Walking down Clifton Street on the morning of August 20th, you would have noticed the sounds first. Music drifted down from the entrance of the Cardozo Education Campus, punctuated by the shouts of children and teenagers excited, and a bit nervous, for the first day of the school year. Some students may have been more anxious than others, having arrived at school without the necessary supplies, unsure of how they were going to write down their schedules or complete their assignments.
According to Diogenin Matos, a Site Coordinator with Communities in Schools of the Nation’s Capital assigned to Cardozo, this was a common occurrence and he was prepared. Down past the balloon arch and the complementary donuts, Mr. Matos and fellow Site Coordinator Monique Baker spent the morning distributing backpacks, school supplies, and school uniforms to students in need.
Starting the day with 70 backpacks, by mid-afternoon only 5 remained.
The back-to-school season is often a difficult time for families. According to a report from the National Retail Federation, the average family in 2018 spent $687.72 on school supplies. This is a substantial sum for the families of Cardozo EC, where 100% of the students are classified as economically disadvantaged. Back-to-school spending has been shown to lead families directly into debt, with low-income parents being 10 times more likely than high income parents to apply for a new credit card to provide their children with the necessary supplies for them to succeed in school.
In addition, students without the necessary supplies often face negative social and academic impacts as they can be singled out by other students and they lack the materials needed to successfully complete assignments. The first day of school can set the tone for the rest of the year, and if a student has a negative experience it will be harder to keep them coming back to class.
This is what was on Mr. Matos’s mind when he met Ricky, who showed up to his first day of middle school with nothing but his school uniform. Maybe Ricky’s family couldn’t afford school supplies, or maybe they didn’t understand that he was supposed to bring his own.
This sort of misunderstanding is common; many of Cardozo’s parents and students are immigrants (47.9% of students are classified as English Language Learners), and language barriers and cultural differences can sometimes result in confusion. Many parents fail to grasp the nuances of DC’s varied school start dates, and some students don’t even make it to school until after Labor Day.
Regardless of the reason, Ricky needed supplies. As he navigated the throng of students, he was ushered towards the door where Mr. Matos provided him with a backpack fully stocked with pens, pencils, notebooks, and binders, one of the hundreds donated by CIS of the Nation’s Capital partner Synchrony to support CIS’s back to school efforts. Fully equipped for the day, Ricky entered the school.
The first day of school is a very important day for students, but it is just the beginning. Over the next few days students will continue to stream into school, already finding themselves weeks behind academically. As they settle in, the focus turns from getting students into school to keeping them there. With an attendance rate 13% below the DC average, Cardozo’s Site Coordinators have their work cut out for them.
Soon enough, they will be helping students find winter clothing and transportation options in the frigid winds of a DC winter. But for now, students are content to bask in the summer sun, looking out over Cardozo’s unmatched view of their city.
If you would like to support the students of Cardozo EC, you can access their Amazon Wishlist here:
