Children from nearly 50 countries fill the hallways at Hillcrest School. They come to Lawrence with their parents, many of whom go to school or work at Kansas University. English is their second language.

For most, learning the academic and social ropes in a foreign land can be quite an adjustment.

But for families like the Torreses, who came here from Mexico, Hillcrest’s Working to Recognize Alternative Possibilities social worker has made the transition easier.

Emily Dorothy meets once a week with the Torreses and their three children  Charlie, Daisy and Rafael  to teach the parents how to help their children with homework.

“The children’s comfort level with the things that we have been working on has increased,” said Dorothy, who works with Hillcrest students who are having a tough time academically because of any number of social, psychological or economic problems. “The most important piece of it is they are enjoying doing academics at home.”

This year, WRAP, now a nearly 5-year-old program that helps area public school students function better in the classroom, expanded its reach into nine Lawrence, Eudora and Baldwin elementary schools with the help of $803,000 in federal funding obtained through U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore’s office.

Expansion to lower grades meant workers could concentrate more on prevention rather than catch-up work on older children with more pronounced problems.

But after a year of progress, the program, run by Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, may have to take a step back: The recent economic downturn has put the scope of WRAP’s future in question.

“We’ll continue the program. We’ll do whatever we need to do,” said Charlie Kuszmaul, program coordinator. “If we have to make it smaller, we will.”

Bleak budget

In addition to federal dollars, WRAP receives funds from the school districts, the city of Lawrence, Douglas County and Bert Nash. The district this year contributed roughly $140,000, about 15 percent of the program’s budget, Kuszmaul said.

“While it’s useful, it’s not make or break,” he said. “But as we’re trying to find money from a variety of other sources … it’s much easier when we can say this local school district puts money into the program. I don’t need as much money from them as they’ve given in the past, but I need some.

“It’s just like playing poker; you’ve got to ante up.”

That ante will amount to $70,000 or less next year. The Lawrence school board this month voted to cut WRAP funding in half as part of a multimillion-dollar fee increase and spending cut plan. And depending on how much funding the Kansas Legislature at the end of this session decides to send Lawrence’s way, the school board could opt to eliminate WRAP funding altogether.

The federal dollars that enabled the program to grow this year will be cut back to, at most, $200,000, said Pat Meinhold of Bert Nash. The state is talking about slashing funding to Bert Nash, and city and county officials are no less strapped for cash.

Benefits of prevention

If program cuts must be made, elementary schools likely would be the first places to see them.

“In difficult times, it’s always difficult to convince people to pay for early intervention,” Kuszmaul said, referring both to policy makers and taxpayers. “But if you don’t pay it now, you will pay it later.”

Students who get attention from WRAP workers have problems  economic, psychological, sociological  that prevent them from engaging fully in the educational process, he said. Once they start falling behind, they have fewer resources to catch up.

New York School Principal Sharen Steele has noticed a stark impact since WRAP worker Carla DeHetre started working at the school this year.

DeHetre’s flexible schedule allows her to go to the homes of children who don’t show up for school and can’t be contacted by phone.

“I believe that’s helped reduce truancy already,” Steele said.

She says she hopes the district’s budget woes won’t mean the end of the WRAP program in her school.

“Ultimately, it affects the entire community if we can’t give the kids the type of support they need now, when they’re young,” she said. “We’re going to be dealing with these issues for a long time.”