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							HEADLINE: Brevard schools see surge in homeless, at-risk students
SOURCE: Florida Today
DATE: May 2, 2011

Brevard schools see surge in homeless, at-risk students


Written by

REBECCA BASU

12:33 AM, May. 22, 2011|


— When Teara Banks arrived in Brevard County in October with her parents and three
siblings, the family slept in a minivan outside Walmart on Merritt Island. The youngest
childwas 4.

There were bugs and heat. There were other families. There was no choice.

"Very uncomfortable nights," Teara said. "It was hot. The car was a mess."

The family spent days at the beach to pass the time.

Nights in the Walmart parking lot, and nights after that in a homeless shelter, are now
memories for Teara, who will turn 13 next Sunday.

Teara's mother, Teresa, got a job in January. Her father, Darnell, struggles to find work,
but the family now makes enough to rent a duplex in Titusville.

"We made it through the homeless period," Teresa Banks said. "We're not out of the
woods yet."

This month, Brevard Public Schools counted 964 students it considers homeless or "in
transition" -- including Teara and her siblings -- because they have no stable place to
live. That's 10 times more than just four years ago, about the time of the recession.

The number more than doubled from 2009 to 2010, from 478 to 965, and is about the
same this year. The count includes students who've lost their homes and live in
shelters, motels, campgrounds, vehicles, with relatives or friends, or other transitional
housing, while they try to find a permanent home.

The impact of the strain on the parents and children reaches beyond the home and into
classrooms across the county, and across Florida.

With budgets tight, the increases in homeless and in-transition youth in Florida's school
districts raise concerns about meeting the students' needs.
Statewide, more than 70,000 children experience homelessness or inadequate housing
each year, officials estimate.

Brevard was among eight of Florida's 10 largest school districts to see an increase in
the number of struggling students between 2009 and 2010. Many families in Brevard
are experiencing homelessness because of extended unemployment and foreclosures,
district officials said.

"We have a severe economic downturn right now," said Betty Dunn, assistant
superintendent of student services. "People are losing their jobs and homes."

'They're panicking'

The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires homeless and
in-transition youth to continue their education. It allows districts to enroll students who
don't have an address and to provide transportation, if needed, from distances as far
away from the school as 25 miles.

Because the number in Brevard has risen year over year since 2007, the school district
has been eligible for federal money for things like tutoring, transportation, lunch and
supplies. It was awarded $45,000 this year.

With summer here, many families are looking at how children will spend their time.
Some relief may come from an additional $75,000 grant awarded to the district in
February, part of which will be used for summer tutoring and camp programs for
homeless and in-transition youth.

While social work is not required under McKinney-Vento, some grant money will be
used for that, said Anita Smith, the district's homeless liaison. Money also will fund new
efforts this year, such as computers in shelters and more educational materials and
training for district employees.

"When people hear the term 'homeless,' they think it's someone who doesn't have a roof
over their heads," Smith said. "It takes people a while to understand when a student is
sharing housing with someone else, (that student) doesn't have a home that is stable.
Moving from place to place, it's very difficult."

Couch surfers -- a description for students who stay with relatives or friends -- represent
the largest number, 789 of the 964.

"They're panicking," Smith said of parents who lose housing. "Basic needs is an issue.
Keeping students at the school is important. We have students that have moved six or
seven times."

Six-year-old Tristyn Box will board the bus Monday for the last day of school at Sea
Park Elementary in Satellite Beach. It's the fourth school he's attended this year. He
lives in a transitional home, a nonprofit and community-funded center. He and his
mother, Amy Box, 32, have been there for the past month.

Box is enrolled in a program at the center to help her become self-sufficient. She and
Tristyn will live there for two years, so Sea Park will be his school for at least that long.
Troubles hit Box like a whirlwind, she said. Two retail e-businesses she ran tanked
when the economy crashed in 2007.

"I thought I did something wrong," Box said. "I was very specific with my budget, frugal
with my money. Everything just slipped out from underneath me."

