SC school districts try to help homeless students

[Are_grits_groceries]

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The number of homeless students increased 74 percent over the total in 2004, and South Carolina educators say they are doing what they can to battle the problem.

The Greenville News reported Sunday that the latest numbers from the state Department of Education translates to a total of 8,744 during the 2008-09 school year.

Many districts quietly help parents find shelter and provide basic necessities such as clothing and school supplies without reporting the students as homeless, said Brenda Myers, state coordinator for the McKinney-Vento Education Program, named for the federal law that requires public schools to accommodate homeless students.

"That's all over the country. That's every school district," she said. "Any state coordinator you talk to is going to tell you there's a lot more students out there than these numbers show."
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Federal law requires districts to help homeless students, "but they really do it - and willingly - because it benefits all concerned," said the Rev. Tony McDade, executive director of the hospitality network.

The district provided school supplies, clothing, shoes and transportation to school from four different churches in different parts of the county where the family spent the night for four weeks while waiting for a more permanent shelter, the mother said.
http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/1069526.html

And people bitch about teachers and schools and what they aren't doing. It's because teaching isn't the whole job and never has been. Public schools have always dealt with these problems because they see the faces of those who need help. They aren't abstract numbers.

Eff Arne Duncan.