For the second straight year, the Medford School District had the state's second-highest population of homeless students, according to a state report released Wednesday.
Trailing only the Portland School District, the Medford district's number of homeless students grew by 15 percent from 962 in 2004-05 to 1,108 in 2005-06. The figure represents 8.8 percent of the student population in Medford, which has the state's seventh largest school district.
The law defines homeless youths as minors who lack an adequate, fixed nighttime residence. Included are those living in public places, vehicles, campgrounds, motels, shelters, multiple-family dwellings or a friend's residence. Those who move three or more times in a year also are considered homeless under the law.
"It's painful to see how many kids are living in conditions I couldn't have even imagined as a child," said Tom Ettel, principal of Jackson Elementary, a high-poverty school near downtown Medford. "The only way they won't remain in that situation is if we connect them with the social services they need, so they can do well in school."
Statewide, the homeless student population increased by nearly 17 percent from 11,292 to 13,159.
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Medford had the highest percentage of homeless pupils among the five school districts in the state with the largest homeless populations.
The proportion of homeless pupils in other Jackson County school districts in 2005-06 was 1.9 percent in Ashland, 3 percent in Central Point, 1.2 percent in Eagle Point, 2.7 percent in Phoenix-Talent, 3.7 percent in Prospect and 2.2 percent in Rogue River.
The 2005-06 school year was the second year the Oregon Department of Education counted homeless pupils year round in each of the state's 198 school districts, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. The act mandates that all pupils regardless of their race, nationality or economic circumstances score at grade level in math and reading on mandatory state assessments by 2014.
Results from those standardized tests indicate homeless students lag behind other students — even behind those living in poverty — in math and reading.
Forced into homelessness by poverty, job loss, substance abuse, disability and domestic abuse, students are often transient and struggling to survive, making it more difficult for schools to educate them, district officials said.
A lack of affordable housing and low wages likely account for much of the growth in the number of homeless students in Medford, said Tom Cole, executive director of Kids Unlimited.
Mary Solomon, the Medford district's family resource specialist, said her district has an especially high number of homeless students — more than in either Eugene or Salem, both larger population centers — because of the availability of seasonal jobs for migrants in Southern Oregon's orchards, as well as the region's high housing prices.
The community also doesn't have a shelter just for homeless teenagers, she said, though a local nonprofit plans to open a drop-in center in January for homeless students that will serve hot meals, offer laundry facilities, as well as a place to take a shower and get help with homework.
"There is a lot of fear amongst families that their kids will have to move or change schools because they are no longer living within boundaries," Solomon said. "But there is a law in place to ensure that students won't have to transfer because they are homeless."
A mother of a 15-year-old son who is a student at North Medford High School, who asked to remain anonymous on her son's behalf, said the teen had struggled with his schoolwork during the months they looked for a livable apartment to rent, after being evicted by a landlord who wanted to take better advantage of the region's hot housing market.
"We lived in motels, we lived on floors, we lived in an abandoned motor home someone had in the back of their radiator shop," she said. "When you don't have enough food to eat and you are catching a cold, and you are having a hard time sleeping because you are in a cheap motel that doesn't have good air circulation, it is harder to study."
Kids Unlimited, a nonprofit providing after-school programs for children living in poverty in Medford, plans to open a homeless center Jan. 1 at its main location on Riverside Avenue to give pupils a place to take a shower, have a meal and connect with social services. The center will be open until 10 p.m. each night.
Cole said Jackson County is still in need of a residential program for homeless youth.
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was reauthorized in January 2002 with the intention of removing some of the obstacles that prevent homeless students from going to school.
The law requires school districts to provide enrollment, transportation, school meals and a homeless liaison to help connect homeless students and their families with social services.
Federal McKinney-Vento grants are available to help school districts comply with the law.
Only 43 of the state's 198 districts have tapped those funds, state education officials said.
Officials with some of the districts that do use those grants — including Medford — say federal funding is inadequate to create school conditions in which all homeless pupils can prosper.
Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4459 or at pachen@mailtribune.com
