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| Number of poor students on the rise in most Walworth County school districts |
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| Written by Todd Mishler/Walworth County Sunday |
| Friday, 16 December 2011 14:29 |
 Students listen to a lecture at Delavan-Darien High School. U.S. Census Bureau data show the poverty rate in 24 out of 25 school districts in Rock and Walworth counties is on the rise. Administrators say growing poverty puts added pressure on classroom achievement. Terry Mayer/staff photo. (Read the original story, along with all of this week' articles, in the e-edition HERE) DELAVAN — “Many of these kids grow up with the idea that they need to get a job first and make money to put food on the table, a roof over their head and boots on their kids’ feet. Education isn’t at the top of their list, survival is.” Darien resident Nancy Lee was referring to children and families who struggle day-to-day, sometimes even hour-to-hour, while living in poverty. Lee and her husband have put six children through the Delavan-Darien School District and still have two sons in high school. She is a substitute teacher and long has been involved in school activities, so she knows what hurdles parents face in providing for their children’s educational needs and understands what obstacles schools face in helping them achieve that goal. “We’ve had kids in the schools here for 25 years, and we’ve seen a definite increase in poverty,” said Lee, who is involved with the Adopt-A-Family program at Turtle Creek Elementary School. “We used to be one of the top-ranked schools (in the state), but we’ve seen a decline in test scores. The increased level of need for our kids means that they’re not as prepared as they used to be.” Most agree that a quality education should produce better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behaviors, improved health/nutrition and increased attendance. However, parents and educators across the state face stiffer challenges because of increasing poverty rates. Recent U.S. Census Bureau data shows that the poverty rate of Wisconsin children ages 5 through 17 rose from 12.9 percent to 17 percent from 2007 to 2010. And southern Wisconsin hasn’t been immune — 24 out of 25 districts in Rock and Walworth counties saw increases, 12 of them rising by more than 50 percent. (Download an Excel spreadsheet of the data HERE.) A family of four is considered living in poverty if annual income is less than $22,350, according to federal guidelines. “It has long been taught, and we must embrace, our moral obligation to do more for those with less,” state Superintendent Tony Evers said in a news release in response to the sobering statistics. “There is a face and story behind each of these numbers. It is a face of a child experiencing the hardships of poverty.” Evers’ Fair Funding for Our Future plan proposes using student poverty, not just property values, as a factor in a portion of state aid, which was severely cut in Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-’13 biennial budget. So, for now, fighting the longstanding link between poverty and lower student achievement continues. And area educators know that the number of students eligible for and/or participating in the free and reduced-price meal programs mirrors the increase in children living in poverty. According to federal guidelines, to be eligible for free meals, children must be in households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty rate and at or below 185 percent of the rate for reduced-price meals. In the Delavan-Darien School District, where the poverty rate has shot up nearly 102 percent since 2007 and more than 126 percent since 2003, about 63 percent of the more than 2,500 students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. Diana Burgstede has been the Delavan-Darien psychologist for 11 years, primarily working with at-risk populations. When she started in 2000, about 30 percent of students were eligible for the meal programs. “One of the first things I wanted to know was why students were dropping out, and (I) looked for what was getting in their way and reasons why they were credit deficient,” Burgstede said. “We have to operate under the basic premise that when kids walk into the building, we don’t know what happened the night before, and that what they’re carrying around may be radically different than what we typically experience. “It’s not about right or wrong; we just need to be sensitive to all of those situations,” Burgstede added. “We, and a lot of agencies in the community, are all working hard, but we don’t always work well together. And if we’re not meeting their basic needs at home, how are we going to educate them?” That same scenario plays out in large and small districts. Barbara Isaacson is the principal at Williams Bay Elementary School and is in her 20th year with the district. “When I started here, we had 10 percent to 12 percent of our students participating in the free/reduced lunch program,” Isaacson said. “We’re up to almost 30 percent now, so that’s a great indicator. We’ve heard a lot from people who say their husband has been out of work for months and they’re living off their savings, or people have moved out of the area to find jobs, and I never used to have to say that.” One thing the district is doing to make a difference is the Help for the Holidays program. Individuals and groups make donations, which are used to purchase gift cards that needy families can use at Walmart to get toys and clothes for their children. “We’ve probably had requests for 50 