alt.education

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AND FURTHERMORE ...


"Beyond Textbooks, D.C. Schools Face a Host of Social Needs"

"Workers Provide Counseling, Clothes"

By Robert E. Pierre
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2008; B01



On the third floor at Johnson Middle School in Southeast Washington,
behind a wood door, sits an unlikely tool in the District's effort to
uncover neglect and abuse.

It's called the LifeSTARTS Basement, a play off the national discount
retailer.

Pink shelves are filled with sweaters, pants and blouses for girls.
Jeans and T-shirts for boys are stacked on the blue shelves. An
ironing board sits in the corner so the mostly secondhand items can be
pressed and neatly folded before being distributed.

"Some of the kids need the closet because their parents use drugs or
don't care for them," said Derrick Johnson, 13, a youth adviser at the
school. "They wear the same clothes constantly. That closet shows them
somebody cares."

Following the deaths of the four young daughters of Banita Jacks, who
has been charged with their murders, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) fired
city workers who, he said, should have responded more promptly to
warning signs. He then chided remaining social workers to be more
vigilant in protecting the city's most vulnerable. Since the girls'
decomposing bodies were discovered in January, reports of potential
abuse and neglect quadrupled, placing additional stress on the city's
Child and Family Services Agency.

Teachers, principals and outreach and social workers said the key to
preventing abuse is gaining students' trust. At schools across the
District, this process often starts with a bag of groceries, a ride
home, help finding a place to sleep or hand-me-downs to replace
tattered and filthy garments. In addition to staving off hunger pains
and taunts from other students, the goal is to send the message that,
in times of crisis, students have a place to turn to.

This is important, educators said, because abuse is easily masked.

"Not all kids who are abused are dirty," said Nadine Evans, an
administrator at Young America Works Public Charter School in
Northeast. "Not all children who are neglected have physical scars. It
doesn't matter how awful things are, kids can function. . . . Somehow
they piece together enough to put on a front. Inside, everything is
broken."

Stretched Thin

School social workers, counselors and teachers are not authorized to
investigate allegations of abuse and neglect, but as in the Jacks
case, they often are the first to notice. A bruise. A scar. A normally
active child who is silent. Everyone working at schools, from janitors
up to principals, is required by law to report any suspicions of
neglect and abuse.

In schools with a social worker on staff, that task typically falls to
them.

At Hart Middle School, that is Ann Brogioli. If any of the 400
students who are not in special education at the school in Southeast
Washington need help, they come to Brogioli. Teachers send her
children she classifies as the "super angry" ones, who misbehave,
curse at teachers and get labeled by staff as lazy and unruly. She
keeps an eye out for runaways and regularly counsels children torn up
over the violent deaths of one or both parents.

Even former students and their parents still show up asking her to
listen to their family woes and advise them what to do. Sometimes, she
finishes one appointment to find another student waiting to catch her
ear. She also is expected to organize assemblies and field trips.

"You don't have time to really dig deep," she said. "You don't get a
chance to do the therapeutic work you thought you were signing up to
do."

D.C. public schools, with 50,000 children, have 117 social workers, 31
provided by the city's Department of Mental Health. The agency also
provides 11 social workers to charter schools; many of them also hire
their own. Virtually all the social workers in the traditional public
schools are assigned to students with learning disabilities and
emotional problems.

One of them, Candi Peterson, shuttles among four schools. Last year,
Peterson had a truancy case that reminded her of the Jacks case. A
student had missed 70 days of school, prompting a report to the Child
and Family Services Agency. She said the agency never reported back to
her to indicate what the problem was. The student eventually returned
months later but offered no clear explanation for the absence.

George Parker, president of the Washington Teachers' Union, says more
social workers are desperately needed. He believes every school
deserves its own social worker.

"The children come with such significant needs that having a social
worker is not a luxury," he said. "It's a need."

Homelessness and Neglect

Ten families at AppleTree Early Learning Public Charter School's three
sites are homeless this year.

Stacey King, the social worker responsible for the 150 3- and 4-year-
olds, reported two cases of potential abuse this year. One involved a
child who told King that he had been burned by his mother on a stove.
The other came after a parent failed to pick up a 3-year-old at the
end of the day. The District contracts with groups such as Positive
Nature, a therapeutic program for after school, holiday breaks and
summers.

Most referrals are abuse and neglect cases, said Jennifer Murphy, the
group's director and co-founder. Many of the children it has served
come from foster homes, have been suspended several times from school
or have been exposed to substance abuse. The problems start early.

"We're seeing these issues presenting at younger and younger ages,"
said Murphy, who seeks to alter their behavior through art,
woodworking and drama.

Young America Works, a high school with 250 students, has four social
workers and counselors, all with more work than they can handle. The
needs are staggering.

The recent shooting of a student's friend set off a wave of grief.
Dozens of students came to school for days afterward wearing T-shirts
with the images of loved ones they had lost, some months or years
earlier.

Whenever that happens, and it does regularly, it takes days or weeks
for the student body to settle down, Evans said, sometimes only with
the help of extra grief counselors.

Every day, two or three students living in a shelter arrive early to
shower and change into clean clothes. Lunch at the school is catered
by an outside vendor, but the school keeps food that is easy to
microwave or eat right away in a small pantry off the main office.

One Monday morning, a student showed up for school more than an hour
early, famished. He said he hadn't eaten all weekend. Then, after he
was given some food, he ate so much that he threw up.

Some students who don't have enough food at home are given boxes of
fresh fruits and vegetables from a food bank to take home.

This type of triage is necessary before teachers at the school, which
has an aviation lab, a music studio and a library reading room that
looks like an upscale bookstore, can even start doing meaningful
teaching. Hungry kids can't focus on lessons; neither can children
facing a court date or the threat of being taken to a foster home.

"The need is so profound," Evans said, "it is nearly over our heads."

Barriers to Assistance

Administrators must be careful not to betray trust but also to conform
with the law. It's not unusual for parents to threaten school workers
who are about to report them for alleged abuse. Students don't always
take kindly to the reports, either.

Some say they have been abused, then deny it when pressed.

The Student Support Center, a nonprofit group that helps charter
schools train teachers, is trying to show schools how to combat
depression and violence. One program shows teenage students how to
have "safe dates" without hitting. The center's executive director,
Eve Brooks, said in large setting, it's possible to send a message to
kids who might otherwise fly below the radar.

"If they are very quiet, sometimes the schools don't recognize that
many may be depressed," Brooks said. "We tend to get the acting-out
kids. One hundred percent of the kids need some type of support."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2009030402781.html

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