Homeless Population Grows At Rogers Schools

The Rogers School District has faced an increase in homeless students this year, and the district’s director of counseling expects the number to keep increasing.

The district makes a special effort to accommodate homeless students, providing clothes and bussing them from other school districts so they can stay in the same school.

The number of homeless students, 188 as of August, is likely to increase over the winter, as more previously unidentified homeless families seek shelter and families lose their homes in fires, said Linda Haley, who oversees counseling in the district.

Haley said there are probably more homeless students in the district not being counted.

The district relies on federal grants and community donations to help homeless students.

“I’m just so pleased to be part of such a giving community,” Haley said.

Homeless students are not necessarily living on the streets.

Most of the students the district reported as homeless were sharing other people’s housing, a practice known as doubling up, according to figures provided by Haley.

The federal McKinney-Vento Act requires public schools to guarantee equal access and opportunity for homeless children.

The act defines homeless children and youth as those “who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.” That includes sharing housing with other families, living in shelters and living in motel rooms.

That may not sound like homelessness to some people, said Kevin Fitzpatrick, a professor at the University of Arkansas and director of the Community and Family Institute.

“My response to them is usually ‘go try that, and see how that works for you,’” Fitzpatrick said.

Jose Archuleta, a 12-year-old student at Greer Lingle Middle School, did try it.

Archuleta’s home in Beaver Shores burned Aug. 21 in a case of suspected arson. The home was being repaired from an earlier fire, and the Archuletas were living at a relative’s house in Springdale, said Stephanie Archuleta, Jose’s mother.

Archuleta’s neighbor is charged in connection with the fires.

Archuleta, her son and her 16-year-old daughter, Leigh-Ann, lived at Stephanie Archuleta’s uncle’s house from June until November, when Archuleta bought a house in Rogers.

“My daughter had to sleep on the couch,” Archuleta said, describing the experience. “My son had to sleep on an air mattress. They didn’t have a lot of their own stuff.”

Rogers sent a bus to pick up Archuleta’s children so they could keep going to the same schools, she said.

Jose Archuleta’s grades suffered a little, Stephanie Archuleta said.

“It was hard to concentrate doing schoolwork because it all happened,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said homeless populations have grown at school districts around the region.

The recession, combined with a lack of affordable housing, pushed many families who were just barely hanging on into homelessness, Fitzpatrick said.

A minimum wage worker would have to work more than 75 hours per week to pay fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment, according to “Northwest Arkansas Community Indicators: A Quality-of-Life Assessment,” a 2008 report coauthored by Fitzpatrick.

Many families of homeless students came to the area because of the relatively low unemployment rates, but had a hard time finding housing, Haley said.

“It’s kind of like ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ in reverse,” she said.

Some homeless students were left behind when their parents were deported, Haley said. Others were kicked out of their house or are waiting to be placed in foster care.

Fitzpatrick said he expects the situation will get worse before it gets better. Fitzpatrick said he suspects many of the families affected by the recession have yet to be detected by aid agencies.

“It’s kind of so close to us, it’s right in front of our eyes and we can’t see it yet,” he said.

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