Meet the Support Network Addressing Out-Of-School Challenges for Every Student
February 1, 2019
By: Stephen Noonoo
Source: EdSurge
ROXBURY, Mass. — Last year, a student in Yvonne Steadman’s Kindergarten class began missing a lot of days. Steadman, who teaches at Mendell Elementary School in this highly-diverse Boston neighborhood, passed along her concerns to a colleague, Madeline Gillespie, a family support coordinator.
Gillespie spoke with the girl’s mother and learned they were living in a shelter and had no way to get to school. It was less than a mile away, so the family wouldn’t ordinarily qualify for free transportation. But shelters are a special exception—students are eligible to ride on a school bus. Equipped with this information, Gillespie helped set up regular pickups and drop offs, and just like that, attendance improved.