By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

This holiday season Scarborough School Nutrition Program Director Judy Campbell is more focused on filling stomachs than Christmas stockings. Inspired by hungry students returning to school after long weekends, Campbell said she hopes to have Scarborough’s first “Backpack” program fully functioning before students break for an annual eight-day vacation beginning Dec. 23. 

“We fill bags with foods that are easily eaten like cereal and peanut butter and jelly,” she said. “Anything that will help get them through the week they don’t have school.”

Campbell said this year she is relying on donations from food vendors and organizations like Project G.R.A.C.E. to purchase and fill backpacks with food – at a cost of $25 per bag – so students can return to school in 2009 with full bellies.

“We have some children that are really hungry, that’s all I can say,” she said. “If it works and we find it is filling part of a need, maybe the donations will start coming in even more.”

 Campbell’s efforts go above and beyond the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal mandate, Assistant Director of Special Services Chris Rohde said helps schools identify “homeless” students and requires the school system to provide them with free and reduced lunch while they are at school. 

“This doesn’t mean kids are out there living under a bridge,” Superintendent David Doyle said. “They could be living in a hotel or with relatives.”

As the school’s “homeless liaison,” – also required by the McKinney-Vento Act – Rohde said he often reminds educators to keep an eye out for the “classic signs” of a homeless student: wearing the same clothing and repeatedly lacking money for lunch and frequently missing school. Even with these signals, Rohde said it is still difficult to determine if a student qualifies for the programs. 

“A student could not be getting along with their family and move in with relatives in South Portland, or perhaps the entire family has relocated because of financial hardship,” he said. “There are many shades of gray.”

Rohde said there are about half a dozen Scarborough students who qualify as “homeless” under the McKinney-Vento Act, which says they must lack a “regular fixed residence” to fit the definition. Rohde said there were 10 students who met the definition last year and nine during the 2005-2006 school year.

“Scarborough’s not immune,” Doyle said.

The McKinney-Vento Act also guarantees eligible students school bus transportation to and from their “school of origin,” for the remainder of the current academic year, Rohde said. 

“If a Scarborough student moves in with his uncle in South Portland, he is allowed to finish that [academic year] at Scarborough,” Rohde said. “What will usually happen is we will contact South Portland and split the cost [of transportation].”

After a year, the student’s “school of origin” would change to whichever school district they were living in, although Rohde said it is uncommon students “bounce around” long enough for the shift to happen.

“Things will usually settle down in less than a year,” he said.

To learn more about the “Backpack” program or to make a donation contact the Scarborough school nutrition program at 730-4701.