelters and place them in boarding schools. But the approach is expensive and under attack by homeless advocates.
The approach, which is still in the early planning stages, is a departure from the district's current policy on educating homeless students. That policy speaks to providing "equal access to the same free and appropriate educational opportunities as students who are not homeless" and says nothing about the quality of life outside the school. The new plan would take into account children who grow up in a succession of homeless shelters or "couch surfing" at a variety of relatives' homes. According to Josh Edelman, CPS director of CPS' Office of New Schools (ONS):"Our goal is to say in Chicago, 'We don't think you should have to have financial means to have a great option.' The idea of having a stable home situation is ideal. If that's not the case, that shouldn't preclude you from being able to focus in school."
The key stumbling block is monetary. Currently, the district spends around (US) $7,350 per student per year to educate those in grades 6 through 12 -- most estimates say boarding school would cost between $30,000 and $50,000 per year per student. CPS is looking for some workable proposals to achieve their goal and, beyond that, some organizations to partner with. One organization that CPS won't be partnering with on boarding schools is the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH). CCH's Rene Heybach thinks anything that separates children from their families is a bad idea, "kids are deeply connected to their families, and while there is bad in some situations, there's also a lot of connectedness and good." She believes setting up a boarding room program might "stigmatize" pupils enrolled in it. Heybach also questions whether CPS, which "has a lot of trouble just operating quality schools," should be embarking on housing projects. Rather than spend an additional $23,000 to $43,000 per pupil per year to board them, Heybach believes the money could be better used to help more homeless kids.
Edelman says CPS isn't interested in forceably separating families, thus any program would be voluntary. The soonest CPS could have a complete program up and running would be 2010, but it could start a pilot program by next year. Tinesheia Howard, a homeless CPS graduate and now a college undergrad, says she might have benefited from being enrolled at a boarding or residential school. She allows as how some might not benefit from it and would be better off staying with their families. But, she says she "was in a negative atmosphere -- there was so much arguing." The key, to her, is to help get students "out of a situation that's hurting them."
