Children find warm welcome in new schools

HOUSTON --Thousands of children evacuated from Louisiana started their first day of class yesterday in cities across Texas, with educators in the metropolitan area handling the bulk of the surge in enrollment.

At least 18,900 evacuees had enrolled in Texas schools as far west as El Paso and as far north as Lubbock, according to state education officials. In Houston, which has received the largest number of Louisiana evacuees of any Texas city, educators said 1,914 new students registered yesterday.

''We are not sure how high the number will go," said Suzanne Marchman, spokeswoman for the Texas Education Agency, which oversees the state's public schools. ''We heard enrollment is expected to rise this week, since some people in the shelters are feeling a little settled."

Across the country, in what has been dubbed the largest exodus of schoolchildren in the nation's history, similar scenes played out, as educators welcomed displaced children with hugs, donated uniforms, and school supplies. Excited and jittery youngsters found themselves in welcoming but foreign environments, wearing uniforms for the first time, learning new school rules, and having to make new friends.

''This is unprecedented." said Susan Aspey, spokeswoman for the US Department of Education. ''In recent memory, we have never seen this number of displaced schoolchildren."

Using a federal law called the McKinney-Vento Act, which assures a free education to homeless students or children caught in a crisis, schools enrolled children without the usual paperwork, such as birth certificates and school records.

Aspey was reluctant to estimate how many students have been displaced by the hurricane, but data from schools in Mississippi and Louisiana have the figure close to 300,000: 135,000 in Louisiana and 160,000 students in Mississippi, according to each state's education department. Caron Blanton, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Education, said most of the displaced students are attending schools in Mississippi.

Harris County, Texas, which includes the mammoth Houston Independent School district, could see as many as 20,000 new students because of the storm, according to John Sawyer, the county's superintendent.

Early yesterday, yellow schools buses arrived at the Astrodome and the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. Outside the convention center, principals and teachers greeted students, many excited and a few nervous, with smiles and handshakes.

''Hi, baby," said Brenda Bryant, a literacy teacher at Scarborough High School in the city.

Chance West, 14, waved at his mother before entering a bus headed to Scarborough.

''I was ready last night," he said.

''He could hardly wait. He was getting his clothes together the night before. He didn't do that back home in Louisiana," said his mother, Deborah West.

Bryant assured Lutrina Jones, 44, that her daughter Tyneisha, a senior, will be looked after at Scarborough.

''I'm behind my daughter 100 percent," said Jones. ''I told her, 'Don't let the disaster stop you from finishing.' "

When asked how schools will pay for the additional students, Aspey of the US Education Department replied that the money would come from the extra funds Congress is expected to approve.

Marchman of the Texas Education Agency said the schools will probably be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while Sawyer, the Harris County superintendent, said state officials are looking at several options, including shifting federal funds normally designated to Louisiana schools to those in Texas.

Since the storm, which resulted in an estimated 250,000 evacuating to Texas, the state education agency has waived enrollment rules and relaxed certification requirements to make it easier to hire sorely needed teachers. School districts yesterday held job fairs for teachers displaced from Louisiana.

''This is unprecedented. There is a lot of learning as we go along," said Jill Cook, director of programs for the American School Counselor Association.

''The fact that they don't necessarily have birth and school records, that's not the primary concern. What schools have to deal with is everything from making sure they place kids in appropriate settings; making sure they have seating, textbooks, and school supplies," she said. ''They have to make sure they can get them acclimated to a new school and to feel welcome, which is a whole set of issues, on top of the fact schools must be prepared to deal with the emotional issues due to the trauma the children endured."

Students yesterday were bused to several middle and high schools in Houston. The district will also reopen two elementary schools. On Wednesday, teams of counselors registered students, and every student received a health screening.

Earlier this week, ninth-grader Alexis Tyler, wearing a white ribbon in her hair and her new school uniform, tried to run off to her classes without a goodbye kiss from her parents. The family escaped Katrina a day before the storm hit and have been staying in a Houston hotel ever since. Tyler's parents said they wanted to make sure she was registered for school as soon as possible.

Like most evacuees enrolling in Houston schools, Tyler came without records.

''There is a no-question-asked entry," said Steve Siebenaler, the school's principal. ''We are just going by their word."