Baltimore school system sued over homeless students

[alp227]

Source: Baltimore Sun

Homeless families in Baltimore have filed a federal lawsuit against the city school system, contending that their children have been denied transportation to school and been stigmatized because they couldn't afford field trips and uniforms.

The class-action lawsuit, filed by the Public Justice Center on behalf of three homeless families in U.S. District Court, seeks an injunction against the district to stop policies and practices that hurt the already struggling families.

"These barriers are symptomatic of larger failures when it comes to identifying and serving these kids, and ensuring that they have the same opportunity to succeed as housed kids, which is what the law requires," said Monisha Cherayil, an attorney with the Public Justice Center Education Stability Project.

Among the plaintiffs is the family of a fourth-grader who receives special-education services and misses on average two days of school per week because he doesn't get transportation to and from his shelter, according to the lawsuit and his mother.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/blog/bs-md-ci-homeless-transportation-lawsuit-20130924,0,7002418,full.story

[DontTreadOnMe]

1. This is shameful

I put the top blame on the Principle of the school. It is the responsibility of the Principle of any school to look after ALL the students.

If there are no funds for transportation, go make it public... shame the town into getting more funds. Organize a fund drive.

Kids deserve a future.

[SunSeeker]

2. The lack of school transportation is a nationwide scandal.

That and the way schools nickel and dime students for every little thing. Every little activity costs something, everything for a band class to homework projects. I can afford it, but I am sure many kids in my son's school can't. The school holds various fundraisers but it never comes close to covering all the costs. When I was a kid, everything was free at my public school: bus, books, band, sports, ...everything you needed to learn.

[Igel]

3. You must be older than me.

When I started school in the '60s we had supplies we had to get. No official supply list, the requirements were usually explained as we went along. This week we might need construction paper and scissors, a month later more glue or posterboard. Basic supplies were provided--often, I suspect, by the teacher.

Gym was free. But we had to buy our own gym shorts and shirts. If we wanted soap in the showers, we brought our own. They had towels.

Textbooks were free. (Still are.) But we had to buy our own bookcovers. I had brown paper from grocery bags.

Field trips weren't free. We had to pay for those.

They'd get to to school if you lived in a bus zone. They might have band instruments available. But they were limited to just what the band needed--if you wanted to play but weren't needed, you get your own instrument (and at the end of the school year turned them in). Same for orchestra.

Now they're more organized. My kid has a long "supplies" list that get turned in during the first week of school. The teacher takes them and doles them out to the class during the school year. This struck me as poor policy until I realized that this allowed them to overlook very poor students and to also make sure students who forgot supplies weren't penalized. It also makes sure that the teachers don't have to pay for all the poor or forgetful students' supplies.

My class doesn't have a supply list. When they need something for a lab, I tell kids to bring it in. If they don't, they sit and watch the other kids do the lab. This happened last week. Most kids just watched. They could afford the supplies. They just didn't think it important. If we need kleenex I have one of the kids grab a roll of TP from the bathroom and leave it on my lab desk. I already spend money on lab notebooks, pens, lined and graph paper, pencils, erasers, markers, and lots of other stuff for the kids who can't, won't, or don't bring in their own supplies.

[SunSeeker]

4. I went to elementary school in the early 1970s in East L.A.

They gave us everything we needed, including breakfast and lunch. But that was the end of that era. With Prop. 13 passing in 1978, the schools went to shit, with draconian cuts and basically fee for service public education.

My kid goes to a really good elementary school in a beach community, which has more resources than most. But still, if you want to use the school bus it is $700 a year, you have to pay for your own school supplies (about $100 per year); there is no gym; band costs $400/year for a one day a week 1 hour class, you provide your own instrument. Many families cannot afford that.

[freshwest]

6. Earlier generation, here. All transportation, field trips, out of tax money. Only thing we bought

were our own fountain pens, ink bottles or cartridges, pencils, erasers, notebooks, lined hole punch paper, tablets, rulers, compasses and satchels. If we wanted a book cover, we made it out of paper bags. Gym clothes we bought.

But all art supplies, sports equipment, sheet music, shop materials, cooking, sewing, woodwork classes, shop and hairdressing, drafting and other classes, all supplies came from the school, no charges. Nurses, speech and other remedial things, festivals, holiday decor, were paid by the school. No charge for bus service, field trips, etc. There was no A/C either and it was hot and humid.

No charges in gym. Those who played instruments in the band did buy them. There was no breakfast, and lunches had to be paid for. I remember in the sixties when the talk of the free lunches for poor students came up, and the well off kids refused to donate, but the rest of us did what we could. The government did however, give the schools all kinds of farm goods and all of our meals were cooked from scratch, full menu, and better than most kids had at home.

Anyway, we didn't live in a rich neighborhood, but our schools were beautiful, built by the WPA and a lot of thought went into them. My high school covered a large amount of land, and there were 10,000 students at any time attending. There were fights at times, off campus, but no guns. We were not permitted to graduate until we had finished everything and were ready to work or go to college. We had kids of all income levels in the same school.

I feel sorry for kids and the teachers who have been in schools since then. We did not feel poor or left out, but at most we were working class people. The ruining of the public schools, I am told, was planned by Nixon and has not stopped.

[duffyduff]

5. It's a no-brainer. Schools CANNOT discriminate against homeless children. n/t