By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — The cost to schools of coping with homeless students living in three local motels could be as much as $500,000, and the town is looking to the state for help.
So far, the state has come through with 50 toothbrushes.
During a selectmen's meeting with state Rep. Ted Speliotis, D-Danvers, Town Manager Wayne Marquis said he reached out to the state for assistance, but what he got was a "minimal amount."
Instead of cash, state education officials delivered a display box with the toothbrushes, plus coloring books, small notepads, index cards and chocolate bars.
"They were feeling a sense of frustration themselves because they didn't have any money," Marquis said later.
Selectman Mike Powers was less diplomatic during the meeting.
"That's ... too bad, to send something like that," Powers said.
Speliotis said officials need to catch the ear of Lt. Gov. Tim Murray on ways the state can help Danvers cope financially with the influx of homeless to its motels. Murray plans to speak tonight at the North Shore Chamber of Commerce's 91st annual dinner at the Crowne Plaza Boston North Shore, the former Sheraton Ferncroft Resort.
Murray serves as chairman of the state's Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness.
There are 108 homeless families living in three Danvers motels, about 10 percent of the 1,019 homeless families the state is paying to live in motels with the state's shelter system full, Speliotis said.
The homeless crisis, which began over the summer, is even worse than it was during the last downturn after Sept. 11, but the outcry has not been as great, Speliotis said.
As of yesterday, there were 77 students living in motels, Richard Warren, Danvers schools' director of finance and administration, told selectmen last night.
Of those, 35 go to local schools. If they stay put until June, the cost to the district would be $350,000, at a $10,000-per-pupil cost. That does not include special-education costs.
The other 42 homeless students attend classes in other cities and towns, and while those numbers are falling, it could cost $150,000 to transport them, even with other districts footing half the bill.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
