Helping Students Overcome Roadblocks

A handwritten cardboard sign that reads “School on Wheels will be here Today” rests in her car’s rear window. The seats are covered with books, toys, notebooks, stacks of paper and plastic foam cups.

Retired elementary school teacher Agnes Stevens apologizes for the mess. But she has more important concerns.

In the past year she has organized School on Wheels, a group of 56 volunteers who visit three Westside homeless shelters to tutor students. Stevens, 58, got the idea for the program after working as a volunteer tutor at Venice’s Coeur d’Alene Elementary School, where several homeless students are enrolled.

School on Wheels began tutoring homeless children last October at the Sunlight Mission in Santa Monica, the Salvation Army shelter in West Los Angeles and the Bible Tabernacle shelter in Venice. The program gets its name from its mission to drive anywhere volunteers are needed.

A soft-spoken woman who is totally absorbed when talking to a child, Steven said she wanted to do something to help homeless children “get the best education, given their circumstances.”

During the year it took her to put School on Wheels together, Stevens tutored youngsters at the shelters, earning the trust of officials and explaining the idea for her program.

“The shelters are very protective,” said Stevens. “They’re not just going to let anyone come in and run a program.”

On a recent afternoon, Stevens and two new volunteers helped several youths with their homework.

At the Sunlight Mission, in a converted meeting room with large chunks of plaster on the rug, Stevens patiently worked with two students on their math and spelling. “Wow! You figured that out for yourself,” Stevens said to Robert Guerrero, 12, working on his math. “I’m so proud of you,” she added, smiling with the enthusiasm of a high school cheerleader.

“I didn’t know how to do my homework, and they said they’d help,” said Robert, a budding artist. “(Stevens) helped a lot. She’s really nice.”

Usually a good student, Robert said he had fallen behind in the 7th grade at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica.

Most of the children have endured major upheavals in their lives.

Robert, for instance, was sent to live with his father, Lou, about six weeks ago. They were unable to stay with Lou’s girlfriend and have been living in the shelter for two weeks.

Homeless children need and thrive on the attention they get from the tutors, said Patricia Feldman, the director of the Sunlight Mission.

“The parents are pleased, and the children’s grades are starting to improve because of the tutors,” said Feldman. Moving from shelter to shelter is difficult for the children--and their grades often suffer, she said.

To launch School on Wheels, Stevens spent a year reading books and talking to teachers about the problems faced by homeless students. Friends staged a fund-raiser that provided $600 in seed money.

The program has a monthly budget of about $1,000 for books, toys, pencils, paper and, of course, gas. She covers the expenses with her pension checks and by tutoring private clients. Corporate sponsorship, she said, would be a big help.

Through word of mouth and a newsletter she started publishing last June, the tutoring staff has grown from a couple of friends to several dozen volunteers.

Stevens screens and interviews the tutors and only accepts those with references. The volunteers include high school students and senior citizens.

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New tutor Victor Sadiarin, 28, a salesman, spent his first session working on spelling with a fifth-grader named Cornelius. “He is so bright,” Sadiarin raved about the 10-year-old. Sadiarin said he was going to “run out to a bookstore and buy some books for Cornelius. And I’m going to bring my chessboard, so we can play chess.”

Sadiarin volunteered because when he was younger “there was someone who helped me. So I can do this.”

Finding a way to keep track of the students and expanding School on Wheels’ geographic area are Stevens’ biggest dreams.

“We have an 800 number, which we want to put on pencils and business cards and give to the families when they move,” Stevens said. The idea, she said, is for the families to call the number to let her know how the children are doing and if they need help.

But the tracking idea, said Marina Barnett, a counselor at Coeur d’Alene elementary, may be too big a dream. School officials have been frustrated in keeping tabs on the children once they move.

“But if there is anyone who could do it,” Barnett said, “it would be Agnes. She has such an indomitable spirit, and she is so sure it will be done.”

Just helping the students now makes a difference, Barnett said.

“There has been a terrible neglect of these children,” she said. “But it’s the Agneses of the world that will change this.”