A place to learn, no place to live

In her spotless white shoes, blue and tan uniform and pink backpack, Rachel Brown, 8, peered down S. 3rd Street in downtown Minneapolis at several approaching school buses Tuesday morning.

As 8:15 a.m. turned to 8:30 a.m. and then 8:45 a.m., the third-grader's smile disappeared as she began to worry.

"Our bus should have been here," she said to her mom.

Finally, it pulled up -- two hours late -- in front of Rachel's home, a 100-room shelter called People Serving People.

As Twin Cities area schools opened their doors, Rachel's journey back to class was a reminder that a growing number of students don't have permanent homes.

In Minneapolis, teachers have recently been trained to watch for students who hoard food or wear the same outfit for several days, both signs of homelessness.

"There are too many [homeless] kids to deny that this is real," said Elizabeth Hinz, Minneapolis public schools' liaison to homeless and highly mobile students.

That's up 18 percent over the year before.

The number has been steadily rising in Minneapolis: 3,239 were homeless in 2002. Similar increases are reported nationally.

"We're definitely seeing reports of school districts that are seeing increases," said Barbara Duffield, policy director for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth in Washington. She said the Chicago district, more than 10 times the size of Minneapolis', experienced a 35 percent increase from 2002 to 2007.

Duffield said Minneapolis is one of the best districts nationally for screening students for homelessness.

Hinz said roughly 80 percent of Minneapolis' homeless kids spend at least part of the year in local shelters, while others jump between motels, homes of friends or relatives and other temporary homes.

Since 1987, U.S. school districts have been required to remove barriers that prevent homeless or mobile students from consistently attending school. For Minneapolis, however, making sure students aren't jumping from school to school -- or missing it altogether -- takes on even more importance because that kind of instability undermines the district's efforts to educate them.

"For homeless kids, the whole point is to keep them in the same school," Hinz said. "We're identifying more kids and ensuring their rights."

Recent achievement data indicate that homeless students are more likely to fall behind than other low-income students, she said. Minneapolis' 2008 MCA-II reading test scores for third-graders showed that 69 percent of homeless and mobile students did not reach proficient levels on the exam, compared with 63 percent of other low-income students.

"This can be a horrendous experience, but you can't ever look at that and say they're lost," Hinz said. "The challenge for us as adults is to help boost their resilience."

Tracking down students

Josephine Brown, who has three sons ages 3, 6 and 11, moved into People Serving People in late August when she found out the North Side apartment she intended to move into had a bad heating system.

She said she lost a $1,000 deposit to the landlord, who has not returned her calls or her money. Their former apartment building had been foreclosed upon. Living in a shelter "is an option I didn't want to take, but they have good resources here," Brown said.

The Minneapolis schools have three shelter-based staff members who work at 17 local facilities, including People Serving People and Mary's Place, also in downtown Minneapolis.

They spent weeks this summer making sure students at shelters, hotels and other temporary housing situations were registered for classes and arranging for bus or cab rides to their new or former schools, school supplies and other federally mandated assistance.

Last spring the district used its Title I funds for low-income students to train 12 district social workers to be the primary contact for homeless and mobile students. Those social workers have trained teachers to discretely question students who show signs of an unstable living situation.

When a parent makes a request to keep their child in his or her original school, districts are required to comply if it's feasible.

"Even though their life is disrupted, the ability to go back to their home school is important," said Jim Minor, president and CEO of People Serving People, which houses up to 350 people and has been at or near its capacity for the past year. More than half of the residents are children.

Shelter officials said homeless children from around the Twin Cities move to Minneapolis because it has more shelter facilities than other areas. St. Paul and suburban districts said unstable incomes, foreclosures on rental properties and other economic forces have also taken a toll on more families in their district in recent years.

"They move wherever they can find a place to live," said Ann Kern, Osseo School District's student support services assistant director. "It's shelters, hotels or they're doubled up [with relatives or family friends]."

Becky Hicks, St. Paul's homeless coordinator, said more than 16 percent of St. Paul's homeless students move to Minneapolis but still attend their home schools. Hicks said the population of homeless students in both districts is fluid, with students moving between the cities and suburbs.

Last week, Brown said she was working with an advocate at People Serving People to find a safe, well-maintained apartment. She hopes to move out of the shelter next month.

Meanwhile, Rachel's education appears to be on track. During a math lesson last week at Sojourner Truth, she raised her hand several times and gave correct answers.

Principal Julie Guy said about 90 percent of its students receive free or reduced-price meals. About a half-dozen students live in shelters or other temporary housing. So staff members keep their eyes open for stress-related behavioral problems or related academic issues.

"I try to be sensitive to the fact that they're in transition mode," said Amy Wanggaard, Rachel's teacher. "They know their desk is theirs. Sometimes there's not a lot of ownership if they're in a shelter or move frequently."