Housing Important for Keeping Children in School

Housing Important for Keeping Children in School

住房对孩子上学很重要

【原文听力】

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　　By

　　07 November 2023

　　Last year, 40 percent of students in Los Angeles public schools missed more than 10 percent of the school year.

　　That information comes from the Los Angeles Unified School District, which says about 429,000 students are enrolled in its schools.

　　In addition to the attendance numbers, the district's website says its officials did not know where 2,500 students were. These students stopped attending class and did not appear to enroll anywhere else.

　　Elmer Roldan is executive director of Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, a nonprofit group that aims to keep children in school. He said, "Housing is the biggest reason kids aren't going to school or we can't find them."

　　The Associated Press (AP) recently reported on a case of one of those children whose housing situation led to problems at school.

　　Fifteen-year-old Deneffy Sánchez has faced housing problems with his family for years. An AP reporter spoke with the teenager and his family.

　　Deneffy lives with his mother Lilian Lopez and a 3-year-old sister. Lopez had been having a hard time keeping up with monthly rent payments in an earlier apartment. So the family of three shared a small living space with Fabiola Del Castillo, someone they did not know.

　　As they fell behind on rent payments again, Del Castillo wanted to give up the apartment and pressured the family to leave. To fight the threat of losing their home, Deneffy stayed in the apartment — and missed school.

　　Federal data shows that the majority of students the government considers "homeless" have a place to stay. But the situation is often complex with shared roommates and an unsure future. In Los Angeles, the city's superintendent said last spring that 13,000 students were homeless and 2,000 of them stayed in city shelters.

　　In Deneffy's case, his family was struggling to stay in their small apartment. His father has not been with them. His mother immigrated from Guatemala 22 years ago. In 2020, after his mother gave birth to Jennifer, his sister, the family was homeless.

　　That year, schools across the country closed because of the spread of COVID-19. Deneffy tried to attend seventh-grade classes online through Zoom but said he could not pay attention. "I felt like they were judging me," he said.

　　By ninth grade, classes became more difficult, and his family did not have internet service at home. Deneffy's grades crashed. His school offered help with homework. But AP reported the boy said that he really wanted a therapist.

　　Deneffy spoke to the school's "psychiatric social worker" to see if she could help him get mental health counseling. But demand for such help increased sharply during the pandemic.

　　In 2021, an opinion study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 42 percent of high school students said they felt sad or hopeless a lot compared to 28 percent ten years before.

　　After leaving the apartment shared with Castillo, Deneffy's family had another bad experience sharing a place. Then they found a place where they could live without roommates through an old friend. The apartment is small and costs $1250 to rent each month. That is more than Deneffy's mother makes from government assistance and cleaning jobs.

　　The 15-year-old now has a laptop computer provided by the school and a wireless connection to help with schoolwork. He has the most trouble with writing. "I never know where to put the commas and other punctuation," he said.

　　He also sees a therapist at school once a week. But he is worried that his family's new living situation might change. His mother needs to find a full-time job to meet the rent payments.

　　Speaking of his mother, Deneffy says she tells him not to worry. "But I do," he said. "What if we don't have money, and we get kicked out again?"

　　I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

　　Bianca Vásquez Toness reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter, Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　By

　　2023年11月7日

　　去年，洛杉矶公立学校40%的学生一学年缺课超过10%。

　　该信息来自洛杉矶联合学区，该学区称约有429，000名学生登记在学校里。

　　除了出席人数，该学区的网站称其官员不知道2500名学生在哪里。这些学生停止上课，似乎也没有在其他地方注册。

　　德内菲Sá2023年9月9日，星期六，在洛杉矶的一间公寓里，nchez(左)和他的母亲Lilian Lopez(右)和妹妹Jennifer共用一张双层床，看着他的智能手机。(美联社图片/Jae C. Hong)

　　埃尔默·罗尔丹是洛杉矶学校社区的执行董事，这是一个旨在让孩子们留在学校的非营利组织。他说，“住房是孩子们不去上学或者我们找不到他们的最大原因。”

　　美联社(美联社)最近报道了一个案例，其中一名儿童的住房状况导致其在学校出现问题。

　　15岁的Deneffy Sánchez多年来一直面临着家庭住房问题。一名美联社记者采访了这名少年及其家人。

　　Deneffy和他的母亲Lilian Lopez以及一个3岁的妹妹生活在一起。洛佩兹一直很难跟上每月租金之前公寓的付款。因此，这个三口之家与法比奥拉·德尔·卡斯蒂略(Fabiola Del Castillo)共享一个狭小的生活空间，而这个人他们并不认识。

　　由于他们再次拖欠租金，德尔·卡斯蒂略想放弃这套公寓，并迫使这家人离开。为了对抗失去家园的威胁，Deneffy呆在公寓里——并且没去上学。

　　联邦数据显示，大多数被政府认为“无家可归”的学生都有地方住。但对于合租的室友和不确定的未来，情况往往很复杂。在洛杉矶，该市的负责人说，去年春天有13，000名学生无家可归，其中2，000人住在城市避难所。

　　在德内菲的案例中，他的家人正努力住在他们的小公寓里。他的父亲没有和他们在一起。他的母亲22年前从危地马拉移民过来。2020年，他的母亲生下他的妹妹詹妮弗后，这家人无家可归。

　　那一年，由于新冠肺炎病毒的传播，全国的学校都关闭了。Deneffy试图通过Zoom在线参加七年级的课程，但他说他无法集中注意力。“我觉得他们在评判我，”他说。

　　到了九年级，课程变得更加困难，他的家人家里没有互联网服务。德内菲的成绩直线下降。他的学校提供家庭作业方面的帮助。但是据美联社报道，男孩说他真的想要一个临床医学家.

　　德内菲对学校的“精神病学的社工”看她能否帮他做心理健康咨询。但是在疫情期间，对这种帮助的需求急剧增加。

　　2021年，疾病控制和预防中心的一项民意调查显示，42%的高中生表示他们感到悲伤或绝望，而十年前这一比例为28%。

　　离开与卡斯蒂略合租的公寓后，德尼菲的家人又有了一次合租的糟糕经历。然后他们通过一个老朋友找到了一个没有室友也能生活的地方。公寓很小，每月租金1250美元。这比Deneffy的母亲从政府援助和清洁工作中挣的还要多。

　　这个15岁的孩子现在有一台学校提供的笔记本电脑和一个无线连接来帮助完成学业。他在写作方面有最大的困难。“我从来不知道逗号和其他的放在哪里标点，”他说。

　　他还每周在学校见一次治疗师。但是他担心他的家庭的新生活状况可能会改变。他的母亲需要找一份全职工作来支付房租。

　　谈到他的母亲，Deneffy说她告诉他不要担心。“但我知道，”他说。“如果我们没钱了，又被赶出来了怎么办？”

　　我是小马里奥·里特。

　　Bianca Vásquez Toness为美联社报道了这个故事。小马里奥·里特为美国之音英语学习节目改编。

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　　这个故事中的词语

　　enrolled –adj. 被学校录取并完全有能力上课

　　rent –n. 为居住或使用不属于您的财产或设备而支付的定期费用

　　therapist –n. 被训练不用药物或医疗手术来治疗疾病的人

　　psychiatric –adj. 与针对情绪和精神障碍的医学分支相关

　　punctuation –n.单词之间的标记，便于阅读和理解文字