Abundant Amish farmland and the tourist towns of Intercourse and Paradise lie within the boundaries of the Pequea Valley School District.

But what remains relatively unknown, and often unnoticed, are the many families living in poverty, Superintendent Patrick Hallock said.

Pequea Valley has the third-highest poverty rate — 32.9 percent — among the county's 16 public school districts.

The urban school districts of Lancaster and Columbia have the highest rates, at 77.4 percent and 55 percent, respectively. They have long dealt with poverty's repercussions, such as homelessness, hunger and kids who need health care.

Countywide, the rate is 27.7 percent, and growing.

Because of the land values in Pequea Valley, "On paper, we look like a rich district, when in fact we are anything but that," said Bryant Ferris, the school board's president.

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Poverty has been climbing in his district for 10 years. It began making a more direct impact on academics in the past five or six years, Ferris said.

"Teachers are telling us they have kids coming to school without the basic needs, and that's making their job as an educator difficult," he said.

About 606 of Pequea Valley's 1,839 students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches this school year — or just about one in three.

School districts are seeing increases in the numbers of students who are living in poverty, or close to it.

During the past five years, the rate of county public-school students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches jumped 6.1 percentage points.

To qualify for free lunches, a student from a family of four must have annual family income of $27,560 or less.

A family of four with a maximum income of $39,220 qualifies for reduced-price student lunches.

Most of the poverty that school officials are seeing is cyclical — students in poverty have parents who grew up poor or were teen parents. But there are families being hit hard by the recession, officials said.

Conestoga Valley School District's poverty rate has risen 11 percentage points in the past five years, the largest increase in the county.

Superintendent Gerald Huesken said the jump is due to an influx of high-density housing and proximity to the city.

In Pequea Valley, the poverty rate has risen 7.8 percentage points over five years.

Ferris said he finds the trend "disconcerting" and frustrating. School officials want to reach kids who are in crisis, he said. Sometimes, they don't know what else they can do.

Many of the Pequea Valley students in poverty reside in rundown homes along Route 30, a few miles east of the outlets. They are interspersed with tourist shops and small businesses.

PV officials are also seeing more transience, with students registering for a few weeks, then leaving, Ferris said.

Some are homeless and staying in cheap motels along Route 30, officials said. They find a place to live and then leave.

With the rise in students needing help, county public school officials have beefed up their efforts to employ counselors and social workers. Hempfield has its own clothing bank.

Student who need help in CV often meet Judene Gaul, the district's home-and-school visitor.

"When a student comes to school and says things are tight at home, we have no electricity, my dad had to go to the local convenience store to microwave food," Gaul said. "the teachers pick up on it, and they refer it to me and the school counselors."

She then refers the family to agencies that can help.

School districts work with community and faith-based organizations to provide help with housing and groceries and free health care and dental care.

Many poor families in Pequea Valley rely on the Welsh Mountain Medical and Dental Center near New Holland. It offers sliding-fee scales based on size of family and income.

"One teacher told me, 'How can I be expected to get through to a kid about math, if they are sitting in class worrying about a toothache?'" Ferris said.

District officials are also grateful for a St. Joseph Health Ministries program called Brush. Brush. Smile!

Since its debut in 2004, it has provided nearly $2.5 million worth of free dental care and oral-health education to more than 16,000 children in the county's 16 school districts. The program includes two mobile dental clinics.

About 200 students from PV schools frequent The Factory Youth Center, a Christian organization at 27 Paradise Lane that provides food, counseling, homework help, financial aid and activities, said its director, Chuck Holt.

"For these kids, the last thing on their mind is Algebra," Holt explained. "What they are thinking about is how they are going to survive as a family."


Staff writer Robyn Meadows can be reached at rmeadows@LNPnews.com or 481-6025.