She relies on Quinn and the school's social workers to counsel some of her most troubled students. Three years ago, Windmill Principal Henry Gambardella was so overwhelmed by students' family troubles he barely had time to run the school. He hired two social workers, Elida Picard and Henry Coleman. Quinn has been the school's guidance counselor since the fall. All of them relate tales that paint bleak pictures of students' lives.
Parents are absent or inattentive.
Home environments are unstable or unsafe. Children are overburdened by adult responsibilties. Drug use and violence abound on the streets. The troubles, they say, spill over into the classroom. Their students get into fights.