One-Room Wonder

Just east of the Terminal Island Freeway, acres of abandoned naval housing surround a small oasis: a few trees, a bit of grass and a flat-top building with cartoon characters on the side. This is the site of a one-room school with an unusual purpose.

Mary McLeod Bethune School, part of the Long Beach Unified School District, is the educational home of a changing group of 10 to 20 students in kindergarten through eighth grade who live in shelters, motels, cars or transitional housing.

The school, whose students are enrolled from two weeks to a few months, continues uprooted children’s educations while their families find new homes.

“We want to make sure they’re not left behind,” said Dick Van Der Laan, a spokesman for the district, “so they don’t have to come into the regular school with a huge disadvantage.”

Bethune is a help to parents too, enabling them to search for housing or a job.

“When they are in school, I get a lot accomplished,” said one mother whose two daughters have attended Bethune for about a month. “I do my apartment hunting; I schedule around when they are there.”

And the youngsters seem to like it. Unlike at most schools, where they are teased for being homeless, Bethune students are on equal footing.

“One of the biggest advantages is that stigma, that nervousness--they’re free of it here,” said teacher Bryan Dilts.

Gregory White, 11, didn’t like his old school. “They would bug me,” he said shyly.

‘They Can Still Make You Laugh’

Each student has a different reason for being at Bethune. Some have experienced the trauma of domestic violence and stay with their mothers at local women’s shelters. Others have been affected by loss of income, drug abuse and other family troubles.

The students “have a really neat presence about them,” Dilts said. “If I was dealt their situation, I wouldn’t be as positive and happy as they are. Through it all, they can still make you laugh. They’re highly resilient.”

Smiling 7-year-old twins Aujana and Andrea Payne skipped into class an hour late one Friday morning. The school bus had made a special trip to pick them up from their motel, 20 blocks from the normal stop.

On many days, the flow of the lessons is punctuated with interruptions. New students arrive; some leave at midday when their families decide it is time.

But even this flexible atmosphere offers a sense of continuity.

“Everything in their lives is chaotic, so school gives them some stability,” Dilts said.

Since there is but one classroom, adaptability is key for Dilts and his staff of two. The changing student population means that the lesson plan differs from day to day. But no matter who is there, they all learn together.

Sometimes 13-year-olds listen to fairy tales. Sometimes 6-year-olds watch fraction multiplication. And often, all ages work together, reading in pairs or teaming up on math problems.

On a recent day, six of the 12 students in class were in the first grade or kindergarten. Many of the 5- and 6-year-olds knew how to read.

But not all students can maintain their grade level through all their moves.

“It varies with all ages and all grades,” Dilts said. “You have some that are really high and some that are really low.”

The small size of the class allows Dilts to spend time with each student. On one day, instructional aide Sandra Olivares takes over reading with the 5- and 6-year-olds while Dilts circulates among the other students, helping them with their books.

“That’s my biggest thing--pushing literacy,” said Dilts. “Reading is definitely a focus.”

He told the story of a 5-year-old who arrived knowing only the alphabet. When he left two months later, he could read.

Much of what Dilts does is assessment. Before students leave, he evaluates their grade level and writes a report card spelling out the gaps in their education, helping to smooth the transition to a new school.

“If a student hasn’t been in a permanent school, he’s only getting pieces of his education,” Dilts said. Some children go to Bethune having missed entire sections of subjects: They can add but not subtract, for example.

‘Some Kids Come Without Anything’

But there is more than education going on.

“Some kids come without anything,” said Paula Oba, Bethune’s school-community liaison. “Sometimes they come without shoes or socks.”

At the school, the children get breakfast and lunch, as well as--if needed--a backpack, extra food or a pair of shoes. The Long Beach Junior League and other service groups donate supplies; others are purchased with federal funds for low-income students.

“Lots of community groups have stepped forward and donated,” said district spokesman Van Der Laan.

Since the school moved in June from a room in a downtown Long Beach homeless shelter where it began with grant funds in 1991, community groups have pitched in to improve the building and its grounds.

The school is still waiting for some playground equipment and more grass, but the yard provides a safe outdoor place where the students can play.

According to Dilts, the topic of being homeless rarely comes up, especially with the younger students, but those approaching their teens are more aware of the problems.

Sixth-grader Cheneal Stewart says her family isn’t homeless, just “getting things together.”

Along with her family, she moved to a local shelter from elsewhere in California. “There was a lot of stuff going on, so we had to come down here,” she said.

School districts deal with homeless children in different ways, but all are required, under the federal Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, to offer access to an appropriate public education.

Venice’s Coeur d’Alene Avenue Elementary, with one of the highest percentages of transient students in the Los Angeles Unified School District, was honored in 1995 as a model for teaching homeless students.

As at other campuses in the district, homeless pupils are integrated into the regular classroom. According to Principal Beth Ojena, grant money provides Coeur d’Alene students with extra tutoring, supplies, a nurse and a psychologist one day a week.

At many regular schools, however, things are not as easy. Schools require student addresses and medical records, things that homeless families are often hard-pressed to supply.

But all that Bethune requires is a district-provided test for tuberculosis. Immunizations are provided by a free clinic through the district.