Strong education is vital to breaking cycle of struggling students, life of public assistance

Margie Haubbert left school in ninth grade and has struggled ever since to make up the lost time and education.

Now 23 with two young sons, Haubbert has neither her GED nor prospects for a good-paying job. She’s enrolled in the Even Start Family Literacy program that helps her study for her high school diploma equiva-lency test while also learning parenting skills. And she’s hoping young Brandon and Taylor learn from her mistakes and stay in school.

By The Montana Standard

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/01/25/newsbutte_top/hjjfjihejjjbfb.txt

"I don’t want them to have the disadvantages I did," Haubbert said, adding that a learning disability not diagnosed until junior high made school an uphill battle. "I don’t want them to hate school every day like I did."

And without assistance Haubbert’s children certainly could stumble in school — and life.

No one is saying that all poor children have trouble in school, but factors like poverty, family turmoil, stress and separation from one or both parents all can combine to provide stumbling blocks for children before they ever enter a classroom. According to the national Children’s Defense Fund, the added burdens of poverty make low-income children twice as likely to repeat a grade and

3.5 times more likely to drop out of school.

"You’d like to say life is fair and everyone starts out the same, but it’s not true," said Lois Salle, a longtime Butte first-grade teacher who compares learning to a relay race. "Some kids don’t get that baton passed to them at the same time as everyone else, and they’re always trying to catch up."

Audrea Wagner has seen

4-year-olds come to her Head Start classroom not knowing what a knife and fork are because they’ve never sat down to a formal meal. They don’t know what "zip up your coat" means, have limited if any exposure to children’s books and have smaller vocabularies than their more affluent peers. Without the extra assistance at Head Start, she said, they’d be vastly unprepared for kindergarten.

And some third-graders in the public schools are reading at a first grade level, and that is after months of work in supplemental Title I classes to improve their skills.

In most cases their parents aren’t neglectful, they’re just unaware of what they should be doing or lack the time or resources many parents take for granted. Or, like Haubbert, they have their own issues with education.

"The families are dealing with so many crises," said Barbara Brophy, director of the Head Start program in Butte and Dillon. "If you have to worry about how is the heat bill going to be paid this month, it isn’t always a top priority to teach your child the basics of reading and writing."

Without a strong footing in school, children also can develop self-esteem problems, which are only exacerbated if they see their parents develop a "we’re never going to get ahead" attitude.

"You see kids that just somewhere along the line missed out on building up that confidence and belief in themselves that is so crucial," said Carrie Piercy, who teaches supplemental Title I reading and math classes for primarily poor children at Margaret Leary Elementary. "Some haven’t achieved well in school for years and just feel lost."

The statistics are worrisome for parents like Haubbert, but they also affect society at large.

A student without a high school education is less likely to have a good-paying job and more likely to need taxpayer-supported services ranging from food stamps to public housing. Close to 50 percent of adults on welfare lack a high school diploma or GED, according to the federal National Institute for Literacy Information. Teachers having to repeat lessons have less attention for other students, and employers lose productivity when employees can’t read well and need more training. And without a strong education, a child from a chronically poor family has even less of a chance of breaking the cycle of poverty.

"We, in the middle and upper classes, just assume education is top priority for (the poor) and that’s not necessarily so," said Carmen Bartholomew, reading coach at Greeley Elementary. "And I think that’s why you see so many of the kids not in school and falling behind."

Because of the statistics, Butte K-3 teachers are changing how they approach low-income students and parents, said Judy Jonart, curriculum director for the Butte school district.

They’re trying to build stronger relationships with children who may not have solid role models at home and reading Ruby Payne’s "A Framework for Understanding Poverty" to better understand the different world poor families inhabit.

They’ve learned that since humor is often used to defuse tension in chaotic homes, they need to reassess why a child is always cracking jokes when he’s disciplined. And parents who spend half a parent-teacher conference talking about themselves instead of their child might need that time to feel comfortable with a teacher. And that even the most dedicated parents can’t help with a homework project if they don’t have money for supplies, a car to drive to the store or time in between their jobs.

"It’s really an eye-opener because so many teachers are so solidly middle class they just don’t understand," Bartholomew said.

Teachers aren’t being asked to make major changes, either, just adjustments to better accommodate all students. At Greeley where attendance is a constant problem, for example, attendance prizes now motivate students to come to school more regularly, crucial to student success.

Haubbert’s children will benefit from some of those programs and she’s hopeful they’ll avoid some of her struggles, such as welfare, public housing and pinching pennies to make sure there are enough diapers to last through the end of the month.

"I’m trying to make more money for my kids, but it’s hard," she said as she watched the boys race between the kitchen and living room while "helping" her make dinner by setting out the Scooby Doo plates they got for Christmas.

"Trying to go back to school when you haven’t been there since you were 17 is tough, but I need it to get a good job."

******************

Programs available to help children get the most of education experience

By Barbara LaBoe of The Montana Standard

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2004/01/25/newsbutte/hjjfjihejcfehj.txt

Margie Haubbert blows bubbles for her boys Taylor, 2, and Brandon, 4, while they wait for their spaghetti dinner to cook at their Silver Bow Homes apartment. As part of the Even Start Family Literacy Program, Haubbert must spend a certain number of hours each week with her children doing developmental activities to prepare them for their own education. Derek Pruitt/The Montana Standard
Several programs in Butte are aimed at helping poor parents better prepare their children for school. Some begin when the children are toddlers, others continue throughout their schooling. All are geared at making sure the burdens of living in poverty don’t hold students back in school or life.

Head Start

The federal Head Start pre-school program provides social, emotional, physical, cognitive and language education to children ages 3 to 5 to keep them from arriving at kindergarten already behind. It also provides other services ranging from physical and mental health counseling to help for parents in dealing with social services.

In Butte and Dillon, 223 children are in 11 classrooms, 90 percent from low-income families. Children with disabilities or other special needs also attend, working with public school district special education teachers. Day cares in Beaverhead, Madison and Silver Bow counties also offer year-round Head Start by incorporating its curriculum, teachers and services.

"It’s an excellent program," said Head Start father Chris Tippett. His older son Craig, now 21, attended when they qualified based on income, and his younger son, Payton, 3, takes part because of his Down Syndrome. Tippett and his wife wish all five of their children had attended. "Any parent that can get their kid into it should."

Head Start also prizes parental involvement and will hold its first Parent Fair Friday, Feb. 20, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to bring together parents and community agencies at the Butte center, 1000 S. Arizona St. The fair is open to the public and will include day care and special parent-child projects.

For details, call 723-4078 or toll free at (800) 560-3734.

Title I

The federal Title I program provides public schools with money to pull struggling or at-risk students out of class for supplemental reading and math lessons. Schools receive Title I funds if at least 40 percent of their students qualify for free or reduced lunch based on family income. Once a school receives a school-wide designation, though, any faltering student is eligible for the classes.

Five of Butte’s seven elementary schools are Title I as are both East Middle School and Butte High. Only Hillcrest and Whittier elementary schools do not qualify.

Income is one factor in a student’s Title I placement. Others include family turmoil and school performance.

"My students are of average intelligence but for one reason or another they’re achieving below average," said Carrie Piercy, who sees 30 students in small groups each day at Margaret Leary Elementary. "We try to get them back up to the average level where they should be."

Parent involvement also is encouraged through family nights and parent-child assignments. There also is plenty of praise and encouragement — Piercy repeatedly tells her students how smart they are, how hard they’re working and how proud of them she is — since many students have grown discouraged after years of faltering in school.

"It’s not that they can’t do it, they’re just lacking the confidence," Piercy said.

Even Start Family

Literacy Program

This primarily federally funded program serves low-income adults with young children. For adults, there are literacy or GED classes, for their children parenting classes and day care.

The idea is to help parents improve their education while also helping them better prepare their kids for school. Qualifying parents must have one child under age 7 and must also meet income and education need requirements.

The classes are becoming more vital than ever because more and more employers are requiring GEDs even for minimum wage jobs, said program director Paula Arneson.

Last year the program served 41 families in Butte, though reporting guidelines mean that some students who leave the program early are not counted. Arneson estimates another 15 families received help before leaving the program.

"Our philosophy is that parents are their children’s first and best teacher," Arneson said. "And we want to encourage them to get involved in their child’s education as well as their own."

For details, call 723-7905 or toll free at (888) 606-7905.

Free and Reduced Lunch

In Butte, 1,283 students eat free lunches at school each day and 276 more receive a reduced rate through the federal program. Breakfasts also are offered. Students qualify for both programs based on family income and the district is reimbursed for each meal served.

To prevent any teasing about the program, students receive the same debit-type card used by other students’ parents to pre-purchase meals. The free and reduced students’ cards are swiped through the cash register the same as the other cards so no one can tell the difference.

The goal is to make sure children are receiving balanced meals and that they’re not distracted in class by an empty stomach. And while 32 percent of children in the district do participate, school officials believe many families don’t apply because of the stigma. As kids enter high school in particular, participation drops, said Rick Kravas, the district’s auxiliary services director.

Not only does free and reduced lunch participation help the district qualify for grants and other programs like Title I, officials also want everyone who needs a meal to get one.

"The last thing we want is a student to be sitting in class hungry and their last meal to be 18 hours ago," said Margaret Leary Elementary Principal Jim O’Neill. "But for a lot families, it’s a pride issue."

For details, see your school office.