Luis Torres, the principal of P.S. 55: The Benjamin Franklin School in New York City, partnered with a local medical center to build an on-site hospital that supports the physical and emotional health of his 700 students, 93 percent of whom receive free or reduced lunch. He teamed up with the New York Yankees to send kids to baseball games as rewards and supports a program that feeds students and teaches unemployed parents how to farm. Torres isn't shy about reaching out. "We match the resources of the community to the needs of the building to help meet the needs of the children," he said. "It's a matter of you as a school leader having the guts to advocate for the things your children need. This can no longer be about putting Band-Aids on children's wounds."
Torres was among a diverse panel of educators and thought leaders who convened at the third Whole Child Symposium to discuss poverty's effects on learning. Held in early May at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., the event focused on the concrete efforts that educators are making to address poverty in classrooms, schools, and districts.
Tiffany Anderson, superintendent of the Jennings School District in Missouri, echoed Torres's reliance on community support. With more than 90 percent of her district's students living in poverty, school leaders have to be creative with the limited resources they have. The district's central office is lean, yet its only high school provides 6 counselors for its 600 students through a university partnership. Each school has a washer and a dryer that parents can use in exchange for volunteer hours, and a local food bank stocks school-based food pantries for families in need.
The panelists agreed with Kathleen Budge, coauthor of Turning High-Poverty Schools Into High-Performing Schools, that despite poverty's devastating effects on learning, "demographics do not equal destiny."
"Instead of becoming victims, we're starting to take action as a school," said Torres. "[Our] children want their communities back."