Mrs. Pat Coates

• Approved the resignations of Kristie Cerling as assistant principal at the high school and 40 percent of Patty Coates's contract as a counselor at West Side Elementary School.

Superintendent George Dyer announced that on Friday Pat Coates was named the Barbara Walters Cole Distinguished Counselor of 2006-07 during the 47th annual Educational Conference in Indianapolis.
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Coates is a counselor at West Side Elementary School.

Skill building starts with education, according to Pat Coates, a guidance counselor at Concord Community Schools.Programs to educate women are critical, she said."If they (children) have an educated mother, education becomes more important."

Homeless parents were children once, she said.

ELKHART -- Pat Coates knew her other young students went home to dinner and a warm bed.

She wondered where this little boy would sleep that night and who would care for him.

What Coates did not expect was how much being homeless would change him from a happy, curious, smiling boy into one who completely shut out the world around him.

Coates, a guidance counselor at Concord West Side Elementary School, watched this student lose everything as he was shuffled from relative to relative, home to home.

"He had a great smile, a lot of energy," she said.
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"He really lost everything," Coates said, wiping tears from her eyes."He had nothing of his own."Over a few years' time, he became vacant, lifeless.

For young children, their sense of identity is based on what is around them, such as their mother, their house, their dog, Coates said.
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For homeless children, "their education is interrupted and inconsistent," Coates said."They have periods of time when they're just out of school."

That makes it difficult to make friends, to fit in, to feel safe, she said."They have a sense of isolation."

Coates said many homeless children like to stay in the safe, secure routine of school.

School Counselor - Pat Coates

Mrs. Pat Coates, Counselor (e-mail)