Thursday morning I attended the weekly South Anne Arundel County Rotary Club meeting. Each week there is a speaker and this week the speaker was from the AA County School System, Lynne Weise. She is with Student Support Services and works with and for those students who are homeless. Did you you know that in Anne Arundel County we have as of yesterday, 948 students who are homeless?
Here are some facts on children and youth who are homeless from the University of Maryland:
- one in 50 children in the United States experience homelessness each year
- less that 16% of elegible pre-school children are enrolled in school.
- 42% of homeless children transfer schools at least once a year and 51% of these students will transfer twice or more.
- Every time any student transfers schools their GPA will drop 10%.
- Less than 25% of homeless children will graduate from high school
In AA County about 98% of the funds Student Support Services has is spent on busing and trying to keep students in a single school. There are many groups that work on being sure that they have food with breakfast programs and weekend food programs like Bountiful Backpacks. Still there are so many other events and possibilities that are not available for children and students who are without homes.
As an individual or a group anyone can sponsor a student for a particular need. There are some students in South County that would like to take drivers ed – but cannot – due to funds. There are many needs and opportunities. Want to learn more or learn how you can help? Call 410-222-5326 and speak to Lynne Weise, who is the Homeless Education Liaison – Student Support Services. You can email her also at tweise@aacps.org