PG woman struggles to rescue grandchildren
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Gloria Lee of Fort Washington is waging a one-woman battle against truancy to salvage a future for at least five of her six grandchildren.
Mrs. Lee has custody of her four oldest grandchildren, ages 12 to 17, and this month was granted emergency custody of the two youngest, 7 and 9.
Most of her effort is directed toward Hassan, who, at 9 years old, is at risk of dropping out of school and following the trail blazed by his oldest sibling, Gujuan, 17.
A few weeks ago, Mrs. Lee took Hassan to see his brother — at the Prince George’s County jail.
Gujuan “was crying and told Hassan he doesn’t ever want to be there,” Mrs. Lee recalls.
Back in the kitchen of her colonial home in Fort Washington, Mrs. Lee, 52, asked Hassan what his brother had told him during their jailhouse visit.
“Listen to Grandma,” Hassan said quietly.
But Hassan sometimes is too angry to listen, she says: Angry that his father has not been a part of his life. Angry that his mother — Mrs. Lee’s 36-year-old daughter, Kia — has not overcome her drug addiction and has not cared for any of her six children for more than six months at a time.
Hassan’s misbehavior at Rose Valley Elementary earned him two suspensions in the past two months.
The children “tend to take it out on me for what their mother did,” Mrs. Lee says. “I’m sure they’re a lot more rebellious than the average kid.”
Hassan and Gujuan aren’t the only Lees who have faced difficulty at school.
The second-oldest child — Lakia, 15 — has been suspended several times this school year for skipping classes and fighting other girls. In danger of being expelled from Friendly High School, Lakia recently returned to Mrs. Lee’s home after having run away for several weeks.
The two middle girls, Emani, 13, and Janee, 12, are attending school, but appear unmotivated to learn.
Only Akira, 7, seems enthusiastic about school, especially since she began living with her grandmother in February.
Kia Lee had custody of Hassan and Akira for several months last fall, but often would fail to take them to Stanton Elementary School in Southeast as she flitted between boyfriends’ homes and homeless shelters.
Now living with a girlfriend in Southeast and working at a fast-food restaurant, the children’s mother declined to be interviewed for this report.
Even when Hassan and Akira did attend Stanton, Mrs. Lee says, the District’s school system failed her grandchildren.
The school’s administrators and counselors “said they were going to work closer with Hassan and his mother, but basically nothing was done,” she says.
Hassan’s behavior has not improved much since he and Akira started attending Rose Valley Elementary in Fort Washington. He has not concentrated on schoolwork, has defied his teachers, wandered the hallways between classes and even hit his grandmother once at home.
Mrs. Lee is trying to get Hassan admitted, for the second time in a year, to Children’s Hospital for psychological counseling.
“He’s got a lot of hyperactivity. I haven’t put him on meds yet. That’s the thing — to keep the kids off meds,” she says.
Outside school, the main male influence in Hassan’s life is Eugene Hughes, 69, a retired social worker who runs the MidTown Youth Center in Northwest.
“He’s so smart,” Mr. Hughes says of Hassan.
A former boxer, Mr. Hughes runs a youth center that includes a run-down boxing ring in the back, where pro and amateur boxers train alongside teens and even youngsters learning to box, such as Hassan.
Hassan’s greatest need, Mr. Hughes says, is a father figure who can provide a consistent influence. In the absence of that, he works out Hassan around the ring and helps him with schoolwork whenever Mrs. Lee is able to bring him in.
Gujuan also is smart and talented, though he has been diagnosed with attention-deficit disorder, Mrs. Lee says.
During the 2001-2002 school year at Friendly High, Gujuan began skipping classes to see a girlfriend. He also says he was discouraged that there were no programs for learning-disabled students.
“I just didn’t like [school],” Gujuan said during a hearing on theft charges at Montgomery County Juvenile Court in Rockville several weeks ago.
After being expelled for truancy in 2002, Gujuan spent some time in Job Corps, but dropped out and went to a different job-placement program.
In February, he got into an altercation with a group of young men in Fort Washington while he was looking for janitorial work. About an hour afterward, Gujuan and a friend approached the group. When Gujuan identified Alphonso Olds, his friend brandished a handgun and fired, according to charging documents.
Gujuan’s friend, who is not identified in court documents, wounded Larry Brooks.
For his part in the shooting, Gujuan was charged with six counts of attempted murder and illegal possession of a firearm. His case is scheduled to go to trial next month in Prince George’s County District Court.
The incident occurred less than 100 yards from Mrs. Lee’s house.
Mrs. Lee says Gujuan did not know his friend had a gun and expresses hope that her grandson will be released. But even if that happens, she says, she will not allow him back into her home.
That’s because she’s trying to save his five siblings. Mrs. Lee has three daughters in addition to Kia and seven other grandchildren, but their mothers take care of them.
Mrs. Lee prods and helps her grandchildren to do their homework at the dining-room table each school night.
Taking care of children again — especially in the middle of a job hunt — has worn her down. Although Mrs. Lee was granted legal custody of Hassan and Akira this month, in weak moments in the past she has thought about releasing them to social services.
“Even my friends say, ‘Give these kids up. You can have a life,’” Mrs. Lee says. “You can only do so much and get them to a certain point, and hope they want something for themselves.”
