Barriers to Education -- 7 November 2002

>>[CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION]
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>> Just ahead on "Need To Know" -- what's the biggest challenge
facing the Rochester city school district?-
The tight budget?-
The politics within the leadership?-
Or the or is it the persistent barrier that can prevent
students in city schools from learning -- the effects of
poverty.-
We take a look at how a family struggles to make ends meet can
mean a child's struggle to get a good education.-
We'll have our weekly business section with the "Democrat and
Chronicle" and a rollicking wrap-up of the high falls film
festival that comes your way next on "Need To Know."-
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>> I think of -- on the whole we are feeling more and more
overwhelmed by the depths of social problems and mental health
issues that we are seeing in kids anded aless I wants and I
think the schools are too.-
Captioned by the National-
Captioning Institute-
--www.ncicap.org-- -
>> "Need To Know" is made possible by dorscle Lexus and through
the support of viewers like you.-
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>> Thank you for joining us.-
I'm Michael Caputo.-
Tonight we continue our ongoing series of programs we call
"children on the Edge."-
Last month we looked at how violence affects our youth.-
In the coming weeks we'll focus on kids living on the streets.-
On the we're going to look at an old adage.-
You've heard it said that children in low-income or poor homes
have difficulty learning.-
What does that mean?-
First, it bears repeating that Rochester ranks 11th in child
poverty -- ahead of New York City, Washington, D.C., and
Chicago on a per-capita basis.-
At one school, school 33, 95% of the children are below the
poverty line.-
86% of school 33 children receive a free or reduced-price
lunch.-
So, the concentration of poverty in the city school district is
not debatable.-
The question is how can these children go to class, get good
grades, and rise above difficult circumstances when their most
basic needs haven't been met?-
First WXXI's Matt Cummings shows how difficult it can be for
children in poverty to learn and how schools try to address the
situation.-
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>> You need to all find your coats.-
Thomas, your book bag is over there and your coat is right
here.-
Put it on and get ready to go.-
You're late.-
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>> Julie Spencer is a sing m mom who drives a cab to make ends
meet and pay her bills at her grand-avenue home.-
She wants her son, Thomas Porter, in school.-
But he has a number of medical needs that need to be tended
to.-
If not, he'll have difficulty in class.-
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>> The ast ma doesn't bother him.-
It's the ADHD.-
If he doesn't have his medicine, he can't do it.-
One day I forgot to give him his medicine and the teacher was
calling me, he's binging and and not focusing or whatever.-
I had to take the pills over there and give them to him.-
But he had a real hard day.-
If he doesn't take that medicine, boy, you know it.-
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>> Thomas attends school 33 in the district district, a place
where nearly all the children attending class come from
families at or below the poverty line.-
Studies by the children's institute show that children in
low-income families are more likely to deal with health
problems, one enormous hurdle among many that children most
overcome in the classroom.-
Just ask Ralph Spezio, who just retired as principal of school
17, where the poverty rate is also high.-
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>> Within the first year of my principalship, a kindergarten
teacher came to me almost in tears.-
She said, "will you come with me, please?"-
I did.-
I saw this little boy through the door of the kindergarten.-
He was holding his face and rocking back and forth almost
rhythmically.-
He'd stop and go forwards and backwards.-
She whispered to me, "look inside his mouth."-
I did.-
I got down on one knee, I talked to him, away from the other
children.-
After talking to him for a couple minutes I asked him to open
his mouth.-
And I almost fell flat on my back.-
When I looked into his mouth, all of his primary teeth were
blackened, some abscessed, some receding into the gums.-
I was just incredulous.-
We got him the help that he needed, but this is in often cases
not an oddity.-
-
>> You have been asking about when your surgery will be.-
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>> Dr. Cheryl Kodjo specializes in adolescent medicine at
strong children's hospital.-
She says Rochester is on par with the national average of
chronically ill kids, about 10% to 20%.-
She treats a wide range of medical and social issues teens are
dealing with, like pregnancy, S.T.D.'s, anorexia, bulimia, drug
and alcohol abuse, and most commonly, the lack of basic needs.-
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>> I think we're not doing well.-
I think that certainly, just speaking for myself as a medical
provider, I think as a whole, we are feeling more and more
overwhelmed by the depths of social problems and mental health
issues that we are seeing in kids and adolescents.-
And I think the schools are too.-
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>> The numbers don't lie.-
The Percentage of Rochester's children living in poverty is far
and away higher than the national average.-
Teachers charged with educating them face the daunting task of
handling their students' medical, social, and e potional
problems even before classroom instruction can begin.-
