As in the rest of the nation, the number of homeless students attending Hamilton County Schools has risen dramatically since the onset of the pandemic, according to district officials.
“Homelessness of our families has skyrocketed and, in our district, right here, we’ve had an increase in students that have stated that their home situation has been altered, and that’s either through the pandemic, through the tornado, or loss of employment,” Director of Safe Supportive Learning at Hamilton County Schools Karen Glenn said at a board meeting this month. “And grief and loss support has increased as well.”
Of the 43,000 students that attend Hamilton County Schools, 2,000 of them are homeless, Chief of Equity and Advocacy Marsha Drake said in a phone call.
“We have really experienced a lot of students self-reporting. So, we have a lot of unaccompanied youth that has increased,” Drake said. “What we see oftentimes is they’re couch surfing, staying at friends’ homes, going from house to house. We’ve really seen an increase of that.”
A portion of the district’s nearly $142 million in federal COVID-19 relief dollars have been used to provide additional resources and supplies for homeless students.