Springfield starts school with more than 800 homeless students

It is not the kind of record Springfield Public Schools wanted.

Missouri’s largest district identified 807 homeless students at the beginning of the 2015-16 year. This is the first time the district has started a new school year with so many.

Lawrence Anderson, homeless liaison for the 25,000-student district, said the count a year ago was in the low 700s and during the course of the year, 778 were identified.

“It has gone up every year since I’ve been in this role, and I’ve been here three years,” he said. “It gives you an indication of the poverty in the area.”

Of the 807 students identified at the start of the year, 425 were in elementary, 213 in high school, 166 in middle school and three in preschool.

A review of this year’s initial count show more teens and students “doubled up” with other families. They are considered homeless under the federal definition of the term.

Anderson said better training and tracking helped obtain what he believes is a more accurate count at the start of the year. He said the number will fluctuate during the year, as families gain housing stability or lose it.

“There will be more,” he said.

By starting the year with such a high count, Anderson believes the district is poised to exceed the 850 or so students discovered to be homeless during the entire 2013-14 year, which also broke a district record.

The annual number is up significantly from the 378 identified during the 2009-10 year.

One of the biggest challenges for Anderson is helping families understand they don’t have to be living on the streets or in a hotel to be considered homeless under federal law. He said the definition is purposefully broad to offer protections for children and teens living in situations where they are highly vulnerable for experiencing the “traditional definition of homelessness.”

Those situations include students living in pay-by-the-week motels, “couch surfing” for weeks on end or staying with family and friends. He said in those cases, a student’s ability to stay in a particular place for an extended period of time can be iffy at best.

Students living in those precarious situations are eligible for free school meals, busing and other support, including tutoring. Other than the federal funding that flows to districts to provide extra support for low-income students, there is no increase in funding earmarked for homeless students. And, with the extra supports required, homeless students can cost the district more money than those with traditional homes.

Anderson said students lacking a stable home are at a much higher risk of dropping out and lagging behind their peers academically.

“The goal is to have school be their constant,” Anderson said. “We want to support them and we want them to be able to be part of the school, participating in extracurricular activities.”

Morey Mechlin, executive director of Care to Learn, said starting classes with more than 800 homeless students is “unfortunate,” but there is a silver lining.

“It’s fortunate that the district is aware of this,” she said. “The district is on top of this issue.”

She pointed to the district’s creation of the Kids First committee, which started years ago to regularly bring together community groups willing to work together to meet the basic needs of students.

At a meeting early Tuesday, the committee provided an update on efforts to provide free meals, food-filled weekend backpacks, and mobile and school food pantries for needy students and their families.

“Here we have an organized group of people interested in addressing that need,” Mechlin said. “We need to continue to work together to support the students.”

Anderson said parents often tell a school if they end up in a homeless or domestic abuse shelter. He said school secretaries, principals, nurses and counselors have been trained to look for signs, including two families sharing the same address.

Asked why so many students are homeless, Anderson said it is difficult to know that without prying. “We really can’t answer that,” he said. “We try to be really respectful about asking what is going on.”

Traditionally, high school students have been the hardest to track, he said. The school might not know a teen is homeless until something else happens, such as spotty attendance or discipline problems.

A breakdown of the numbers by high school show nine at Kickapoo, 24 at Glendale, 51 at Central, 57 at Hillcrest and 72 at Parkview.

“There is something happening with them that gives us an indication,” he said. “Then we try to connect them with resources.”

Kimberly Runnels ended up homeless and living in Springfield in her late teens. She grew up in California and moved to Christian County to live with a relative, only to find herself searching for a new place to stay.

She briefly stayed with a family friend and a school employee before ending up at the Boys and Girls Town of Missouri, where she learned about the Rare Breed youth drop-in center in Springfield operated by the Kitchen, Inc.

Along the way, through all the changes, school remained her constant. She participated in the performing arts and the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or JROTC.

“I was determined. My grandma and my mom didn’t graduate (high school). Graduating was the biggest thing,” said Runnels, 19, now a student at Ozarks Technical Community College. “I have always liked school, but it’s just the home life that made school bad, because I was up all night and didn’t get my homework done.”

Like many teens, she hid her moves from one place to another from all but her closest friends. She didn’t tell the school.

“Nobody knew about the situation except a few select people I told,” she said. “And I didn’t know who had a place to live and who didn’t.”

Runnels said at the Rare Breed, she learned there were others in her same situation. The drop-in shelter serves up to 60 people a day. She said students ought to view school as a “safe zone.”

“First, ask for help and if you don’t want to talk about it, write it and keep your head up. Nothing lasts forever,” said Runnels, who eventually plans to enlist in the military. “At school, get involved with whatever is going on. It’s a way not to think about it.”

By the numbers

Springfield Public Schools has identified 807 students who meet the definition of homeless prior to the start of the 2015-16 school year. Here is where they were living:

•401 — Multiple families under one roof

•189 — Doubled up with another family

•122 — Homeless or temporary shelters

•89 — Motels or hotels, typically along Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street

•5 — Unsheltered, which can include sleeping in cars, parks, tents

•1 — Runaway

Need help?

In compliance with federal law, Springfield Public Schools counts students as homeless if they lack a “fixed, regular and adequate” nighttime residence. That includes living in a shelter, a motel, a car or “doubled up” with another family.

Homeless students are automatically eligible for extra services. They can immediately enroll, even if they lack necessary paperwork; receive free school meals; and request busing to stay in their original school.

If you believe you or your child qualifies for homeless services, contact your school secretary or principal. You can also call Lawrence Anderson, the district’s homeless liaison, at 523-0064.