Schools struggling to help homeless students

Sep 28, 2009 (The Augusta Chronicle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GKSR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- For now, a room at the Budget Inn Express on Gordon Highway is home to Phillip Wright and his 6-year-old son, Phillip Jr.

Mr. Wright, who lost his job as a driver for G&K Services earlier this year, had to leave the Windsor Spring area and now lives on the move -- a problem many parents of homeless pupils face.

"I can tell it affects him," Mr. Wright said of his son, who is a first-grader this school year at Windsor Spring Elementary. "From day to day, he's not sure where we're going to be living. So it's tough like that."

The situation is one area school officials say they have seen more in the past couple of years. In Richmond County, it's a topic they've addressed in the past with grant money and outside agency help.

But this school year the system has been denied a $70,000 federal grant request for homeless student aid and is asking the state Board of Education, which administers the money, to reconsider.

The school system expects a decision by November. Without the grant, "the school social workers will tap community resources," said Dr. Carol Rountree, the director of Richmond County student services. "... It means that you'll have to go to them more often to help out a family."

School officials refer parents of homeless students to programs and services available through homeless shelters or other nonprofit agencies, including the Salvation Army, United Way and the Interfaith Hospitality Network of Augusta.

With grant money, the schools can offer additional help such as free tutoring or money for school supplies. But with no money available so far this school year, some school workers have given from their own pockets to help, despite pay cuts amid furloughs.

"We pulled together and within an hour made it possible," said Carolyn Johnson, a Richmond County school system social worker who, along with Windsor Spring Elementary staff, recently raised more than $200 to help Mr. Wright and his son temporarily pay for a Gordon Highway motel stay, gas and cell phone service.

Mr. Wright said that because he is no longer on the Windsor Spring bus route, he must drive his son to school, using the gas for a school trip instead of a job search. And when his aging car doesn't start, he said, it breaks his heart to hear his son say, "Oh, Daddy, I want to go to school."

Mr. Wright's son is one among hundreds throughout the area. Richmond County officials count homeless students at the end of the school year with the help of area shelters.

In the 2007-08 school year, shelters in Richmond County reported 173 homeless students.

Linda Heggs, a social worker for the school system, said the number was 373 last school year. Of that, about 100 requested school assistance.

"We're seeing more and more heads of household unable to meet the needs of their household, and they're needing to move in with their family members temporarily," Dr. Rountree said.

Columbia County school officials recently said that 313 homeless pupils received assistance last year. In 2007-08, 174 homeless students received school services in Columbia County.

Area school officials say the number of reported homeless students likely isn't accurate. Some go uncounted because their families are embarrassed to let people know their status or don't realize they qualify for assistance.

"It's definitely grown as we've seen the economy worsen," said Jan Scarbary, a social worker and homeless liaison for the Columbia County school system.

Aiken County has had 82 homeless students seek services this school year, said Sherida Stroman, a liaison for the homeless in the school system. She said the county's total last school year was more than 400, and she expects the number will be even greater by the end of this school year.

Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3851. Reach Donnie Fetter at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115.

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