• 40% of North Dakotan, Watford Elementary Students Considered Homeless
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[quote]As Watford City Elementary School’s enrollment is swelling, one trend that has school administrators concerned, is the number of students who are considered “homeless.” According to Steve Holen, district superintendent, 40 percent of the elementary school’s 700+ students fall into that category.To fall into the “homeless” category, one of these specific homeless provisions has to be met under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act: lack of fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and/or shared housing (due to loss or hardship). In the beginning of this 2014-15 school year, a housing survey was sent home with each student to voluntarily be filled out by the parent or guardian. Of the surveys filled out and returned to the school, 268 of the 700+ enrolled students at the elementary school qualified as ‘homeless,’ having met one or both of those provisions. 107 students met that criteria from the high school. That means a total of 375 students, whose parent or guardian voluntarily filled out the survey, from both the elementary and high schools, are considered ‘homeless.’ The total number last year was 254 students, and this year it has significantly increased to 375 students. That equates to a little over 40 percent of the elementary school students and roughly 29 percent of the high school students this year, that qualify for the federal grant that provides 100 percent-free hot breakfast and lunch to each of those qualifying students for the entirety of the school year. “These numbers are reflective of our community right now and our desperate need of permanent housing in Watford City,” said Holen. “Watford City is getting there, but it’s slow. There’s a lot of housing coming, but the challenge is getting the infrastructure here and sooner.” Last year was the first year Watford City Elementary School broke the 40 percent mark, allowing for this grant and additional funding/program opportunities. One of these additional funding opportunities was the school now being eligible to be a Title 1 School, not just a ‘Targeted’ Title 1 School. “Because we broke that 40 percent, we are now able to qualify for a Title 1 School, not just a ‘Targeted’ Title 1 School, which allows the funding and resources throughout the entire school, not just to those who qualify,” said Brad Foss, Watford City Elementary School principal. “Instead of having Title 1 teachers, everyone is now a Title 1 teacher. This will force us to focus on the education of everyone.”[/quote] [url=http://www.watfordcitynd.com/?id=10&nid=2901]Mckenzie County Farmer[/url]
Well yeah, it's North Dakota. That should say enough about the situation. I wouldn't want to own a house there either.
Housing is popping up pretty quickly though, I passed this on my way home from work yesterday [img]http://i.imgur.com/94drdGV.jpg?2[/img] There was only a foundation that morning. I think they put up 3 this week on that road Still a lot of people living out of campers or cars though.
[QUOTE=jaredop;46188416]Housing is popping up pretty quickly though, I passed this on my way home from work yesterday[/QUOTE] That looks like one of those double wide two floor mobile home things they sell down here. Those things are scary, the building materials are so cheap and flimsy that the second floor often starts sagging from the weight when you start moving stuff upstairs. At least on the models I've seen do that, no idea about those. I just know I wouldn't want to live in one in a place where there are regular storms with high winds or earthquakes.
That's more likely to be a manufactured home which is manufactured in squares like a skyscraper. All though it doesn't excuse flimsy materials, they are sorta needed in NoDak right now in terms of how bad the housing market is right now. Oddly enough though, I'll give props to North Dakotan builders... They can build a motherfucking house like nothing. I have seen houses go up in literally a week or two, and entire neighborhoods pop up outta fucking nowhere.
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