In the September 29th issue, the article "Study finds homeless pupils hard hit by school closures" was heartbreaking. As if these kids don't have enough to worry about. The article talks about how much harder it is for homeless students to do well in schools when their school ends up getting closed and they have to be transferred to another school..usually one that is a low performing school. Lisa Fuentes, a principle at one of the high schools said, "Just because they're homeless doesn't mean they are any less capable to graduate than the other children". I agree...being homeless does not mean they have a lower intellect but it can make it harder on them to get homework done/turned in due to not having technology readily available to them not to mention nutrition and a good nights sleep. Then when schools close, these kids might have to travel farther making it difficult to get to school. In Minneapolis,the districts are trying to place homeless students in schools that are not slated to close, anytime soon, by restructuring their tracking system for those students.
As a teacher, it would be vital to know which students might be homeless and do my very best to help in any way possible...extensions on assignments...access to school computers after hours etc. I don't know if there are any homeless students in my district...but I do need to find out and to find out if there are already any policies implemented for these students.
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