Street roots
3
Nov. 7, 2014
JACQUES VON LUNEN
around the metro area echoed that
sentiment.
hen Oregon’s education ¿department
And the numbers haven’t gone back
releases its K42 homeless student
down. Beaverton now is one of four districts
count later this month, the report
in the state that has more than 1,200
will show a disturbing trend: their numbers
homeless students enrolled. The other three
aren’t coming back down from peak
are Portland, Reynolds and Medford, Bolt
recession levels.
said. Having four districts with such high
Nearly 20,000 students in Oregon’s
statistics is a first in state history, she said.
schools were considered homeless during
Data requested by Street Roots from
the 2013-14 school year, the latest state
Portiand-area districts under public-records
records show.
law show that most urban and suburban
Federal educating guidelines define
districts here have about as many homeless
nomelessness asnothaw n^icces^rcR r**’
students now as they did toward the end of
fixed, regular arid adfeciti&te nighttime' ~~ ~~ ; th e recession. The only local districts with
residence, which includes those students
significant reductions in homeless numbers
who temporarily share housing with another over that time are small and rural.
family. This is a broader definition than the
The numbers provided by the local
one used by the federal housing department, districts include some kids who are counted
which recently reported that the number of
twice as they move across boundaries. The
homeless families nationwide has gone
state will find these double-counts, which is
down. Prominent advocates have challenged
why next week’s numbers are bound to be
that statement, quoting the rising numbers
just slightly lower than those included in
of homeless students around the country.
this story.
The most-recent count in Oregon schools
But behind these trends and numbers lie
is virtually unchanged from those taken oyer real hardships for real kids — and the
the last five years. It suggests that last
economic future of whole Portland
year’s drop in homeless student numbers — neighborhoods.
by about 1,000 statewide - likely was an
aberration caused by a new counting
Barriers to education
method.
Isabel went to Beaverton schools her
This means that Oregon has twice as
whole life, But she was homeless during her
many homeless youths in its schools as it
did 10 years ago. In the 2004-05 school year, last four years in the district. When Isabel
was 15, tier parents split up and her mother
barely more than 10,000 Oregon students
took her to live with an aunt But living in
were counted as being homeless. That
such close quarters
number climbed
proved too volatile
steadily but slowly
and the teenage girl
until tiie recession
Homeless students pass stale ended up having to
hit, when it jumped
fend for herself. She
tests at about twu-tfclrds the
to about 19,000,
stayed on friends’
state records show.
rate of the general student
couches, always
And that is where
population, For example,
worried how long
it has stayed since.
about S3 percent of a ll
each arrangement
The rise from
would last.
students passed their math
2004 to 2008
“I wasn’t able to
probably was due to
tests in the 2012-13 school
focus
on school,”
a combination of
year In Oregoa, according tp Isabel said. “My
factors including
state records» Only about 39 problems were so
overall population
percent of homeless students overwhelming,”
growth in the state
She was struggling
and stricter federal
did,
in her classes.
requirements for
Graduation seemed
schools to detect
less and less likely.
which of their
It’s a common
students are
pattern for homeless students, said Julie
homeless, said Dona Bolt, the state
Barbour, who’s been teaching in a high-
coordinator for Oregon’s homeless
poverty Portland neighborhood for 22 years.
education program.
Homeless students often have trouble
But the bump between 2008 and 20i0
sticking to one task for a long time, she sâjd.
surely is a result of the recession.
Because homeless families move around a
“During the recession, we had a definite
lot, the kids may go to-many different
increase in clientele who had never dealt
schools.
with poverty before,’’ said Lisa Mentesana,
“They wonder, ‘How* long am I going to
the homeless liaison for theBeaverton
be hefe?’” Barbour said.
School District Other school employees
STAFF W R IT E R
W
Homeless students in Oregon
2007-08:15,859
2009-10:19,040
2013-14:19,655
This affects their social skills. And their
previous school may have had a slightly
different curriculum. Homeless students
have many more barriers to education than
do students with stable housing, Barbour
said.,
“It’s really hard to learn when you have so
much else you’re thinking about,” said Molly
Frye, a social worker in the Reynolds School
District, which has the highest percentage
of homeless students in the tri-county area.
“These kids ask themselves, ‘When
school gets out, where am I going; is my
family OK? What are we going to eat
tonight?”’ Frye said.
Education statistics bear out these
observations. Homeless students pass state
tests at about twb-thirds the rate of the
general stttdent population. For example,
about 63 percent of all students passed their
math tests in the 2012-13 school year in
Oregon, according to state records. Only
about 39 percent of homeless students did.
Schools provide extra resources for these
children, inside and outside of the
classroom. The wall opposite from Frye’s
desk at Reynolds Middle School is lined with
mfetal shelves holding cans of food. Every
Friday, about 85 families come in for
supplies, Frye said.
Schools Uniting Neighborhoods — or SUN
— is a network of support services managed
by Multnomah County. It has sites at 80
schools in the county. Christine Rhoney
runs the site jit an elementary school in the
Lents neighborhood. Many families there
have to choose between paying rent, paying
utilities or feeding their children, Rhoney
said. She runs a food bank at the school.
“At least we’ll help you feed your kids,”
Rhoney said.
Beaverton has food banks at its schools,
Mentesana, the homeless liaison there, said.
The district, like others, also offers school
supplies to high-poverty and homeless
students. It holds clothing drives.
And in the classroom, there are special
support services. Homeless students are
given extra time to graduate. Districts must
direct part of their federal dollars
designated for low-income children to
support homeless students.
But that money — called Title I funds —
isn’t enough in the bighest-poverty schools,
said Barbour. Students from very low- -
income families, including-homeless
students, often arrive in kindergarten with
limited learning experience. This means
they need more attention from teachers.
“But we have 30 or more kids in some
kindergarten classes,” Barbour said. “The
Title I money is too little.”
. Investing in education is an effective way
to break the cycle of poverty that can begin
as early as preschool, experts say.
Low-wage jobs
A look at the Oregon economy can
provide at least a partial explanation for
homeless-student numbers that jumped
during the recession and never came back
down.
“It’s not low-income folks and not
homeless folks who have recovered (since.
the recession),” said Mary Li, a division
manager at the Multnomah County
Department of Human Services in Portland.
There has been a steady rise in homeless
families in Multnomah County, with no
reductions after the end of the recession, Li
said.
One explanation: The jobs that were
added since the recession were mostly at
the top and bottom ends of the salary range,
according to a report by the Oregon Office
of Economic Analysis earlier this year.
There has been growth in the market for
management positions, according to the
report. Engineers and designers also are in
demand. These are jobs that typically
require college degrees and experience —
out of immediate reach of most low-income
families.
The two fastest-growing job sectors
overall were personal care and agriculture.
These jobs pay around $20,000 per year,
according to the state report.
The report describes a “polarization” of
the Oregon job market: medium-wage jobs
lost in the recession are replaced in part by
higher-wage jobs that require college
degrees, or — more often — by minimum-
wage jobs.
See NEW NORMAL, page 5