School on Wheels Rides to the Rescue of Homeless Students

It’s 6:30 in the evening and most children are hunched over textbooks struggling to get their homework done. They have pens and pencils, notebooks and personal computers, and mom and dad nearby to help out.

But for thousands of homeless children in Los Angeles County, the nightly homework ritual is compounded by constant moving, few school supplies and, more often than not, no one to turn to for help.

Still, there is hope for homeless kids lucky enough to find a bed in emergency shelters, motels or transitional living centers, where School on Wheels tutors provide one-on-one help with homework.

School on Wheels is an independent, nonprofit organization that tries to close the academic gap between the have-nots and have-a-lots by pairing volunteer tutors with homeless students.

Every weeknight, 575 tutors drive to 38 shelters across the county to help children whose homelessness often prevents them from getting the academic help they need.

“A homeless child is always the new kid on the block because they move three or four times a year and constantly have new teachers, textbooks and classmates,” said Agnes Stevens, who runs the project from her mobile home in Malibu.

Because homeless parents are in a daily struggle for survival, child experts say, their children’s educational needs often go unmet.

Homeless students suffer from physical and emotional problems brought on by malnutrition, poor health care and constant upheaval, said Gerry Luethy, a professor of family environmental science at Cal State Northridge.

“It is difficult for parents to be advocates for their children at school when they are busy advocating for shelter and food,” she said.

To establish some level of stability in homeless students’ academic life, School on Wheels unveiled its first permanent classroom last week at L.A. Family Housing Corp.’s transitional living center in North Hollywood.

Volunteer tutor Laine Altman of Calabasas came up with the idea for a permanent classroom at the shelter after spending countless evenings tutoring kids in such unsuitable spaces as a storage closet in a Hollywood church.

Altman said she pressed her friends in architecture and interior design to create a classroom at the transitional living center. She then persuaded another friend, a business executive, to donate $2,500 to pay for the upgraded digs.

Altman focused her efforts on the transitional housing center because its staff runs a “well-put-together and highly organized” facility that specifically serves homeless families.

The classroom boasts half a dozen personal computers, brightly painted tables and chairs, bookcases filled with storybooks, educational computer software and videotapes--all from corporate and individual donors.

“This room is not the Taj Mahal, but it turned out to be really nice,” Altman said. “Before, the room was a very institutional, ugly room. Now it is a warm, friendly room.”

Silvina Hernani, an 11-year-old girl who lives at the center, looked up from a computer screen briefly to give the classroom a passing grade. “I felt like I was in another room because they put in new lights and new stuff,” she said. “I think it’s a good present.”

Stevens said she hopes the classroom--with its mint-colored walls, soft lighting and beanbag chairs--will boost the morale of homeless kids and their families.

“Homeless parents want the best for the children, and they feel bad that their children are missing out on an education because they have to survive,” she said. “We just want to do something to support the kids.”

For information about School on Wheels, call (310) 589-2642.