Schools

In Case You Missed It: Enumclaw School District, Community Cope with the Financial and Social Toll of Homeless Students

While the number of homeless students in the Enumclaw School District still make up less than 1 percent of the total student population, administrators note the number is rising.

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A team of InvestigateWest reporters and researchers collaborating with Patch local editors spent the last several months looking at how Washington is grappling with a growing population of homeless students -- even as budget cuts further slash their ability to meet their federal obligation to help those students.

Among the findings statewide and in Enumclaw published this week: 

  • In the 2009-2010 school year, schools reported 21,826 homeless students statewide, up 30 percent from the 2006-07 school year.

Find out what's happening in Enumclawfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • Within school districts with the highest number of homeless students, districts saw increases in the number of students without regular homes ranging from 3 percent to 104 percent.

  • In the Enumclaw School District, the number of students identified as homeless jumped from nine in the 2009-10 school year to 32 by the end of the 2010-11 school year. For the full story . 

    • Find out what's happening in Enumclawfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • (EYFS) oversees a transitional housing program for families with children under 18. Case workers report the children in these families generally cope well thanks to being able to watch their parents get back on their feet and having a stable place to live for two years.

  • Under the federal McKinney-Vento Act, school districts are required to identify and report homeless students and to guarantee those students transportation so they can stay at their original schools even if they have been forced to find emergency shelter outside the district. The cost to the districts to meet this mandate is heavy.

  • A small 2006 pilot study by the Washington State Department of Transportation found that while homeless kids typically had lower grades and Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores than non-homeless students, the grades and scores were better among those homeless students who got to stay in their original schools.

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