January 2010
North East ISD's Barbara Mainz offers support for homeless students and school-age parents
By Elizabeth Millard

We give at-risk and homeless students hope and encouragement, and you see a transformation through that,” says Barbara Mainz, director of family support services for Northeast ISD in San Antonio. “When [students] start realizing that someone really cares about them, they push forward; their goals become stronger. It’s like a light comes on.”

If anyone knows what works with the at-risk population, Mainz does.

Coming up on her 30th year of working in education, Mainz started her career in 1978, teaching in Lockhart ISD after earning her bachelor of science degree in home economics education at Southwest Texas University (now Texas State University). In Lockhart ISD, Mainz served on a community advisory committee and helped develop several programs for at-risk students. A move to Judson ISD in 1987 allowed her to take on greater responsibility for at-risk youth. As the district’s coordinator for school-age parenting, Mainz and her team provided educational support and on-site health care for teen parents. Moreover, as chairman for the district’s health advisory committee and an advisor for the human sexuality curriculum, she established an advocacy group for preventing teen pregnancy in the county. While at Judson ISD, she earned her master’s degree in educational administration, with a minor in counseling, from Southwest Texas University.

She eventually made the switch in 1998 to North East ISD to serve in her current position. It was there that she uncovered another major issue for at-risk students: homelessness.

When Mainz started her support services programs in the district, she learned off-hand that about 25 of the teen parents receiving services were classified as homeless. According to Mainz, most of these kids were kicked out of their
homes when they told their parents about their pregnancies.

“I thought if we could get more money and help them with counseling and resources, it would really make a difference,” says Mainz, who immediately set to work preparing grant proposals for funding.

As part of the grant-writing process, Mainz conducted a survey of the student population to document the extent of the homeless problem. She was shocked that out of North East ISD’s 65,000 students, about 1,200 of them fit the criteria for being homeless. And nearly 300 more were classified as homeless teen parents. Mainz says that because there are no homeless shelters in the area and very limited affordable housing, these students were falling through the cracks and dropout rates were high.

“If kids move around because they’re homeless or because their families get evicted or they need to go to a shelter temporarily, they can lose at least six months of academic growth,” she says. “Some of these kids have to move in the middle of the night, and they don’t know where they’ll be the next day. We needed to create a system that let them come [to school] no matter where they were living.”

Mainz drew on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which was designed to assure that homeless children and youth have access to a free and appropriate public education. She applied for an assistance grant, which the district received in 2000.

From there, Mainz and her team developed a permanent system for identifying homeless students in need of services. They also established ways to find students at risk of becoming homeless. Barriers to school enrollment also were identified
and removed.

“The old rule was, ‘If you don’t live here, you can’t come here,’” Mainz says. “We had to change that whole paradigm.”

The students who require the most-intensive case management are those who are living on their own, often on the streets. Mainz says these kids end up sleeping wherever they can and
they come to school hungry. They sometimes have multiple jobs, leaving little time for school.

But these students respond well when their schools reach out and offer stability, Mainz says.

North East ISD not only provides transportation for homeless students (regardless of where they’re living), but it also offers a credit recovery lab, a food bank and free counseling. Mainz notes that the increased awareness about North East ISD’s homeless student population has increased sensitivity in the classroom among teachers.

“If a kid doesn’t have a pencil, we ask why not,” Mainz says. “Maybe they forgot to bring one, but maybe they don’t have one because he or she is living in a box or just got evicted. Understanding creates an atmosphere of compassion.”

After nearly a decade of refining her department’s services, Mainz still feels deeply passionate about helping at-risk students. She now has a bevy of student success stories to keep pushing her and her staff to do more.

“Gone are the days when you just teach math, reading and writing, and when a student walks out the door, your job is done for the day,” she says. “It’s all about relationships now, it’s about understanding what’s happening in their lives.”

ELIZABETH MILLARD is a freelance writer who also contributes to the nationally distributed District Administration.