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>> If, in fact, they have a number of things and they're not
able to deal with that, what happens is it kind of builds a
screen and it kind of protects them from the rest of the
world.-
So, this social and emotional screen comes up and stays there.-
It also prevents, we're finding, that additional information
coming in for such things as learning letters, learning colors,
learning other types of things, so until you're able to bring
or widen that screen so that the social isn't just covering
them over, then, in fact, you'll find it's absolutely necessary
to deal with the social and emotional as well.-
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>> Dr. Dirk Hightower has studied the impacts of poverty on the
development of school children.-
He says as a single factor, poverty alone is not predictive of
future problems for kids.-
In fact, he reports that 50% to 60% of children living in
poverty develop normally.-
It's when poverty is combined with other risk factors that kids
enter a danger zone.-
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>> If a parent does not have the education level, if the parent
is unemployed, if the parent is incarcerated, away from the
child, if the parent has discipline practices that may be
considered harsh or difficult to inconsistent with children who
have difficult temperaments, those types of situations combine
and that's where you have real social and emotional types of
issues coming up with children.-
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>> You're doing very well this year.-
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>> Rebecca Ledwin is a nurse practitioner at school 33.-
She says there are many stressors that keep parents in
low-income families from being involved in chair child's health
care.-
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>> I think that's one of the biggest challenges, yeah, getting
parents more invested in their child's healthcare and in what's
happening to their kids here.-
I think the family -- that all the parents really care a lot
about their kids, but I think a lot of them are so stressed,
they have so many other problems that they're dealing with,
that sometimes the children aren't the main focus.-
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>> Ledwin works in school 33's health center, one of six
school-based healthcare centers within the Rochester district.-
It's the type of program the district uses to try and help keep
kids in class and able to function as students.-
For Julie Spencer an her son, the health clinic is a godsend.-
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>> If that clinic wasn't there, I don't know what I would do.-
I'd be missing a lot of time out of work for him.-
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>> But even with the health clinic and the myriad of other
efforts the school districts and government have put in place
to help needy stuventes, Hightower says kids will remain on
dangerous grouvend.-
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>> Without those types of foundations and without improving
those over time, you could fro vide a yearlong or two-yearlong
program, but if families are still within that quagmire of
different types of issues they are dealing with, don't expect
the child to stay close.-
They're going to start sinking through that quicksand and
sinking into it.-
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>> Thanks, Matt.-
Here in studio are three experts, Andrew McGowan, who evaluates
programs for the Rochester city school district, Dr. David
Broadbent, direct direct -- director for ViaHealth's programs.-
And jufejufe.-
There are people who will say it's the parent's role to deal
with the upbringing of the Chile, the parents' job, not the
schools' job.-
Where is the dividing line?-
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>> I tell people the success of our entire region depends on
the ability of the Rochester school district to successfully
educate the 36,000 students we're responsible for every year.-
We've heard in the preceding tape an expert tell us that if
children do not have their health, emotional and social needs
attended to, they will not be able to get an education.-
I think this is a community-wide need we have to serve.-
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>> But how much should the school be involved in doing this?-
The budget is strapped.-
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>> Right.-
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>> We talked about budget cuts last time around, probably with
the state they'll be cutting again.-
You'll be facing another, you know, tight budget year.-
How can you spend the money on social program where education
is the primary goal?-
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>> The fact is we have a captive audience in the school
district.-
The kids are in our buildings every day.-
We are the link to families because they are there with their
children.-
So, we provide the vehicle to meet kids' needs.-
We cannot provide the finances to meet kids' needs.-
But we can certainly work with medical providers in the
community and we need to continue relying on other levels of
government such as Monroe county, who supplies nurses to our
public schools.-
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>> Dr. Broadbent, are we doing enough?-
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>> My dream would be that we would have health centers like the
one at school 33 in all of the city school district schools, so
in that sense, no, we're not doing enough.-
The reason it's so important to me is because it really is true
