{"id":63388,"date":"2019-03-22T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/number-of-homeless-students-nearly-doubles-in-durango-schools\/"},"modified":"2019-03-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-03-23T00:00:00","slug":"number-of-homeless-students-nearly-doubles-in-durango-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/number-of-homeless-students-nearly-doubles-in-durango-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of homeless students nearly doubles in Durango schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Three
Three siblings prepare to catch a school bus earlier this month at a local elementary school. The students are considered homeless because they live in a community shelter. Durango School District 9-R arranges transportation for homeless students and provides them with financial assistance to participate in after-school activities.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The number of homeless students in Durango School District 9-R has increased by 63 percent in recent years.<\/p>\n

During the 2016-17 school year, 68 homeless students were identified in the district, and last year, the number increased to 111 students, according to the Colorado Department of Education<\/a>. Across La Plata County, 157 students were identified as homeless during the 2017-18 school year.<\/p>\n

The living conditions for the 111 homeless students varied. Fifty-six were living with friends or family, 27 were living in hotels and motels and 25 were living in shelters or transitional housing. Three were considered unsheltered. All those living conditions fit the definition of homelessness under federal law.<\/p>\n

It is unknown why a growing number of students are without homes, said Heather Pyeatt, who administers district services for homeless students.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons may be the high cost of housing in Durango, said Jackie Oros, 9-R\u2019s chief student services officer. Another reason may be that 9-R is getting better at identifying students who are homeless, she said.<\/p>\n

The district is required by law to identify homeless students. Those students may face challenges that their peers do not, such as trouble commuting to school, instability in their home life and lack of access to health care, Pyeatt said.<\/p>\n

Judy Woody\u2019s elementary-aged grandchildren are among the students without a permanent home. Three years ago, the Woody family lost their home in Southwest Horizon Ranch, a subdivision east of Durango after the property manager told them their lease would not be renewed.<\/p>\n

As a result, the family, including Woody\u2019s husband, sons and grandchildren, have been camping outside in the summer and staying in motels in the winter, she said. Her three grandchildren have lived with her for two of the three years. Now, they are all living in the Durango Community Shelter<\/a>. Woody said she has worked hard to keep her grandchildren in the same elementary school despite moving around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey love the kids there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Woody, who has lived in Durango for 25 years, used to work for Community Connections, a Durango-based nonprofit that serves residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She continued working for a year after the family lost their home, but then she hurt her knee, went on medical leave and eventually lost her job. Now, the family has some income from her husband\u2019s Social Security disability benefits.<\/p>\n

The family has searched for housing but has been unable find anything. Other landlords were unwilling to accept the Woodys because the family was unable to pay $6,000 to Southwest Horizon Ranch for damages to their previous home. It\u2019s a charge Woody is disputing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the kind of person that doesn\u2019t ask for help, but finally, I had to,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The family eventually found help through a 9-R staff member.<\/p>\n

\"Three
Three siblings board a school bus earlier this month at a local elementary school. The students are considered homeless because they live in a community shelter. The number of homeless students grew by about 40 percent from the 2016-17 school year to the 2017-18 school year.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Woody\u2019s son, Austin Woody, developed a close relationship with his teacher, Devon Parson. Parson taught Austin at Pathways to Independence, a 9-R transition program for students with disabilities who are between the ages of 18 and 21.<\/p>\n

In November, Woody could not pick up Austin and his brother from school because of a major storm, so Parson started contacting agencies for help.<\/p>\n

When he called La Plata Youth Services<\/a>, he learned about the La Plata County Regional Collaborative Management Program, and he referred the family to the group for long-term help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when things started working,\u201d Woody said.<\/p>\n

Woody said she would like to see other families develop good relationships with school staff so they can receive the same help.<\/p>\n

The collaborative program brings together representatives from schools, nonprofits, health care providers and the county\u2019s department of human services to discuss how to help families. Housing Solutions for the Southwest, a member of the collaborative, is helping the family find housing, Woody said.<\/p>\n

District 9-R has also helped the family by arranging for a school bus to pick up Woody\u2019s grandchildren at the shelter. The family\u2019s truck is from 1998 and is not always reliable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s giving the old truck a rest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Transportation is just one of the services the district provides to homeless children to help ensure they can succeed in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur total mission is to remove the barriers that homeless families are usually faced with and ensure that students are completing school so that they have a ticket out of their situation,\u201d Oros said. \u201cSchool is their best opportunity for them to have a different life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many cases, 9-R identifies students who are homeless when they are enrolled because the families are asked to provide proof of residency and they are unable to, Oros said.<\/p>\n

However, relationships between school staff and families are also important in identifying homeless students because teachers and other staff may notice changes in the students during the school year. Students may come to school wearing the same clothes every day or their hygiene may notably change and that may prompt school staff to ask parents or guardians about it, Oros said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreating those climates of caring and really an emphasis on forming positive relationships with families \u2013 it allows families to share information that they may not otherwise share,\u201d Oros said.<\/p>\n

mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Durango School District services <\/h4>\n

Durango School District 9-R provides services to homeless students and their families. Some services are provided through community partnerships.
\n Funding for after-school activities and materials.
\n Hygiene kits.
\n Passes to Durango\u2019s public transit.
\n Backpacks filled with food.
\n Vouchers to spend at the La Plata County Humane Society Thrift Store and Goodwill.
\n Referrals to other agencies for help.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

of housing, better tracking mechanisms may explain rise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1086,155,13,28,611],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-63388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-school-district-9-r","tag-education","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-homelessness"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63388"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=63388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}