children each of the last two or three years,” said Isaacson, whose school serves kids in 4-year-old kindergarten through sixth grade. Mark Wenzel has worked in the Fontana school district for 31 years, the past five as principal and administrator. “We’ve seen an increase in kids participating in the lunch program, and the data show that more of them who were in the reduced plan now qualify for free lunches because their incomes have gone down,” said Wenzel, whose district includes 268 students from 4K to eighth grade and has seen nearly a 60 percent increase in poverty from 2007 to 2010. “We were around 24 percent or 25 percent participation, but this year is the first time we’ve gone over 30 percent.” The Fontana district has teamed up with Walworth Joint No. 1 and the Rotary Club to collect donations for holiday food baskets. Pam Knorr has been the administrator at Walworth for 18 years and has coordinated the holiday campaign for seven years. The baskets go to needy families who qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. “We usually average between 150 and 170 baskets, but this year we’re projecting about 300,” said Knorr, who has seen participation in the school’s free lunch program jump more than 30 percent since 2000. “We rely on the generosity of people in the community to sponsor these kids. This year we received $15,000 in donations. We’ve had people stopping in because they’re out of food and can only go to the pantry once a month, so people are struggling.” Donna Beegle is the author of “See Poverty, Be the Difference” and co-founded the Oregon-based organization Communicating Across Barriers, quite an accomplishment considering she’s the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated. Beegle grew up in generational migrant labor poverty, quit school, got married at age 15 and had two children: She found herself, at 25, with no husband, little education and no job skills. But eventually she earned a GED, an associate degree in journalism, a bachelor’s degree and master’s in communications and completed her doctorate. “We need to take poverty out of the shadows,” Beegle said. “Poverty crosses racial lines, but most people don’t realize that the majority of these people are white. All of the statistics we see are percentages, but the greatest number of dropouts are white. “People think that those stuck in poverty are lazy, but two-thirds of them are working 1.7 jobs and they still can’t afford their rent. We need to break down all of the stereotypes and show compassion for people in poverty.” Beegle said breaking down the barriers to poverty — and thus, the barriers to students getting a quality education — starts with realizing that every individual’s life experiences are different, whether it’s social, emotional, linguistic, cultural or, more than likely, a combination of all of the above. “Educators need to look for the ‘why’ behind the behavior,” Beegle said. “If a student’s basic, fundamental needs aren’t being met, how will they function in the classroom? To improve the achievement gap, they have to get an idea of what these kids’ world looks like.” Nancy Lee agreed, but said breaking the vicious cycle that poverty creates — and vice versa — isn’t easy. “Today, both parents may be working, or you see a lot of single-parent or split families, so there’s not nearly as much continuity,” Lee added. “We’ve held science or family fairs, but a lot of kids don’t attend, maybe because mom works days and dad at night. Or even sports, some kids don’t participate because they have to go home and watch their brothers and sisters. “I think, in the big picture, schools have to understand that not all of these kids will be going to college,” Lee added. “No. 1, they can’t afford it, or they don’t have all of the necessary paperwork, such as green cards. So we need to offer more tech ed programs like woodworking, home economics, auto mechanics and computer classes.” Many area educators have taken Beegle’s strategies to heart for a long time, and now they’re doing so under the added pressure of reaching performance standards in a world of budget cuts. Burgstede referenced Gov. Scott Walker’s signing of Senate Bill 95 on Sept. 7, which in part allows school boards to link standardized test scores to teachers and requires each district to have a standard teacher evaluation plan in place. “Teachers will be judged on kids’ performances, and test scores will determine our jobs, so the bottom line is that if we don’t pay attention to the role poverty plays, how can we teach and help these kids meet those standards?” Burgstede asked. Wenzel said it’s exceedingly tough, but school districts are trying to attain those goals. “As an educational institution, we do the best we can with the resources we have. (W)e try to support them socially, emotionally and offer them a safe, nurturing environment while they’re here,” Wenzel said. “The main thing is being sensitive to whatever situation we’re dealing with, and that’s why we talk to the kids a lot.” Burgstede is optimistic about breaking down the walls that prevent children from learning. “The education system is one of the most difficult to change because we’re so set in how we do things,” she said. “I’ve found that if I take the time, most kids will talk to me. All they want is to make connections and for people to listen to them and understand where they’re coming from. “After all, building understanding is what teaching is all about.”
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| Last Updated on Monday, 19 December 2011 13:44 |
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