Short Stuff

Summer 2009

Non Sequitor © 2009 Wiley Miller. Reprinted by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Economic Crisis Hits Students, Schools

The economic crisis is being felt in schools across the country, with districts reporting a spike in the number of homeless students, according to a survey undertaken by First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy group, and the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.

The crisis could push two million children out of their homes over the next two years. And that number is just a conservative estimate.

The survey of school districts found that in the first half of the school year:

• 330 school districts identified as many or more homeless students in the first few months of this school year as they identified the entire previous year.

• 847 school districts identified one half or more of last year's caseload of homeless students in the first few months of this school year.

• 459 school districts had an increase of at least 25 percent in the number of homeless students identified between the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 school years.

"This survey largely confirms what we already know about the number of students becoming homeless—it's grown exponentially," commented Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, on the group's website. "More important than the numbers may be the long and serious list of challenges, including lack of staff, insufficient shelter space and housing, and the diminishing community services and supplies available to homeless children, made worse by state budget constraints during this recession. Indeed, now is the time for the federal government to take action that states cannot afford to take through support for homeless prevention, Section 8 housing, and funding for school districts to assist homeless students so that they do not lose their education as well as their homes."

For more information, go to www.firstfocus.net.

Immigration Raids Traumatize Kids

Immigration raids have a devastating effect on children, leaving them traumatized to the point where they "experience post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety rivaled that seen in war-torn countries like Bosnia," according to an 18-month investigation.

"Severing a Lifeline: The Neglect of Citizen Children in America's Immigration Enforcement Policy," was written by a Minneapolis-based law firm at the request of the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan policy think tank in Washington, D.C. While the raids have done little to reduce the number of undocumented workers entering the country, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's aggressive tactics yield dreadful consequences for children and their families.

"ICE raids have left children without parents and feeling abandoned, separated nursing babies from their mothers, separated pregnant wives from their husbands and compelled local communities and organizations to scramble to address child welfare crises in their wake," the report cites. "In a country that emphasizes the importance of family unity in the socialization and upbringing of its children, an immigration system that promotes family separation is a broken system."

The report, which is available to download at www.urban.org/publications/411566.html, includes suggestions for mitigating the trauma to children. This includes Congressional authorization to grant immigration judges the discretion to consider the "best interests" of the child during proceedings, as well as Congress changing legislation to allow children younger than 21 to petition for the lawful re-entry of a deported parent.

Keen Student, Loony Rules

Exactly how can one simultaneously be a member of the National Honor Society and be considered illiterate? Iowa senior Lori Phanachone, who lives in a home where Laotian, not English, is the primary language spoken, found out this year when she refused to complete the English Language Development Assessment.

Phanachone, who ranked seventh out of a class of 119 students at Storm Lake High School, told school officials that the test was racist and demeaning. She was given an in-school suspension for insubordination and was briefly kicked out of the National Honor Society before the district's superintendent reinstated her. Phanachone told the Sioux City Journal that the district also said her college scholarships would be in jeopardy.

"That's a lot of money. I worked for that. Nothing has been handed to me. I earned it," she told the Journal. "But I want to fight this because this is what I believe. It's wrong, not just for me but for all minority students. The test is demeaning."

Although Phanachone had a 3.9 grade point average, the district demanded she take the assessment because Laotian is the primary language in the home. Phanachone was born in California and lived in upstate New York before moving to Iowa in 2006.