Finally, a Class for Homeless Kids

Homeless children may be sleeping in the backs of their parents’ cars or bunking in motels along one of Orange County’s main thoroughfares. Comes time for school, and they are often out of luck, either for lack of a permanent home address or uncertainty over which school district’s borders include the motel.

This fall the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District have joined forces for a valuable program: getting the homeless into school.

The district provided a one-room building on the campus of Rea Elementary school. The shelter dispatched its administrators to search motels, soup kitchens and community centers assisting the homeless, spreading the word about the Transitions school.

Another school, Project Hope in Orange, serves families in North County. With Orange County’s homeless population estimated at 12,000 to 15,000, about 4,000 of them children, there is a need for the educational programs.

One mother who signed up with Transitions said she had visited three schools in an effort to enroll her two young sons. She said each turned her away on the assumption the motel where the children were living with their parents was not within the school district. Fortunately, Transitions thinks beyond borders. It is willing to take children no matter where they live.

Students can get breakfast and lunch at Transitions school. The immunizations required for class are available there as well. School supplies are donated. After being taught by a fully accredited teacher, the students can attend the Boys & Girls Club until 5:30 p.m.

The $60,000 budget for Transitions this year will come from CalWorks, the state and federal welfare-to-work program. It has been clear from the start of the program that an important component of getting people off welfare will be caring for the children, either through day care or enrollment in school.

Parents are better able to learn job skills, work on resumes and show up for interviews if they are not worried about leaving their children in the back seat of the car or in the motel room.

Homeless parents know the value of educating their children.

Helping them do so is one of society’s obligations.