Schools try to help homeless students

It was a chilly evening in late October when the little boy walked into the Kalispell Public Schools enrollment office.

He had on a pair of pants and a shirt but, despite the cool weather, no coat.

He didn’t have one.

Patty Fisher saw many children like him this fall. Some came in wearing pajamas because they had no other clothing. Most lacked basic school supplies. And many — more than Fisher can remember seeing before — had no home of their own.

There are 74 homeless children in the Kalispell School District.

“It’s incredible, the increase in homeless families,” Fisher said. “It just seems like it’s getting pretty common. They’re living in campers, living in rented bedrooms from other folks. A lot of folks are living in hotels now.”

The number of homeless students is a small portion of the district’s total enrollment, just over 1 percent of its 5,600 students. But it’s a troubling number nonetheless — one that has grown over the last few years, and one that almost certainly underestimates the problem.

“Homeless” doesn’t necessarily mean a student doesn’t have a roof over his or her head.

According to the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, homeless youths “lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”

That includes families sharing a house with friends or relatives; children living in a hotel, trailer park or campground; families staying in a shelter; or children awaiting placement in foster care.

Some families, while registering for school, let the district know they don’t have a permanent address. Other students’ living situations are more difficult to determine, particularly at the high school level, where a teen might be staying with a friend without formally changing his or her residence status.

Those cases make the district’s actual homeless number difficult to calculate, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said. Seventy-four is school officials’ best guess, but it probably is not accurate.

“I think the homeless number is probably higher than that,” she said. “I actually think we’re probably going to see quite a few [more] kids.”

The district already is seeing more this year than ever before. Last year, there were between 50 and 60 homeless students, Schottle said. The year before, there were 50.

While some families might not want to admit their homeless status, Schottle said many confided in the district this fall.

“We do have a fair amount of people that let us know that they are homeless. And I think part of the reason for that is they want to ensure they are placed in a school that their student will be able to continue to attend,” she said.

Federal law says the burden is on the district to ensure children can continue attending their home school even if they move closer to another school.

“If they’re going to Hedges but move into the Vacationer [Motel], technically they’re in the Russell area,” Transportation Director Kay Evans said.

The district will do all it can to ensure a child in that situation would be able to continue attending school at Hedges, she said.

Schottle confirmed this commitment.

“We don’t want them to have to change schools. If they get into a situation with a teacher and a trusted community and they’re feeling content there, we will continue to bus them back to wherever that school was that they started with,” she said.

Doing so has put some strain on Kalispell’s transportation department, which hauls “more than a busload” of homeless children to and from school each day, Schottle acknowledged. But the district will continue to help its homeless youths.

“Any sense of security that we can give students, it’s the right thing to do, to keep them connected,” she said.

One of the biggest challenges has been transporting children to and from the Outlaw Inn, where several families with nowhere else to go have moved.

“We don’t have any [regular] busing for kids at the Outlaw Inn with the way the streets are formed,” Evans said. “But we have awesome bus drivers willing to go the extra mile and go on a short little run to pick them up here and there.”

The district has applied its rates for free and reduced meals to busing, so those who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches can receive free or reduced-price bus rides.

There is a homeless rate as well, Schottle said.

“They do not pay no matter where they are for transportation service. That’s a free service to them,” she said.

There is no homeless rate for food services, but many homeless children qualify at least for reduced-price meals, Schottle said. About 38 percent of Kalispell’s students qualify for free or reduced lunches, food service bookkeeper Shari Culbert said.

To qualify for free lunches, a family of four must make less than $28,665 a year. A family of four with an income of less than $40,793 a year qualifies for reduced-price meals.

Of 2,122 free or reduced candidates in Kalispell, 1,604 qualified for free meals, Culbert said.

“It’s higher than usual,” she said. “It increases every year, and has for years, but these last two years it has increased quite a bit. Our percentage of free kids has jumped dramatically.”

More children are taking advantage of the school breakfast program, she said. After adding programs this year at Edgerton and Peterson, the district now offers breakfast at all of its schools, and snacks are provided at all five elementary schools.

Schottle said she has also seen boxes of crackers or other snacks provided by teachers, so students who might not have their own snacks don’t have to go hungry. Overall, the district “makes every effort” to keep its students fed, she said.

The district also does what it can to make sure students don’t have to miss out on school experiences if their families lack money.

Low-key, informal systems are in place to help students pay for things such as field trips or shoes for gym class. “Hardship accounts” are set up at both high schools to help students cover fees for curricular and extracurricular activities.

Students pay $30 per activity to participate. Pay-to-play expenses are capped at $180 per year per family.

There were 41 activity fee waivers at Glacier High School in 2009-10 — about twice the number of waivers in 2008-09, activities director Mark Dennehy said. This fall, the school waived 26 pay-to-play fees.

Flathead High School did not respond to requests for waiver numbers.

Those waivers are possible because of the hardship account established by the Flathead/Glacier Booster Club and donations from Flathead Valley Orthopedic, Dennehy said.

“It’s very nice that the community has helped put together a fund for our students. It’s a good thing when times are tough,” he said.

For curricular needs, some money to help less fortunate students comes from fundraising and discretionary funds, Schottle said. Bus and food services are reimbursed, at least partially, from state and federal funds.

But much of the support comes from caring community members.

Schools and communities often partner to identify children in crisis, but Schottle said local people go out of their way to take care of kids.

“What I see as being a little bit more unique to our Kalispell community is the direct calls from community members and businesses to school sites to say, ‘Help us identify how we can help you as a school community,’” she said.

Community members might adopt a family, donate coats or bring in shoes, she said. Companies have offered scholarships, helped purchase books and found other ways to help families.

Those interested in helping would do best to contact individual schools, Schottle said. Principals and teachers know firsthand what their schools and students might need.

“It’s heartwarming in many ways to see people step up and want to make a positive difference when they hear of the number of families that are in really tough situations,” Schottle said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.