It may come as a surprise to their peers, but hundreds of homeless students attend Kenosha Unified School District schools. And in recent months, their numbers have been on the rise.
They face challenges that most students cannot even imagine. They try to go on throughout their school day and try to be “normal,” when their minds are somewhere else thinking about where they are going to sleep that night or if they are going to eat that day.
For some, school might offer the only structured environment in a life full of turmoil and uncertainty. Yet their difficult circumstances can impact their grades dramatically, adding more stress, and ultimately cause them to fail courses and even drop out of school, disconnecting them from one of their few sources of stability.
No Place to Call Home
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by Victoria Lutz
Staff Writer
In 2007, KUSD served 203 homeless students. The next year, 180 kids were classified as homeless. In 2009, that number began to climb again to 214 students as of November, according to Carlos Frick, KUSD’s homeless liaison, as reported in a December 2009 Kenosha News story.
In an interview with The Pulse in early January 2010, Frick confirmed those figures had jumped to 308 students who are classified as homeless, meaning they are residing in temporary homes or without shelter. Of those 308 students, 259 are currently without any lodging, he said.
The current economic situation is not helping things. Homeless shelters and nonprofit agencies are overwhelmed with needy clients, latest news reports show. KUSD tries to help these homeless students by giving them free/reduced lunch as well as free transportation to school, but sometimes the students’ parents are too proud to accept their donations or services.
What could cause area homeless shelters to be highly populated by local students? “Relationship issues in the home,” says Kristin Miller, from the Safe Haven Youth Shelter in Racine which also serves Kenosha teens. She notes that lack of communication in the home can cause riffs within families.
Several students interviewed at ITA also suggested the number of homeless students may be due to problems in the household. “Their parents don’t work or lost their jobs,” said Becky Gaitan, an ITA Buisness House Senior. Gaitan was surprised and saddened that KUSD had so many students who are homeless within its population.
Frick declined to release specific figures for how many homeless students Indian Trail Academy serves, but he did note changes in statistics occur often and seem to be on the rise recently, given the struggling economy.
KUSD’s school board has a clear policy on how it handles homeless students. The policy states it will ensure homeless children and youth are provided with equal access to its educational programs, have an opportunity to meet the same challenging state of Wisconsin and district academic standards, are not segregated based on their status as homeless, are protected from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness and are not stigmatized by school personnel.
There are homeless shelters for these students, but they fill up fast and these students have to be on a waiting list to get in, which still leaves uncertainty within them.
Safe Haven Youth Shelter in Racine accepts teens “right off the street" or those brought in by police, says Miller. Safe Haven also gives students a chance to get their lives back on track.
“[Students can] stay up to 21 days,” she said. The shelter provides three meals a day with snacks. It also provides individual counseling, family counseling and independence skills.
