Kate Bradshaw

_{Kindergarten teacher aide Konstance Kirkendoll mentors students at Beechwood Elementary School in Menlo Park. She and her daughter commute to the school from San Leandro. Photo by Michelle Le/The Almanac.}

By Kate Bradshaw

April 6, 2016

Every morning, Konstance Kirkendoll leaves her San Leandro home at 7 a.m., with her two children, an 8-year-old and a 3-month-old, in tow.

On good days, she says, she makes pancakes before they head out. Other days, they grab muffins or yogurt to eat in the car. Together, they drive anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes to get to Beechwood School in eastern Menlo Park. Ms. Kirkendoll drops off her baby at a cousin’s house nearby, before they arrive at Beechwood School, located at 50 Terminal Ave. across the parking lot from the Onetta Harris Community Center.

It’s the school she attended as a child and now where her daughter attends as a second-grader. It’s also where she works as a teaching aide for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten students. After 24 years of learning, volunteering, teaching and parenting there, it’s a place she’s come to call home.

However, the private elementary school, which enrolls about 170 students from low-income families, mostly from eastern Menlo Park and East Palo Alto, faces a crisis. As housing costs skyrocket, an increasing number of families the school serves – and the teachers who serve them – find themselves priced out of nearby housing.

Read more at almanacnews.com.