PressEthic

I remember every experience I’ve ever had with a new school. No matter how old you get it’s always scary. You’re away from your friends, from old teachers and familiar surroundings. All of a sudden, you’re the odd man out, the one everybody stares at and wonders about, the last person to be picked for a sports team, and the one nobody wants to sit next to at lunchtime.

I can sympathize in small measure with the schoolchildren displaced by Hurricane Katrina. They have to go through an extremely stressful experience, made even worse by the fact that not only are they in a new and scary place, they also don’t have any of their things around them, no home to go to at the end of the day – their familiar surroundings and safe places have been snatched away from them by gale force winds, and washed away by 20 foot storm surges.

The good news is that there are school districts willing to take these children in. But while Texas is giving itself a “gold star” for taking in 44,812 evacuees, they seem to be ignoring the larger problems – these children don’t just need free lunches, bus rides, and charity clothing. These kids need to be in a place where they’re not six weeks behind in their schoolwork. They need to be in an environment where they can get a good night’s sleep so that they don’t fall asleep in school.

The solution to this problem does not lie in new clothes and a “cafeteria buddy.” Psychologists and counselors need to be brought in to help these children with the trauma they’ve suffered. They saw dead bodies in the streets, had to beg for food and water, and probably saw a lot of violence along the way. A free ride to school is not going to help with that.

President Bush’s “No Children Left Behind” Act should be providing for these children. Instead, they are being given whatever can be found for them, because the act has been gutted over and over again to pay for the Iraq war and the “War on Terrorism.” Talk does nothing for the kid who needs extensive tutoring so that he can catch up to what the kids at his new school are studying. If the program had more money, maybe it could provide counselors and tutors.

So what can be done to help these kids? I think that putting money into the programs supposedly started to help them in school is a start. But what they really need is someone who will listen to what they have to say. A successful school year for them will depend on more than just free school supplies and a couple of pairs of pants.