As the new executive director of New Horizons School, I want to thank the community for their continuing support of New Horizons School over the past 14 years.

As many people know, New Horizons School was started by a retired teacher, Carol Drewes, who discovered there were school-aged children hanging around on the streets during the school day. She was concerned about these kids getting an education, but in those days children without an address could not be enrolled in public schools. Fortunately, a number of years later in 2001, a law was enacted, the McKinney-Vento Bill, which required public schools to enroll homeless children and provide for all their needs.

However, despite the McKinney-Vento Bill, there is still the need for New Horizons School. Our school meets the needs of a number of families each year. Why, one may ask?

There are families whose children have not been enrolled in local public schools when they became homeless or became very mobile after losing permanent housing. These children could easily fall between the cracks and not attend school because of lack of permanent housing.

At New Horizons School we provide transportation and pick up students wherever they live, whether at the Rebele Shelter, at the Resource Center where the families in the Interfaith Satellite Shelter Program are dropped off in the morning after sleeping on the floor at local churches, or in other temporary housing around the Mid-County or Santa Cruz area.

Why would families want their children at a place like New Horizons School? Not only do we provide nutritious breakfasts and lunches every day, but we have a warm, welcoming atmosphere for these children who are often stigmatized by society.

What else does New Horizons School do that is worthy of community support? We provide a solid educational experience for students that is based on the California Standards. Our teachers are certificated teachers with valuable experience. Our students are assessed so their individual educational needs can be addressed by our professional staff.

In addition to that, we provide food to families who need it; we provide shoes and clothes to children who need them; we give every child a new backpack filled with school supplies so they feel as though they are on a par with other children attending school.

The homeless population is a unique entity. The people are often very proud and private. You may know homeless people, but not recognize the fact that they are without a safe, permanent home. Some homeless people do stay in shelters, others squat in abandoned buildings, yet others live in their cars, and some stay in motels for various periods of times.