NSBA President: Public schools, natural disasters, and the needs of children
10/11/05 -- I am angry. At a time when the nation’s public schools are opening their doors and their hearts to children who have fled the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the federal government has announced a relief plan that includes $488 million for private school vouchers.
If it passes, this will be the largest voucher program in history, and it comes to us cloaked in the guise of emergency relief.
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires public schools to accept homeless students even though they may lack education records, vaccination records, and proof of residence. But I believe our schools have welcomed the hurricane-displaced students, not because it is the law, but because it is the right thing to do.
In dealing with the plight of people who have lost their homes and their livelihood, businesses and faith communities have rallied to the cause. So I believe community engagement is alive and well.
But that doesn’t make it easy. Responding to disaster creates stress for the giver and the recipient. Being welcoming and inclusive requires more than good intentions.
Children who have been displaced need food, clothing, and shelter -- the basics of survival. They need a school that is focused on raising student achievement for each child, and they need a school community that honors diversity and is prepared to serve the needs of the whole child.
Many of the displaced children have been traumatized, and some are emotionally fragile. But there is no vaccine for mental health, no shortcut to helping children who are burdened with survivor’s guilt, terrified by violent storms, unable to manage their own anger.
Long before this year’s hurricane season, budget constraints forced cuts in “peripheral” programs. So the school psychologists and guidance counselors already faced overwhelming workloads. Now they carry added responsibility for helping the survivors make the transition into their new schools and teaching school staff and students how to be appropriately welcoming.
Our nation’s education infrastructure has been neglected for too long.
This isn’t just about the needs of children displaced by the latest spate of hurricanes. This is about the desperate needs of all the children who live in homeless shelters, the children who live in housing projects, and the children of the working poor. It is about the children in need of special education services and those who need gifted and talented programs. It is about music and arts programs, health programs, and early childhood education.
The real needs of our public schools have too long been relegated to an invisible place and treated with that cheapest of placebos -- the political platitude.
I am angry, but it is time to turn anger into action. A voucher program under the guise of hurricane relief is unconscionable. If we truly care about children, we must look beyond minimal survival, beyond standardized test scores, beyond partisan political agendas.
We must seek ways to ensure that each child has a chance to flourish, to reach his or her potential, to become a productive citizen in a democratic society.
And that will require an infrastructure that prepares for crisis and calamity, but also supports the real and present needs of our nation’s children. We cannot afford to wait another day.
| Reproduced with permission from School Board News. Copyright © 2005, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |