Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BECKY HEPLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
A fourth-grade pupil has finished her spelling test, so she's reading to a first-grader.
It almost has the look of an old-fashioned, one-room school, except computers and modern materials have replaced the chalkboards and the McGuffy Readers.
The pupils are different, too. The first-grader jumps like a scared rabbit anytime there is a loud noise. And the senior has bouts of crying.
It's just another day at the Women's Resource Center shelter school.
These are children whose lives have been caught up in the violence between their parents.
For abused women, children pose the ultimate dilemma.
A woman trying to escape a violent husband will flee to shelter. But if she has children, she must weigh her personal safety against their disrupted lives. The children's needs usually win, and, in the end, she goes back to an abusive relationship.
This dilemma led to a regional effort, spearheaded by the Montgomery County school system, to create a school at the shelter run by the Women's Resource Center in Radford.
Montgomery is the only school system in the state with an in-house school at a shelter. Because homelessness knows no political boundaries, school officials sought federal funds for a regional program. Other school systems in the New River Valley also participate in the program.
"The homeless are hidden in a rural area, but they are still there," said Judy Rutherford, director of special programs for the Montgomery schools.
The school "helps our clients because it helps their children," said Pat Brown, executive director for the center.
The program not only keeps children in school, it also provides the support and counseling children desperately need during such situations.
Donna Merkt, who formerly taught the school-aged patients at St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital in Radford, was recruited to direct the program.
Half the day, Merkt runs the school at the shelter. The other half, she is a circuit rider, making the rounds to look after other children, some of whom are in shelters for the homeless around the valley. Others are living in cars with their families at truck stops.
Merkt works with contacts in about 40 different schools in the New River Valley, who serve as a liaison between her and the teachers to maintain the confidentiality of the children while they are in the shelter. They collect assignments from each child's teachers so Merkt can fashion an individualized lesson plan.
The school is in two sunny rooms upstairs at the shelter. The walls and windows are decorated with colorful posters and the students' artwork. Shelves hold books, school supplies and materials. There are several computers, both Macs and IBMs, for the students.
Individualized instruction is the order of the day. "We concentrate on language arts and math," Merkt said. Generally, there are four or five students at a time in the shelter, though Merkt has had as few as one and as many as eight at one time. While most students are from the region, the shelter draws women from all over the state and beyond, so Merkt's classes include those children, too.
By its very nature, domestic violence has a negative impact on children's schoolwork. It's hard to think about algebra when you're trying to avoid a black eye. Who can concentrate on history when your parents are arguing loudly and violently downstairs?
"I'm trying to keep them on track with their peers," Merkt said. "However, most of these students are already behind, some a great deal, simply because of their home life."
While their emotional distress can impinge on the schoolroom atmosphere, even the shelter is very reassuring, Merkt said. It's something normal in their otherwise chaotic lives and gives them something to think about besides their home life.
The small scale and one-on-one contact creates a nurturing environment that allows students to vent any pent-up emotions their situation might cause. Once students open up, there are counselors on hand to help deal with the emotional problems that stem from the home situation.
"Having a teacher with a knowledge of homeless and domestic violence issues is a tremendous asset," Brown said. "When you know what's going on in a child's life, you can do so much more." For children traumatized by the violence, a school inside the shelter feels safer to them, she added.
Once a child leaves the shelter, Merkt works with each school's guidance counselor to ease the transition, sending a detailed academic summary about the pupil's progress.
Students attending the school at the shelter are counted as present in their own home district. That is a serious consideration, as most schools will make students repeat a grade if they miss too many days of school, regardless of the grades they earn. The school system also benefits, because the student is counted in total enrollment, which determines state funding.
The mothers are also beneficiaries. If her children's needs are being met, she can concentrate on her own problems and on possible solutions. "Of the clients coming to the shelter who stay at least a month, 97 percent of them do not go back to the abuser," Brown said. "The more time a woman has to get her life together at the shelter, the more successful she will be on her own. Having the school in the shelter gives her that time."
by CNB