Teachers surprised by homeless children

Homeless children living in motels is not a new phenomenon, but it was news to some High Point teachers:

“Groups of teachers from Oak Hill Elementary went door-to-door in their students’ neighborhoods to meet parents and remind them that Wednesday is the first day of class at their school.

The effort took teachers into some of the most impoverished areas of High Point, including a motel, a fact that surprised even veteran teachers.

‘That was a big shocker. I didn’t know you could just live there,’ said Catherin Howard, a fifth-grade teacher who left Pilot Elementary after 14 years to join the staff at Oak Hill.

Pilot has its share of poor students, too, but the reality that some might live at a motel, surrounded by a high fence and razor wire, was something new and saddening for Howard.”

It is a very sad reality, and one that many people don’t know or think about. Approximately 1.5 million children — 1 in 50 — experience homelessness in America every year. And North Carolina ranks 44th in the nation in child homelessness. Many of those kids are living in motels.

Speaking of all the school’s students, Howard added:

“I just want the children to feel loved. They’re going to be successful if they feel that way.”

Beautiful. All kids need love. And a supportive school environment with teachers who care (like Howard) can be a refuge of stability for a homeless child.