The car broke down. Box's boyfriend, who contributed to the household, left. Bills didn't
get paid. Box gathered up Tristyn and her 12-year-old daughter and left the family's
home in Tennessee for Wisconsin. They stayed with family and friends. From there, the
family went to Colorado, staying in shelters and hotels.

Grandparents there agreed to watch over the girl. Box, with Tristyn in tow, went back to
Wisconsin. But the generosity of friends and family there had run dry. After more
shelters and hotels, Box's brother flew her to Florida. She and Tristyn lived in two more
shelters before getting accepted to the transitional home.

Like many children who have experienced homelessness, Tristyn has fallen behind
academically.He may have to repeat kindergarten. Box hopes her son can start first
grade in the fall. She works on extra reading and writing assignments with him daily.

'Real people'

In her office at Rockledge's Kennedy Middle, guidance counselor Laura McGlothlin
keeps a box filled with items such as soap, shampoo, deodorant and socks for kids in
crisis. She also has a closet of donated children's clothing.

"As guidance counselors, we've built up these things because of the need," McGlothlin
said. "These are real people, individuals who live on your block that you know."

McGlothlin sees the struggles students face. She knows of students who have walked
as far as 12 miles to get to school, a student whose homework and books were left in
the family car that was repossessed, a group of boys who slept nights in McLarty Park.

If students aren't getting their physical needs met, McGlothlin said, it's hard to focus on
school. Tardiness and absences are common. They tend to fall behind academically
and lack computers, books and a quiet place to
study. Many repeat a grade.
Homeless children go hungry at twice the rate of other children, are sick more
often and have three times the rate of behavioral and emotional problems, according to
the National Center on Family Homelessness.

They are targets for bullying.
"Kids that come to school wearing the same thing day in and day out, they get picked
on," McGlothlin said.

Every year, McGlothlin organizes a dinner for families in need. When she started 14
years ago, she helped five families. This year, she had more than 50.

In his classroom at Titusville High, Richard Smith, also the president-elect of the
Brevard Federation of Teachers, has seen homeless students struggle with issues like
not having supplies and tardiness. He wondered whether some district policies couldn't
be revised to better accommodate students.

"In the presence of cutting, the vulnerable kids, like the homeless kids, are going to feel
this the most," Smith said.

Advocates for homeless families aim to tackle the problem through policies that address
root causes such as unemployment and lack of affordable housing. They have a
multifaceted approach, Florida's Plan to End Child Homelessness, that calls for
improving options for housing and programs that serve homeless families.

The plan also calls for the state's workforce agency to increase access to jobs for these
families by training and placing specialists at job centers and linking essential services.
It also asks the state to develop incentives for the private sector to create jobs for
homeless parents and youth, including tax credits to businesses that hire them.

"We need to work more aggressively to increase the amount of income youth and
parents have," said Rayme Nuckles, CEO of Homeless Coalition of Hillsborough
County, who worked on the plan.

This year, advocates educated lawmakers. Next year, advocates hope to see
lawmakers approve the plan and provide funding, Nuckles said.

'Doesn't take much'

For Teresa Banks, whose family now lives in Titusville, there have been setbacks.

Early on, she fell behind on bills. That has meant groceries spoiling in the fridge after
electricity is cut. Or not having a working clock to get to school
on time. The minivan acts up. If Banks can't get to work, she says she'll lose
her job. It's happened before.

While many families in Brevard are facing homelessness for the first time, Banks said
she and her family have been in and out of homelessness in two other states before
Florida.

She doesn't want her children to suffer anymore. She wants to reward the eldest, Teara,
for her birthday.
"She jumped in with both feet and has dealt with a whole lot," Banks said.

Teara recently was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society with a 3.71 GPA.

"In my essay, I wrote that I play trumpet and I'm a good speller," she said.

Before the downturn, Banks said, it seemed you could get a job and stay in it forever.

"Now all it takes is one thing and you can lose that job. It doesn't take much when you
don't have much to be homeless."