A homeless single mother with two children in school in the Shoreline School District had to move five times in five months — from a friend’s house to a shelter, then to three other school districts. But all along, the children stayed at their home school.
Gidget Terpstra, the district’s homeless liaison, has the job of making sure that students who become homeless in Shoreline can have that stability.
In the case of the family who had to move five times, the children felt tied into the school, which isn’t unusual.
“The teacher kept sending notes of encouragement,” Terpstra said. “Sometimes school is the most stable environment for students.”
Terpstra works part-time with families and students in the district who are or have become homeless. By federal law, all homeless students have a right to attend their home school, and districts nationwide employ liaisons like Terpstra to comply with the law.
Terpstra worked with 82 homeless students in Shoreline in 2006-07. The numbers have doubled since 2002-03, when she worked with 40 students. In 2005-06, she served 66 students.
She works from an office at Parkwood Elementary, where she’s also the school’s family advocate part-time.
Most of the families she’s worked with have become homeless, rather than enrolled while homeless. She’s seen them living in motels and their cars, in shelters or in a spare room at a friend’s house.
The federal McKinney-Vento law mandates that students have the right to stay at their school. Its definition of homelessness is broad, covering students who lack a fixed night-time residence.
“That includes couch surfing,” Terpstra said.
Teens who aren’t living with their parents or have no legal guardian are also covered by the law.
“They might be runaways, throwaways,” Terpstra said, adding that often teens leave home because of family conflicts. As for families who lost their homes and live in motels, it’s a practical solution.
Some families can afford the weekly rent at cheap motels on North Aurora Avenue, but don’t have enough for a first month’s and last month’s deposit on a new apartment, Terpstra said.
People become homeless for a variety of reasons.
“So many people are living on the edge of their budget,” Terpstra said. “If the breadwinner loses their job¿”
Shoreline isn’t an inexpensive place to live, she said. Some families don’t have savings, can’t pay their mortgage and find they have nowhere else to go.
Terpstra helped one family who was living in a motel, eating meals using a microwave and small refrigerator. The father, the breadwinner, made minimum wage.
Ultimately, the family found subsidized housing.
Terpstra often hears that families have become homeless from a third party — a teacher, a bus driver, friends of the student, neighbors of the family.
Sometimes the family is embarrassed to be homeless, and sometimes they don’t know that their situation — living with friends, for example — is defined as homelessness.
“It’s not easy for these families to talk about their situation, but I try to do it in a gentle way,” Terpstra said. “I think talking in a confidential manner helps the families open up.”
First, Terpstra refers families and students to local service agencies. The system can be hard to navigate, and often people don’t know where to turn, she said.
She also arranges transportation. If a student becomes homeless and moves to another neighborhood within Shoreline School District boundaries, district transportation will bus the child to their original school, per federal law.
The federal government does not give districts any money to comply with the law.
If the family moves outside the district, Terpstra works with the other district to help the child get to their Shoreline school, which might mean help with public transportation.
Schools can also give free breakfast and lunch to students who qualify.
Sometimes, students and teachers at the school pull together to help the family.
Parkwood, for example, donated furniture and kitchen supplies to a family whose apartment burned down, essentially furnishing a new place.
“Everyone rallies around these kids,” Terpstra said. “Teachers get attached and say, ‘How can we help?’”
The problem of student homelessness is not limited to certain schools.
Every school in the district has had at least one homeless student within the last three years, Terpstra said.
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