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HEAR US: Hearing is Learning
A Simple Way to Help Homeless Students Succeed in School
I’ve spent decades of my life fighting to make sure kids experiencing homelessness could get the best education possible. It’s the least we can do — to make sure they can become successful adults.
In September 1993, I was running a shelter. One of our families wanted their children to continue at the school they attended before coming to our shelter. The school district said no.
But the Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness has come to the aid of the mother and the three youngsters in what its president, Diane Nilan, is calling “a David vs. Goliath battle” over their rights.
How the Naperville case-believed to be the first of its kind in the Chicago area-is resolved may have a bearing on further defining the rights of the homeless, particularly now that they are becoming a part of the landscape in affluent Du Page and in other places where homelessness had never been a big worry. (Chicago Tribune, 9/4/1993)
Little did I know back then, as we endured a prolonged court battle, that I’d still be immersed in the uphill climb to give millions of homeless kids a fair chance to…
