By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
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Dallas, TX – The number of poor children in Texas is growing. Last year 59 percent of our public school students were considered economically disadvantaged. The Texas Education Agency expects the number this year to be even higher. We've been telling you about the free back-to-school supplies being offered in many North Texas districts. In today's economy segment KERA's Shelley Kofler visits a school in Hurst and looks at the many other services schools offered throughout the year.
Nurse: Let's listen to your heart. How does it sound today? I don't know. I think it sounds pretty good.
Thomas Litten's very first day of school in pre kindergarten is just weeks away. He's getting his physical exam at a clinic located in a portable school building.
Nurse: Big breathe for me. Breathe.
The Hurst Euless Bedford School District and John Peter Smith Hospital jointly operate two health clinics on district campuses. Students without insurance pay just $5 to see a pediatric nurse practitioner like Amy Morse.
Morse: We do anything from physicals, well child exams to managing acute visits such as ear infections; chronic illness such as asthma; diabetes obesity. Any thing a primary clinic would offer.
Thomas is one of five children. His mother Heidi Matthiensen says without the school clinic she'd have to take her kids to the emergency room when they get sick.
Matthiensen: This has definitely been a lifesaver since we moved to HEB. The cost is very affordable. Even when we're flat broke we can afford $5 to see the doctor and with as many kids as I have it's great plus they offer evening hours so it doesn't interrupt with work schedules.
Low-cost healthcare is just one of the many services schools are providing for children whose parents are financially strapped.
As students enroll for the new school year at Hurst's Bellaire Elementary counselors talk to parents about other programs that may also help them stretch their budgets. Principal Livia Monsoor says more than 90 percent of the children in her school are considered low-income. These days, her mission goes way beyond reading, writing and math.
Monsoor: We have seen an increase in the number of families that need some extra help. Some area employers have closed.
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Perhaps the biggest need the school tries to fill is food. Almost every district serves federally subsidized breakfasts and lunches Monday through Friday. Students receive those meals free or at a reduced price if their families fill out application forms and qualify because of limited income.
Monsoor says the school works hard to make sure no one is ashamed to ask for help.
Reporter: Will my friends know I'm getting the free or reduced lunch or breakfast?
Monsoor: No absolutely not. All we need is their name we never talk about who is with this program or another program. That is confidential information.
Principal Livia Monsoor says the HEB District also sends food to some students' homes.
Monsoor: We have programs like the backpack program through the social workers where we worried about kids who may not have something to eat during the weekend. So every Friday the social worker fills up a backpack during the weekend so that family we know will have something to eat.
This elementary has a full-time counselor and a social worker who help identify resources in the community. It charges for after-school care, but will include some children who can't pay for it.
H-E-B's arts director says it usually costs about $35 a month to rent a trumpet to play in the band. But the HEB district is fundraising so students who can't afford to pay can still participate in activities like band and choir.
The district's PTA also operates the Clothes Closet.
Davenport: We have everything separated by size and clothing type
It's in a portable school building that looks like a store, with new and slightly used outfits on display racks and shelves.
Volunteer Melody Davenport says qualified students receive a week's worth of school clothes for free.
Davenport: Each child is able to select five outfits: five tops, five bottoms, a coat or a jacket. Then we also give them a new pair of shoes, five pairs of socks, five pairs of underwear and a few extra things.
Patricia Hendon says her husband's salary doesn't cover all the clothes her three school aged children need. She also has two pre-schoolers at home.
She understands how hard it may be for some parents to ask the school for help. But she encourages them to talk to the school principal or a counselor about their needs.
Hendon: I would say swallow your pride and ask anyways. It helps them be prepared for school so nobody is laughing at them if they don't have what they need.