St. Petersburg Times
Education begins with caring for children’s needs

MARC YACHT
Published August 7, 2005

Pasco County is changing. The success of the penny tax for public schools and local government sent that message. The transformation is due to younger and more affluent families settling in the county. Recent statistics show that 16 percent of Pasco’s children live in poverty, down from 19 percent. The influx of prosperous families is good news for Pasco schools.

 

Education will benefit as parent groups will want more schools, demand smaller class sizes, support more resources for schools and libraries, promote after-school activities and call for improved instruction for children. Consequently, our students will set higher goals for themselves; approach academics with more resolve and better value their education. Currently, only 15 percent of our high school graduates get a bachelor’s or higher degree. About one in four of our students will not graduate from high school.

 

The question as to why students fail has triggered challenges to public education and the passing of the No Child Left behind Act. What are the issues?

 

Absenteeism is a major detriment to scholastic success, and health problems are a key factor keeping children home from school. Approximately 23 percent of young Pasco families have no health insurance, creating barriers for medical, dental and vision care so important for growth and development. The numbers of uninsured are growing. Kidcare has facilitated health coverage for needy children, but many are not served. The working poor are particularly vulnerable, many lacking coverage and access.

 

Dysfunction and violence affect more than 10 percent of Pasco families and hamper a child’s scholastic progress. Such home life requires complex costly services that may not be available. Single moms, often impoverished, raise more than 10 percent of Pasco children. Also, add the identified local homeless sending more than 2,500 children to our classrooms. Often, teachers, principals and school workers help these children who face mammoth challenges to succeed.

 

No one would argue against the goals of the No Child Left Behind initiative. Yet one cannot ignore the home environment and health of many of our children who face progressive expectations relating to mathematics and reading skills. For some of our little citizens, the priority may be a hot meal or a clean bed, with books and education taking a backseat to more basic wants.

 

As a public health physician, I am reminded daily of the needs of deprived families. Imagine a household suffering through the summer in a mobile home without air conditioning or hot water. That same family may face the winter without heat. Consider a parent sending a child to school from a car rather than a home. Often, poverty’s rage will drive the disenchanted to crime, alcohol, drugs and violence. Yet the innocent children of the poor will spend their day at school with caring teachers and support staff members who know more than they want to know about conditions at home. It is said that the want of money is the root of all evil; I would suggest poverty is the source.

 

I concluded years ago that safety nets for poor families were not about charity but more about necessity. After all, we live, work and play together. What affects one of us, affects all. When I taught middle school English in Philadelphia years ago, I would be heartened that in spite of neglect and privation, disadvantaged children would laugh, play and get their work done. Their parents, typically, were hardworking and devoted to their children’s progress. In spite of disadvantages, many poor youth were achievers, while others fell by the wayside.

 

Pasco’s 60,000 kids are going back to school, filling yellow buses, riding bicycles, walking and finding their way to the classroom. Our most precious cargo, with their colorful backpacks and new attire, will begin another year. There will be improved resources in every school to help our less fortunate citizens.

Pasco’s new families will bring new businesses, better jobs and more health insurance. The county will benefit with better roads, improved public safety, playgrounds and new schools.

 

The means to reducing poverty and improving the lot of our youngsters lie in education and training. As the new school year begins, we can expect a healthier and more prosperous future for our youth.

Dr. Marc J. Yacht is director of the Pasco County Health Department.