The Garden City Telegram
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USD 457 trying to bridge the gap
Published 1/21/2009 in News : Education
By EMILY BEHLMANN
It starts when children are very young, when those from households in poverty are likely to have fewer books in the home and to hear fewer words as they develop, according to Janie Perkins, supplemental programs coordinator for Garden City USD 457.
A 1995 study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley, who studied 42 families in Lawrence by taking one-hour monthly recordings of conversations in the home over two years, found that in "professional" families, children heard an average of 2,153 words per hour, compared with 1,251 in "working-class" families and 616 in "welfare" families. The children said an average of 1,100 different words, 750 words and 500 words, respectively.
That means children from poverty tend to be behind before they even start school -- one reason USD 457, along with most school districts in the state and other government-funded programs like Head Start, try to reach kids well before kindergarten.
USD 457 has 192 slots in its Early Learning for Four-year-olds (ELF) program, which is funded by the state and geared toward youth who are at risk of failing in school because they come from low-income or migrant families, among other factors. A bond-issue-funded facilities plan would make room for more -- if funds for the program itself become available -- by establishing a centralized early-childhood facility in Garden City.
"This helps students who normally couldn't attend private pre-school," Perkins said. "The earlier you start, the more prepared they'll be when they start kindergarten."
But students from poverty still face obstacles once they start kindergarten.
Some even come to school hungry or without a coat, Perkins said.
"When a child comes in hungry, he's not thinking about studying," Perkins said. "He's worried about the meal he didn't get."
It's difficult for the school district to get a good measure of how many are in need, but district officials do know that USD 457 ¬-- and in fact, all the school district's in The Telegram's coverage area except USD 102 Cimarron and USD 371 Montezuma -- has a much higher poverty rate than that of the state as a whole, as measured by the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
The federally funded program provides free meals to families that earn 130 percent of the poverty line, and reduced-price meals for those who make between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty line. Last school year, the poverty line for a family of four was $20,650.
In Garden City last year, 3,463 students qualified and were registered for free meals, and 974 more received reduced-price meals, which made for a total of 60.69 percent who were considered low-income. In Kansas as a whole, about 40 percent of students are considered low-income by the same standard.
The free and reduced-price lunch program helps with food, and Perkins said her office refers families to social service agencies like United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries for immunizations, or the Emmaus House or churches for other assistance, but "we wish we could do more."
Even if their basic needs are met, Perkins said those who lack common middle class background experiences, like, say, reading fairy tales at home, have trouble when those things are discussed in class.
Educators have to realize, then, that the world of education, and the working world they hope students eventually will enter, is based on middle-class values that those from poverty don't necessarily share, said Deb Jarmer, coordinator of career and technical education.
USD 457 gets that message across through district-wide staff training based on the principles of former educator Ruby Payne. She emphasizes, among other things, that middle-class families make decisions largely based on future planning, while low-income families think first about survival (securing food and shelter, for example), entertainment (giving the kids a chance to have a day of fun) and relationships (strengthening family bonds by a trip to the bowling alley, even if it means putting off a rent payment).
Jarmer said educators are encouraged to teach their students practices they don't necessarily learn about at home, like saving money and starting before Thursday night on an assignment due Friday.
As students get older, schools try to get parents involved, too, through events like an eighth-grade parent night Feb. 2 focusing on planning for high school and beyond.
Jarmer said it's difficult for youth to break out of generational poverty because they may be called upon to work and support the family to pay immediate bills, instead of attending college in hopes of earning more later. But counselors try to convince the students that they can indeed succeed in post-secondary education and that there are ways to afford it.
For youth whose parents never attended college, there's help, too, in explaining the logistics of the process, like when to sign up for the ACT test and how to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), Jarmer said. Counselors help, and the federally funded Educational Talent Search program, based at Garden City Community College, steps up to help students create a "personal success plan" with goals for the future, as well as providing leadership programs and other activities, according to program director Debbie Berkley.
"Sometimes it has to be the adviser, because the parents aren't there," Jarmer said. "They're working, trying to make ends meet."
The following is a listing of how many students receive free or reduced lunches in area school districts and the percentage who receive them compared to each district’s total enrollment:
USD 102 Cimarron — 189 free; 55 reduced; 35.16 percent
USD 200 Greeley County — 69 free; 48 reduced; 46.99 percent
USD 209 Moscow — 111 free; 26 reduced; 56.61 percent
USD 210 Hugoton — 367 free; 157 reduced; 50.24 percent
USD 214 Ulysses — 704 free; 209 reduced; 52.81 percent
USD 215 Lakin — 218 free; 69 reduced; 43.88 percent
USD 216 Deerfield — 157 free; 55 reduced; 69.28 percent
USD 363 Holcomb — 281 free; 136 reduced; 47.60 percent
USD 371 Montezuma — 56 free; 38 reduced; 34.81 percent
USD 374 Sublette — 194 free; 74 reduced; 49.72 percent
USD 452 Stanton County — 184 free; 94 reduced; 59.53 percent
USD 457 Garden City — 3,463 free; 974 reduced; 60.69 percent
USD 466 Scott County — 282 free; 148 reduced; 47.67 percent
USD 467 Leoti — 159 free; 59 reduced; 47.91 percent
USD 468 Healy — 21 free; 15 reduced; 40.45 percent
USD 476 Copeland — 62 free; 19 reduced; 55.48 percent
USD 477 Ingalls — 105 free; 18 reduced; 45.72 percent
USD 482 Dighton — 64 free; 44 reduced; 41.54 percent
USD 494 Syracuse — 182 free; 67 reduced; 50.51 percent
USD 507 Satanta — 152 free; 49 reduced; 55.37 percent
Students qualify for free lunches if their families earn less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line, and reduced-price lunches if they earn between 130 and 185 percent of the federal poverty line.
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