BRUNSWICK

The number of homeless students in the Brunswick School District continues to climb, and so too does the administration’s concerns about those students during summer break.

In 2008, the district identified only six students as homeless. As of late February 2016, there were 30.

“When a child is homeless and they’ve lost all of their familiar routines and comforts, having that teacher in that classroom with those peers — that setting to offset everything else that’s in turmoil is really helpful,” said Assistant Superintendent Pender Makin, who is the homeless liaison for the district. “And summer time is a scary time for those kids.”

Makin said she has spent much of her volunteer time between visiting kids at Long Creek Long Creek Youth Development Center and providing basic necessities to homeless teens.

Makin said most of Brunswick’s homeless students are between 5 and 13 years old — many of which are couch surfing where they can or living in one of the motels along Pleasant Street.

However, Makin said many homeless leave the Brunswick area during the summer because of a lack of shelter in the Midcoast region.

Makin said teens find their way to the streets of Portland to stay at the Teen Shelter overnight. During the day, they may seek shelter at the Portland Public Library or soup kitchen.

Makin decried the limited resources in Maine to help homeless students.

“I can’t even describe how abysmal it is. I’ve never seen our state in a place where we have this little available to people in need,” Makin said.

The reasons for student homelessness vary, but they begin the cycle of poverty, Makin said. Some kids wind up homeless due to a parent’s mental illness or incarceration, leaving kids to fend for themselves.

“When people get caught in the fray of that cycle, it’s like everybody’s drowning — it’s like the Titanic has sunk and there’s a downward vortex. Everything is floating on the surface and if you grab hold of anybody, you might end up pulling them down too,” Makin said.

To keep a lifeline to kids who have left the relative safety and structure school provides, Makin said the district has been working to remain in touch with homeless kids and their families through the Merrymeeting Homeless Youth Grant.

The grant is comprised of state and federal money administered by the Brunswick School Department for Brunswick, Maine School Administrative District 75 and Regional School Unit 1. The contracted service provider for the grant is Tedford Housing.

Makin said keeping up with the number of homeless students in the district could be a full time job itself.

Luckily, the district received an additional $10,000 in funding for a Tedford Housing employee to keep in contact with the kids and families over the summer and try to connect them with services as well as keep kids connected to their school.

“The role of the Merrymeeting case manager is to access resources in the community so that students can stay in school, remain connected with their peers, stay on course with their academic program, reduce absenteeism and hopefully progress into the next grade level or graduate,” said Tedford Housing Executive Director Craig Phillips.

Donna Verhoeven is the case manager assisting the three school districts. Verhoeven said she sees her role as a kind of outreach, keeping kids safe and engaged and looking to their future.

Verhoeven said her job is to often address “what we call putting out fires — the emergency stuff.”

Medical appointments, trying to get food benefits for clients and trying to keep them enrolled while facing homelessness or family conflict comprises much of Verhoeven’s job.

“My job description is … to reduce any barriers to education so they can continue to progress, stay enrolled,” Verhoeven said. “Most days it’s putting out the fires first, and then education.”

One thing Verhoeven said she tries to instill in homeless students is to have a Plan B. She wants them to think beyond their current accommodations, beyond social programs and beyond the support system of school counselors, nurses and daily school lunches.

Verhoeven said it’s the life education these students primarily need so they can then move on to worry about school work.

In the next week, Makin will meet with Tedford personnel about launching the program, which will include checking in on areas where homeless families tend to settle.

“It’s such a challenge for these kids. I personally have been dropping off bags of groceries that … don’t need refrigeration or cooking, that can provide them with nutrition. I try to give them links to online for some job search sites, provide rides to a doctor, provide a crutch or two to someone who has a stress fracture from poor nutrition and from walking around too much,” Makin said.