A new Illinois law mandates all school staff receive training on how to identify and support homeless students.
Jimmy Pawola is a homeless liaison with the Kane County Regional Office of Education.
He conducts a lot of these trainings already with administrators and truancy workers who do home visits. But this new law solidifies that everyone in a school needs to know the warning signs of housing insecurity.
“If a family is having a hard time proving residency," he said, "or they're having a hard time providing birth certificates, immunization records, things of that nature, that should all be a red flag."
He says, from there, they can help students receive the services they’re legally entitled to. They can help with anything from school supplies to paying for school trips or even food resources and gas cards for families.
School staff will need to receive the training every two years.
“In our region last year, we served a little over 3,300 students,” said Pawola. “It’s about a 20% increase from last year.”
He says the number of homeless students they serve in Kane County has gone up 70% since 2022.
That’s partially because it was so hard to identify students at the beginning of the pandemic. But, he says, it also shows it’s a problem that’s not going away.
He says it’s largely due to issues like rising rent and a lack of affordable housing.
Copyright 2024 Northern Public Radio