An inescapable fact every school district faces is that some students do not have a traditional home.
Some students may be staying with another family member, with friends or in motels rather than living in a traditional family setting.
One priority for local districts is to make enrolling in school as easy as possible, especially for students who may not have documentation readily available.
In Richmond and Columbia Counties, these students are referred to as in “transition.”
MORE: Columbia County’s New School Superintendent Settling In
Associate Superintendent Michele Sherman in Columbia County said they enroll students immediately.
“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s really the first way that we remove probably the largest barrier for families when they are homeless,” said Sherman. “They don’t always have the documents they need to get enrolled.”
Richmond County also enrolls students immediately, even if they do not have all the necessary documentation.
Dr. Aronica Gloster, coordinator of Student Services, said that guarantees at least one place of security for the student.
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“We work to provide physical resources such as food or clothing. We also provide transportation for those students,” said Gloster. “We really try to keep them in their school of origin. Because of housing insufficiency, they’re very often having to move a lot of places.”
She said the transportation department was an important asset for getting students to school no matter where they were.
Bus drivers are also an asset to transport students in transition in Columbia County.
“We work very closely with Richmond County, McDuffie County and the surrounding counties,” Sherman said. “If a student’s school of origin is in Columbia County but they’re living in Richmond County, sometimes our buses meet their buses at the line, and they do a handoff.”
Sherman said identifying students who need help can be the biggest challenge.
“Sometimes parents are embarrassed to be forthcoming with the information, and they don’t always like to let us know. But if we don’t know, we can’t help them,” she said. “There’s no judgement here, first and foremost. We have access to a lot of resources than can be beneficial to them.”
In Richmond County, technology was a concern during the at-home learning period due to COVID-19.
“The homeless facilitator intervened when we’re made aware those students have technology needs,” said Gloster. “Sometimes, it was the community engagement specialist who would contact a community partner to try to secure technology for those students so they could remain engaged.”
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She said the school buses wired to provide mobile Wi-Fi hotspots were valuable to help students with connectivity, no matter where they were.
The Columbia County School District had about 200 students in transition in the 2020-2021 school year, which was slightly lower than in years past.
Richmond County had 876 homeless students. Gloster said that was significantly higher than previous years. She expects it to be even higher in the upcoming school year.
MORE: Expansion Makes More Students Temporarily Eligible For SNAP
“We’re trying to have our ears tuned during the registration process to try to make sure we are aware of families who have needs or who are experiencing homelessness,” she added.
Commissioner Jordan Johnson, co-chair of the Augusta Homeless Task Force subcommittee, said a sign of progress would be never to see a school bus pull up to a motel.
Gloster agreed
“That means those folks have somewhere they are living on a permanent basis. Safe, secure and stable,” she said.
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com.
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