Overview:
According to the Clayton County Public Schools enrollment data, the percentage of students who identified as homeless students in the FY 2024 is 57% for elementary school, 23% for middle school, and 20% for high school. Similarly, in Atlanta Public Schools, students identified as homeless make up 51% for elementary school, 19% for middle school, and 30% for high school.
Students experiencing homelessness have local school districts being creative on how to best support them with resources.
Tamika Smith was in between homes before she recently moved to Georgia to live with her family. While In Georgia, she received a phone call from Clayton County’s Homeless Education Team to come pick up some shoes for her daughters.
Families who are experiencing homelessness are an issue that school districts in Georgia are having to problem-solve about. According to The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 9.9 in every 10,000 people in Georgia were experiencing homelessness in 2022.
According to the Clayton County Public Schools enrollment data, the percentage of students who identified as homeless students in the FY 2024 is 57% for elementary school, 23% for middle school, and 20% for high school. Similarly, in Atlanta Public Schools, students identified as homeless make up 51% for elementary school, 19% for middle school, and 30% for high school.
For some families, when experiencing homelessness, they find ways to help other families. While picking up the shoes for her children, Tamika Smith had an encounter with the Clayton County Homeless Education Department members that eventually led to Smith facilitating a workshop at Clayton County Homeless Education Department’s (HED) 2023 Holiday Sponsorship Family Distribution Event with the theme “Fit for the Holidays.”
Due to the Mckinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, districts like Clayton and Atlanta Public Schools offer a variety of support systems for students and families who find themselves homeless, including enrollment, attendance, transportation to and from the school of origin, school Supplies, resources, uniforms, technology support, educational dues and fees, and homeless awareness professional development for school staff. The Act defines a homeless student as “a child who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”
In Clayton County Schools, the Homeless Education team works with counselors, social workers, psychologists, and others to provide support for students experiencing homelessness Clayton’s HED Coordinator, Sonia Davis, has worked alongside the team to provide for its homeless students for several years. She says the students don’t cause homelessness – their family situations do.
“It’s because of the lack of affordable housing in our county, where parents experienced a lot of evictions due to being unable to satisfy their rent before the pandemic and during a pandemic, and a lack of jobs, that make enough money to potentiate the living situations in our county.” says Davis.
Davis encourages the public to acknowledge and support homeless students as she believes it contributes to their success in and outside their schools.
“I just think that the homeless population looks a little differently now,” says Davis. “You know, just based on the economic status of a lot of our families, it just looks differently. It could be any of us. And that was always the case. But I think realistically now we can see that. I’m proud to say that in Clayton County, we have a lot of homeless students that are meeting academic standards above and beyond in spite of their living situations. And while we don’t try to embarrass them about their situations, we support their academic success, show sympathetic means to their situations, and encourage them to be the best.”
That is what it looked like last month when Clayton County Public Schools Cafe had a joyful atmosphere for families experiencing homelessness. Families went inside to check in and chose a Nike hoodie or a smartwatch for their kids. After choosing, they were offered lunches and water and given a laundry basket with a bundle of products. They signed up for Smith’s workshop before checking out and receiving gift cards for each child, leaving with their children excitedly showing their parents the gifts they received.
While homelessness can be a taboo subject, Clayton’s Homeless Education Team and its volunteers believe that the sooner people start talking about it, the sooner they can work to eliminate it.