For Homeless Students & Families, Schools Offer Some Stability: Report

In the past year, the Valley View School District has worked with a record number of homeless families—260—and that number represents only a small portion of the  homeless students identified in Will County—1,359—according to a Bugle Newspapers report.

“It’s a bigger issue than people realize—the way the economy is, for those living on the brink, one small thing can push them over the edge,” stated Valley View School District Community Outreach Coordinator Michelle Bochnak in the report.

Bochnak and others worked to shine a light on the issue during a recent homeless Support Day at the Romeoville Recreation Center. The goal was to help ease stresses on families in transition, according the Bugle Newspapers report.

“The impact of homelessness is huge—school is the most stable place they have,” Bochnak stated in the report. “Most of them are going from couch-to-couch with different relatives, maybe catching a night’s sleep in a hotel for one night, or the others in the car.”