that if a kid is in school and healthy, the child is going to
be more ready to learn.-
The number and variety of emotional problems is mind-boggling.-
The number and variety of health or acute and chronic health
problems is significant.-
The number of kids who are absent because of health-related
problems is enormous.-
Having a health center in a school makes it possible for us to
keep the kid in school, healthy, and ready to learn.-
>> What are we doing, Mr. McGowan?-
What are we doing right now?-
We've seen one example.-
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>> Sure.-
And where the line is between what schools should do, what
parents should do, no one really knows, but we know
partnerships are a solution.-
We've developed strong partnerships with parents, the health
department, the children's institute.-
Here's a data point -- about 14% of our incoming
kindergarteners have some form of asthma.-
These kids miss a lot of school.-
The health and hill foundation -- -
>> It doesn't sound libe a lot but -- -
>> 1-7.-
If you have a kindergarten class, 20 kids, three of them would
have some kind of asthma, eight would have some kind of problem
in motor skills, language, about two or three would have some
kind of other health problem.-
So, it adds up.-
But I wanted to point out that the community has been doing a
lot in the last few years, and the local foundation is funding
an asthma intervention project for the severe kids where we're
showing datas where kids attendance rates are soaring as a
result of this intervention.-
We're trying to be cost-effective and target where the needs
are and be smart on spending the limited dollars we have.-
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>> I don't mean to belabor the point, but that is the post
striking thing is what more can we do?-
What more could we do?-
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>> You know, if we take the asthmatics Andy is talking ab, that
child can be treated under most circumstances right in the
health senter in the school.-
Our practitioners like Becky Ledwin, that you and I saw in the
tape, works with the community primary care provider, works
with family and we keep that kid in school.-
So many of the kids don't get to care the way we'd like to, but
if we can take care of them in school, in partnership with
community and primary care providers, then we can have that
many more kids in school, that much longer.-
They can learn more.-
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>> Ms. Joanne Giuffrida, what is the policy?-
Where should we go next?-
-
>> Right.-
I see a definite role for the board in this issue, and that is
first of all, in a very focused way right now, we are lobbying
the county legislate to restore funding for school nurses in
our schools.-
It's a matter of routine in the suburban school districts that
there is a fulltime nurse on duty in every school every day.-
That's the standard in suburban school districts in our
community.-
That is not the standard in the Rochester city schools.-
We rely on the county health department for the nursing
services.-
At present, we have 39 fulltime nurses servicing 72 school
sites.-
So, clearly, we do not have even a nurse in a building every
day, and that's a specific thing the board is doing right now.-
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>> The argument back most likely will be we're facing a budget
crunch.-
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>> Correct.-
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>> We would love to fund it, but we can't afford it.-
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>> Right.-
And we're asking the legislature to look at all the very
difficult competing priorities they're dealing with right now
and to single out our issue as one that's worthy of additional
funding.-
I realize that's an uphill battle.-
But there's a further role for the board of education as well.-
At the last meet, they adopted major work initiatives we would
focus on as a board this year and we would report to the
commuvente on at the end of this year so that the community
could assess whether or not the board is doing a good job.-
One of the things we said we would focus on would be to develop
an educational and advocacy program whereby board members take
the lead to educate our community and relevant institutions
about the needs of our children and why we need additional
funding to service those needs.-
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>> I would like to ask, the pre-k program in this city is
touted as one of the best.-
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>> Yes.-
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>> If not the best.-
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>> That's what the data says.-
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>> Yet we still see the problems in the upper grades.-
There's going to be somebody out there who says that's a nice
program but it's not doing the job.-
Why should we spend the money on it?-
-
>> All the available data indicates it is doing the job.-
We probably need to do more in the elementary grades.-
The universalness of this program is relatively new, so the
jury is still out.-
I would say no matter what you're doing in grades four through
12, if you're not doing the job at pre-k to three, no matter
what you're doing beyond that won't suffice.-
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>> I agree.-
And the board of education was strumal in implementing a
full-day kindergarten program.-
We're in the second year of operations with that program.-
We think it's critical we have kids in school as early as
possible as long as possible.-
In addition to that, with the budgetary situations we dealt
