How large is the homeless population in San Diego Unified?
We’re up to 1,500 students. And we know that that’s low — that’s just how many are in the system. Now that you can track homeless students, what are some of the things you’ve been able to observe that you couldn’t before? It allows us to go to the schools that are most impacted. I was surprised by where some of the populations of families living in homelessness were. Zamorano (in Paradise Hills) was one — it’s been really impacted by the mortgage crisis and we’ve seen a jump there. We go there and bring backpacks and supplies and clothing. The children move so much that they lose things or have to leave them behind. I once got a call from a principal who said, “I have a student who was in the shelter last night and all their clothes were stolen.” Another principal told me, “This boy stopped attending school … He doesn’t have any clothes and he’s embarrassed. His one pair of pants looks too bad.” Kids are embarrassed to come to school if they don’t have deodorant, too, so we provide
