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July 31, 2006
A place to call home for homeless students
Student achievement is always a hot issue, but for homeless students, reading, writing and arithmetic are not the biggest worries they have. For the more than 100,000 high school students who are estimated to be homeless in the U.S., having a place to sleep or a hot meal is much more pressing than the science fair project. And now a suburb in Missouri is taking a good, hard look at the problem and confronting it head on.
CNN.com is reporting that the Maplewood-Richmond Heights district has purchased a house that will serve as a group home for homeless students. "The public school district sponsoring it is possibly the first in the country to take on such a project." It will be staffed with pastors in training and an area hospital will provide a therapist. "Critics argue that while the school district's plan is admirable, it steps out of bounds by mixing public schools and religion."
Brian Q. Newcomb, a pastor in Maplewood, disagrees, "This is not about building up our church or preaching to students. This is about a service opportunity and responding to a real need." In addition to the pastors, organizers are hoping for donations for electric bills and from restaurants and grocery stores for meals.
Posted July 31, 2006 4:15 PM |
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