School Works

Washington Governor Jay Inslee at the McCarver Elementary bill-signing ceremony in Tacoma

TACOMA - School's tough stuff when you're living in the back seat of a car or the front seat of a camper, on a cot in a shelter or a couch in a neighbor's home. It's hard to focus on Algebra or American history, especially when you're wondering, maybe worrying about where you'll lay your head tomorrow night. On a typical night, says the superintendent education, that's the challenge faced by some 35,000 kids in Washington state.

Who says good ideas don't work? Don't tell that to Washington Governor Jay Inslee or the teachers, parents and students at McCarver Elementary School in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma. They not only have a good idea. They've also made it work.

Like a lot of the kids at McCarver Elementary School in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma...They've been homeless and know what it's like to move from apartment to apartment, school to school, classroom to classroom, never being in any one long enough to catch-up or to get into the zone or the rhythm that's a key to academic performance. Now that they're enrolled at McCarver, maybe they will.

On April 3^rd, 2016, Washington Governor Inslee (www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/education/article69547477.html) visited McCarver for a ceremony at which he signed a bill - HB 1682 (http://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1682&year=2015)- sponsored by State Representative Jake Fey of Tacoma and recently passed - 122 yeas, 22 nays - with bipartisan support by both houses of the Legislature - that will replicate statewide a good idea McCarver is piloting to take homelessness of a child's educational equation.

It's a pretty simple one that proceeds from the pretty simple fact that, as Governor Inslee told the teachers, parents and students at McCarver, "homework is tough, but it's even harder when you don't have a home."

And that's a fact recognized about five years ago when the Tacoma Housing Authority and Tacoma Public Schools, with assistance from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the non-profit Building Changes, formed a partnership to provide 50 income-eligible McCarver families with a history of homelessness with HUD rental assistance. In return, must meet two conditions. First, they only get the rent subsidies so long as their kids remain enrolled at McCarver and, second, they need to be more involved in the life of the school and, even more importantly, their child's education. And, yes, that includes attending P.T.A. meetings.

After four years, the McCarver Housing Program has successes to celebrate, but also challenges to address. While attendance rates have improved and stayed steady, says the Tacoma Housing Authority, student turnover is lower than the 107 percent annual when the program started, but has risen since it reached a low of 72 percent. While families participating in the program have seen increases in income, finding affordable housing in the McCarver neighborhood has been difficult for some of them. While formerly homeless students are performing at levels equivalent to students not in the program, teachers are frustrated that academic gains have not been as fast or as significant as hoped. While parents say the program has "positively impacted them in their role as parents," school administrators are disappointed by the levels of parental involvement in their children's school.

Though still a work in progress, results are promising enough to replicate in other schools. "These kids deserve our support," says Representative Fey. "This is good for children," adds Governor Inslee. "This is good for families. This is good for our communities."

Given a chance, good ideas usually work. We just need to make sure they get the chance they deserve. Thanks to the teachers, parents and students at McCarver Elementary and to HB 1682, this good idea is.

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