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NEW PORT RICHEY
Emory Salter has slept most nights since he turned 18 this summer in a Wal-Mart parking lot, a knife under his pillow.
"Before, a grenade could go off next to me and I wouldn't wake up," he said. "Since I've slept on the street, I've become a very light sleeper."
He recently found some respite in a one-room cottage owned by St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. Since he moved out of his parents' home, he has existed on such generosity of strangers — and the staff at Mitchell High School, where he is a student.
But the cottage is just temporary shelter. Salter figures he'll soon be back at the Wal-Mart. It's close enough to the school that he can ride his bike.
"I feel more comfortable (at Mitchell) than anywhere else," he said. "I've just got a lot more people here I can trust than anywhere else."
Erika Remsberg's job with the Pasco County school district is to help homeless children through a program called Students in Transition. She finds her work increasing as the county sees more families at risk as the economy's collapse has sent unemployment soaring.
Some students, like Salter, are on the street. Others are living with friends, in shelters, motel rooms or even in vehicles.
As of Sept. 14, 1,088 children had received services through Students in Transition, up from 581 at the same time a year ago. The program served 2,447 homeless children in all of last year, and Remsberg predicts that number could double.
The numbers could reflect just a portion of the true situation, school district social worker Michelle LaMonda said. Many of the "new homeless'' come from working-class families, and many of them have rejected what they consider handouts.
"It is becoming really a crisis right now," said the Rev. Dan Campbell of Joining Hands Community Mission, president of the Pasco County Homeless Coalition. "We need to respond to what is going on out there. I go and talk to people, and they're clueless as to what is going on. They see street people, but they don't see the families and the children."
The federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires school districts to have a liaison to deal with homeless issues. Pasco has two social workers and two office staff, with plans to hire two teachers for this specific duty.
The law says students can attend their school of origin the entire time they are homeless and receive transportation to and from that school. Schools must enroll homeless students immediately, without demanding records such as immunizations or proof of residency.
"But if they don't know and nobody tells them about it, they might move needlessly," said Barbara Duffield, policy director for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.
In some instances, Remsberg said, principals and school staff need training on the exact rules. She has made it a goal to write a handbook for their use.
Because the last thing these children and families need is extra grief.
They might be struggling to find clothes to wear, or food to eat. School in many cases provides the most basic safety net for children, and they need to have access, Duffield said.
The federal stimulus package doubled the money available to help homeless students, a critical need as the numbers grow.
"The last two or three years, we've seen significant increases," Duffield said. "What you are seeing locally is happening nationally."
Including a growing number of older teens "offloaded" to the streets, teens like Salter.
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Salter finished Mitchell High in the spring with a special diploma. He continues to take training courses through the school as part of the state's special education program.
While a senior, he lived with his parents. About the time he turned 18 in July, he and school officials say, his parents told him to leave the house. The Times was unable to locate the parents.
He wakes before sunrise to make the trek to school, rain or shine, on his rickety bike. He tries to stick to sidewalks. Recently, while riding in the dark, he struck a tortoise, flipping the bike and gashing his arm.
But as long as he can get to Mitchell, he says, he's happy.
Salter stays at the campus up to 17 hours some days, working with the school's maintenance staff. He speed walks "double time" from trouble spot to trouble spot, frequently fueled by Mountain Dew Code Red. He delivers televisions, scrubs floors, cuts grass — whatever is needed.
"If I do well, maybe I might get on the full payroll," he says. "It would be a blessing."
He hopes to get food stamps so he doesn't have to rely on free school meals and weekends of crackers, chips and soda. He speaks longingly about being able to treat his co-workers to ribs, if only he could afford it.
He showers at the school, where he also does laundry and receives mail and phone calls. He admits to past anger problems that caused disruption at home. In his junior year, his behavior landed him in an alternative high school before he was allowed to return to Mitchell.
But he says pills eased his anxiety and anger. Unfortunately he recently ran out and no longer has medical coverage.
The school staff has gone well beyond the requirements of the McKinney-Vento Act to help.
"It's just nice to give something back to someone," said Jim Pitcher, the plant manager who has taken Salter under his wing.
Most students go off to bigger things after graduation. But this one, Pitcher said, "just happened to bound back our direction."
Pitcher has helped Salter resolve problems with his job application to the Pasco school district. He gives him all sorts of work to do. He offers guidance on how to stay out of trouble and work as a model employee.
"He's a good kid, a good worker," said Don Donahue, one of the maintenance workers who often gives Salter a ride home from school and a hearty weekend meal. "I'd really like to see him get off on a good path."
School workers are helping Salter figure out the public transit system, so he doesn't have to bike everywhere. They've told him about area food banks. They even helped him find that cottage at St. Vincent de Paul.
"They want to help him. They feel bad for him," principal Jim Michaels said. "We all wish we had the perfect answer for him. He's one of those guys you just want to help out."
Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at solochek@sptimes.com or (813) 909-4614. For more education news, visit the Gradebook at blogs.tampabay.com/schools.
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