with as a board last year, we preserved full-day kindergarten,
protected that from cuts, and in addition, because of generous
funding in the New York State legislature, we were able to
maintain small class sizes in our primary grades.-
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>> Are you worried about the coming budget year?-
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>> Very worried.-
And the role of the board is to finally approve the spending
priorities but also to be the effective advocates for our needs
in the community and with the legislature.-
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>> The day after the election we heard people saying this is
going to be a bad budget year, a very bad budget year.-
-
>> Right.-
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>> What do you do when you hear those words?-
How quickly do you turn around and start advocating?-
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>> It has to be a multipronged strategy as far as the board is
concerned.-
We have to make an effective case for our needs with the state
legislators, with the county legislature, often with the
public, and then do the best we can to make sure we're spending
our money wisely within the district.-
We are a half a billion dollar organization.-
We have resources, although we have tremendous needs that have
to be met with those resources.-
-
>> Dr. Broadbent, Dr. Kodjo in the piece talked about the
blurring of lines between the education and medical fields.-
Would you explain what she meant by that?-
-
>> My take on that would be if a kid is in school and is
thinking about either disasters at home or health problems that
the child has, then it's hard for that child to focus on
learning.-
Asthma would be a good example.-
If a chide is in school having trouble breathing, that child
isn't going to be able to focus.-
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>> A child full of blackened teeth.-
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>> If a child is in school with pain, discomfort, that child is
just not going to be able to focus on what the varying tasks
are for that day.-
One of the things that I would hope is that we would succeed
more and more and more in engaging in preventive maneuvers so
that we have the child ready to learn in high school because of
the wonderful education the child has had in the elementary
school years.-
One of the reasons why we're particularly pleased at having the
health center at school 33 is because it's an elementary
school.-
There are preschool kids there.-
There are elementary school kids there.-
There are a lot of special education kids there.-
If we can get to them and help them with their health and
mental health problems in the elementary school years, those
kids are going to benefit throughout their whole secondary
education experience as well as in life.-
-
>> I have about 20 seconds.-
Really quickly.-
I know I asked you this question before, but the next step, the
next thing to attack, what would it be?-
What would the board go for?-
-
>> We're lobbying specifically right now to see county funding
restored to put into the schools.-
We are already into our plan to prepare for the budget in the
next school year.-
And so, the board's going to be looking -- we have been
reviewing all of our departmental operations to understand the
program so that we can understand what we can fund next year
and what may have to be reduced in funding if we're faced with
a tough revenue situation.-
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>> Thank you all for coming.-
We really appreciate it.-
That's all the time we have right now for this discussion but
more information is just a mouse click away on our web site,
www.wxxi.org/ntk, for the latest on politics and government,
including columns from WXXI news reporters, log on to
www.NYcitizens.org.-
NOW IT'S TIME FOR THIS WEEK'S
EDITION OF "THE BUSINESS
SECTION" WITH THE "THE DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE."-
we're joined by Ellen Rosen, editor of the business section for
the "Democrat and Chronicle" and Ellen, the Xerox employment
picture has changed once again.-
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>> Yes.-
This week Xerox announced they were laying off 750 people
corporate-wide, about 100 in Montgomery County.-
It's not a surprise.-
Xerox said all along it was going to be watching the bottom
line, and that means looking continue stavently at what they
can do more productively and sometimes that means with fewer
people.-
These cuts were across the board, not targeted at one specific
area, for instance when they shut ink jet down in Canandaigua.-
These people were in administration and other places.-
Unfortunately, it probably won't be the last Xerox layoff that
we see.-
We'll take a look at this whole picture of Xerox unemployment
in the Sunday paper.-
But like all-American companies, they're just keeping its
constant eye on the bottom line.-
It's typical with companies in the fourth quarter.-
Kodak announced fourth quarter layoffs.-
It's a way companies shore up their books before the end of the
fiscal year.-
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>> The Rochester downtown development corporation had its
annual state of the economy luncheon, and what was learned
there?-
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>> Experts talked about the economy, really forecasts for the
next year.-
Last year they forecast recession.-
Yeah, that's what happened.-
This year they're forecasting that things won't be much better
till about the second half of 2003.-
The way they test that is m&t bank did a survey of area
business executives, and a good portion of them feel it will be
sluggish through the rest of the first quarter and maybe start
