Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Wellbeing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
District reports 133 students identified as unhoused; committee hears about attendance and service gaps
Summary
Providence School Department told the committee it identified 133 students as experiencing homelessness (about 7% in the snapshot), and that those students show lower attendance, higher suspension rates and lower state assessment proficiency; staff outlined transportation, social‑work and wraparound supports.
District leaders told the Ways and Means committee that, in the most recent snapshot, 133 students were recorded as experiencing homelessness (about 7% based on the numbers the district uses for reporting).
"We currently have 133 students who have a reported homelessness and that's about seven," a district presenter said, and slides showed that students identified as homeless had lower daily attendance (roughly a 6 percentage point gap) and higher suspension and lower assessment outcomes compared with non‑homeless peers.
Support services: the district described layered responses—targeted transportation (including transporting students back to Providence if they are temporarily staying outside the city), social workers, school psychologists, hygiene and supply supports and partnerships with state agencies. Staff emphasized that recorded counts understate the full extent of housing instability because some families "couch‑surf" or do not report their situation.
Fiscal and operational notes: presenters said about $1.2 million in transportation-related obligations arise because the district must provide or partially fund transport for students temporarily residing in city shelters; federal and categorical funds (including Title I and McKinney‑Vento related resources) help fund supports, and the district asked the committee to consider sustained funding and cross‑agency coordination for shelter and transportation policies.
Committee response: members asked for more detail on the scale of unreported instability, program capacity and how the district plans to scale services as needs grow. The district said it will continue to provide transportation and wraparound services and to report updated counts as the year proceeds.
No committee action was taken; the discussion focused on service delivery and funding coordination.
