Teaching in the Inner City

Keep an eye out for the students who periodically are absent from school with a “personal reason” excuse. Ask them and you may find that their answer is, “My mom says I have no clean laundry so I can’t go to school.”

I always have at least one student, sometimes two or three students, every year who can’t come to school because they have no clean clothes. They may be homeless, their parents may work many hours and can’t go to the laundromat regularly, they may not have the $10 or so to do the laundry this week, whatever.

There isn’t any point in lecturing the students, so don’t.

What you may be able to do is ask the school counselor to take the student to School Bell or a similar program. School Bell gives clothes, shoes, and backpacks to the neediest of the students.

This will give the student additional clothes that may just be enough to last them till the next laundry day, thus lowering their incidence of absences.