GRANT TO HELP HOMELESS KIDS STAY IN SCHOOL.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS  Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Beneath the suburban landscape of Santa Clarita lies a population of anonymous faces -- the city's homeless children -- a number that is growing.

Currently, 127 students attending schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District are labeled as displaced or homeless.

``As kids, they are trying to find themselves,'' said Linda Malerba, who counsels homeless families at Santa Clarita Lutheran Social Services. ``People who have a great house and food in their belly are looking for where they fit in. Now imagine the kid who doesn't have that.''

According to 2000 Census data, about 1,417 families with children under the age of 18 are living under the poverty level in the city of Santa Clarita. While this creates a problem for the community, the effects on children can be much more scarring.

A $35,000 grant, awarded this week to the school district, promises to improve services for those children. The grant will fund a district program to ensure homeless children receive a consistent level of education, a sign of the federal push for a more standardized education for every child.

``As we move from a suburb to an urban city, we will develop these types of issues,'' said Terry De Loria, the district's director of special programs.

The federal government has strict guidelines that define who is homeless. It includes those displaced from their homes or when multiple heads of household live under one roof.

``Before, if a mother couldn't provide proof of a utility bill, she was unable to enroll her child into school,'' De Loria said.

``The idea is to ensure that doesn't happen. We just want to make sure no kids fall through the cracks.''

De Loria said the grant money already has been put to use upgrading the district's data-collection system, which tracks student information. The rest of the funds will go to providing things like school uniforms, backpacks full of school supplies and bus passes to homeless students.

To decide who needs the services, the district has added a residence questionnaire to enrollment packets that asks questions like where the students lives, who they live with and about any possible barriers to education.

The district has also designed a checklist for registrars, counselors and administrators to follow up to ensure the child remains in school.

Regular sessions with school counselors are also provided for the children and their families.

``Everything is done discreetly,'' De Loria said.

For Belinda Crawford, executive director of the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry, the bigger concern is the homeless community's invisiblity.

``Part of it is the topography that allows for the homeless community to go unnoticed,'' Crawford said of Santa Clarita, which is crisscrossed by canyons and dry riverbeds.

Crawford added that in suburbs, people are more prone to hide the fact that they have no permanent place to live.

But a federal push to standardize education for all children has put pressure on schools and educators to ensure that even homeless children are going to school.

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, school districts must implement the provisions of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Act, which requires that all students have access to a consistent quality of education. Information is available online at www.cde.ca.gov.

Five years ago, California was receiving less money to educate the homeless, but just 24 school systems had applied, said Leanne Wheeler, state homeless coordinator.

Wheeler said that while there's an increasing need, there's also more awareness.

``The biggest challenge when dealing with homeless children is stability,'' Wheeler said. ``If we can keep them in school and academically succeeding, we can break the cycle.''

connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com

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