Public schools are used to dealing with children in poverty, but this school year, San Antonio school districts are seeing more children than ever from families that have gone from struggling to put food on the table to keeping a roof over their heads.
School social workers say the increases are extreme.
“Never have I seen so many. Never, never. ... It's never been this bad,” said Diana Calderon, homeless liaison for Edgewood Independent School District.
Calderon shared a story of a woman who was evicted after her husband left her and failed to pay rent. Her belongings were left on the lawn, and when she and her four children returned home, most had been stolen.
It's not a unique scenario.
Some Texas school districts have identified as many homeless students during the first couple months of this school year as they did the entire 2008-2009 school year, said Barbara James, project director at the Texas Homeless Education Office.
James says the official numbers for the past school year aren't tallied, but it appears that an upward trend of homeless students that began two years ago is worsening because of the still-struggling economy.
Local school districts — from large to small, suburban to rural — are scrambling to serve more homeless students, many of them in that situation for the first time.
In the past school year, San Antonio ISD served 2,157 homeless students. During the first few months of school this year, SAISD has already identified 239 more students than at the same time in the past year.
In Northside ISD, the city's largest, social workers are helping 128 more homeless students than they did at the same time last year, said homeless liaison Marta Martinez. Even a much smaller school district about one-tenth the size of Northside, East Central, expects to see an increase of about 50 homeless students this year.
Estella Garza, homeless liaison for SAISD — an urban district that serves all the city's homeless shelters and sees the most homeless students — said many families say they have lost their income and are evicted or had their homes foreclosed.
“The economic crisis has hit many families with very little compassion,” Garza said.
Homeless students will be one of many topics discussed at the Texas Homeless Network's 21st annual conference, which begins today at San Antonio's Omni Colonnade Hotel and runs through Friday.
There were 53,242 homeless students statewide in the 2007-2008 school year, with 6,222 from the San Antonio area. But James and other experts say homeless students are undercounted because they're difficult to identify.
Many school districts now use residency questionnaires.
“We know there are a lot of homeless families who hide because of the stigma, so we try to ask if they are in transition. No one wants to be called homeless,” said Willie Gaines, East Central's homeless liaison.
This year, the state plans to train school districts that under-identify homeless students, said James, whose office is at the University of Texas at Austin.
According to the 2007-2008 data, most of the homeless students are doubled up with family and friends. Out of the San Antonio-area homeless students, 68 percent were doubled up and 26 percent lived in shelters. Local homeless liaisons say the story is the same this year.
“Some families with five or six kids will go live with their parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, whoever will take them in. They're desperate,” Edgewood's Calderon said. “And we have at least 30 families living in shelters right now. People need food, help with utilities, rent — oh God, it's horrible, and it's getting worse.”
The problem isn't unique to Texas. In the 2007-2008 school year, there were 794,617 homeless students nationwide, a 17 percent increase compared with the year before, said Barbara Duffield, policy director at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.
By federal law, each school district must provide a homeless liaison; the positions represent one of many requirements that have improved services and rights for homeless students over the years.
But despite the awareness and services, the day-to-day situation is a challenge to the schools, the families and especially the students.
“We try to help them in their academics. It's very hard for them to learn when they are moving all the time. And getting the parents to be involved is a challenge,” East Central's Gaines said.
Amy Perkins, homeless liaison for Harlandale ISD, said that last year the district served 662 students and that she expects to serve more this year.
“Total families are being evicted. They're carrying their children from place to place,” Perkins said. “There's either no room for them at shelters or they don't want to go, but when they double up with relatives or friends, it's a strain on all involved.”
Perkins shared a story about a parent who had just moved her family into her mother's home — a home where four families are now living.
“She needed clothing, school supplies for the kids, everything,” Perkins said, adding that in the same day, she tried to help another family living in a motel while saving for a deposit on an apartment.
Because of the increasing demand for services and supplies, schools say they need help from the community, especially with school supplies, uniforms, undergarments, socks and shoes. For information on how to help, contact a school district or call the San Antonio ISD transition program at (210) 227-1206.
