homeless students

Some students in rural central Washington are facing housing instability. School districts have programs to help students Still, resources can be far away and hard to get to. N-W-P-B’s Johanna Bejarano reports.

Just minutes away from busy Pacific Avenue in Pierce County, the Franklin Pierce School district administration office sits inside a nondescript, gray building. Inside, a group of women are gathered in a conference room Thursday morning, eating brightly colored Pan Dulce, laughing and sharing their trials and tribulations. Blanca Sagastizado, a family resource navigator for the district, floats around the group of moms – hugging them, catching up and offering tea and coffee.

(Runtime 3:48) The Kamiah School District in North Idaho serves around400 students. About 10% of those students are homeless, said Terry Law, the…

For Jami Pitman, her child’s elementary school changed their lives.Eight years ago, when she enrolled her child in Bellingham Public Schools, they were homeless. Pitman said she sought housing support from the Opportunity Council, an organization that provides a variety of wraparound services. Opportunity Council is part of the county’s coordinated entry system. The organization assists folks as housing that lines up with needs becomes available, officials at the Opportunity Council said.

The Tacoma School District has the largest number of students experiencing homelessness in Washington. Month after month, more students and their families are counted as homeless in Tacoma, the third largest city in the state. “We started the fall at 1,626, and as of the end of April, we're at 2,382,” said Taj Jensen, director of Title, Learning Assistance Programs (LAP), and the McKinney-Vento foster care programs with the Tacoma School District.