picking up in the second quarter of the second half of 2003.-
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>> Michael sinney spoke.-
I'm wondering, is this -- he's the new head of the greater
Rochester enterprise.-
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>> Yes.-
He's making a circuit, getting around, introducing himself and
letting his message be known.-
He got up after the luncheon which Brian Hickey had got up and
made this forecast and Ted Gardner, he made his prediction,
kind of in line with Brian's.-
The first thing Finey said is I love ignoring the facts.-
That's what he has to do because he has to know this is where
we are but be focused on where we're going.-
He wants to create something he says isn't here, a culture of
economic development whereby as a community we think constantly
about economic development.-
He wants the commuvente to get past our inferiority complex
complex about our bad weather, the theme of the new ads we have
out here, let's look past that and look at the climate we
create as a community.-
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>> We's from Michigan and has had a little bit of practice
doing that kind of thing.-
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>> In some ways, they're not unlike us.-
They're dependent on the big three motor companies there, as
we're again detcht on our big two, Coe tack and Xerox.-
He has some experience there.-
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>> Rochester top 100.-
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>> Mm-hmm.-
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>> That came out in the paper on Sunday.-
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>> Yes, it did.-
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>> They had their luncheon Wednesday.-
What was learned there?-
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>> We got a chance to see all the companies.-
There were 1,600 people at this luncheon, probably one of the
biggest events that happens in this town.-
I's run by the chamber of commerce and KPMG.-
Companies send in their financial information for the last
three years.-
Companies have to have at least $1 million of revenue in each
of those years.-
Then they look at the companies growing the fastest.-
You do that to compare large companies like a Wegmans with
their tens of thousands of employees with small companies with
10 or 20 employees.-
Topping this year puzz Paychex.-
They shot up to the top.-
They're telecom based here with national clientele with a lot
of folks who left the old AT&T Corp.-
>> If you're on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" it's a jinx.-
They're being jinxed if they're a top 100?-
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>> I don't know if there's a jinx.-
We have a short historical pattern here.-
The top 100 was people's pottery which didn't appear on the
list next year and they said it was because they didn't apply,
but they were in trouble.-
They went bankrupt.-
Last year it was hover Davis, and the head got up and said we
won't be here next year because we're having a terrible year.-
And they weren't.-
66 of last year's list didn't make this year's list.-
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>> And Paychex will be around and growing.-
And we close with a parting demrans at a growing Rochester
cultural staple, the just-concluded high falls film festival,
brought to you in double time by WXXI's John Kaiser.-
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>> Who the hell are you?-
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>> Got to act in the film today.-
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>> We have 46 full-length films, three programs of shor
programs and two programs for children.-
That adds up to a collection of new work of 23 countries, all
of it produced, directed, or written by women.-
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>> The high falls film festival folks on exceptional work by
women in all areas behind the camera, but it's a film festival
for everybody showing all kinds of work for all kinds of
audiences.-
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>> It was not about being slick.-
Up until that point saying I thought you should be in a rock
band was like saying I think I should be the incredible hulk.-
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>> If I'm guilty of anything, maybe it's caring too much.-
-
[laughter]-
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>> If you review what he said, go on with the answer.-
He's going to cut the use.-
No one will talk to you about it.-
You'll have to wait.-
-
>> OK.-
I've never done this one before.-
OK.-
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>> I've been involved this film for 18 year, and even in
Hollywood that's something of a record.-
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>> This is the greatest place on earth for a showcase of
women's accomplishments in film because here in Rochester,
women's rights and motion picture film both had their start.-
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[applause]-
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>> This is a really classy place when it comes to film.-
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>> I'm going to hit you over the head with your hat!-
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>> Reminds me of dear old mom.-
We're out of time.-
We're on this program and on our web site, www.wxxi.org/ntk.-
Next week we assess what the county legislature has or hasn't
done to county executive Jack Doyle's budget.-
See you then.-
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