Santa Maria, California. Sol Messeguer who works with Fighting Back Santa Maria, a non-profit agency that provides services to homeless youth and families in Santa Maria.
Credit: Iris Schneider/EdSource
This fall my son lost a classmate to the stigma of being unhoused. The family lost their home during the pandemic when a neighbor’s apartment caught fire, leaving their unit uninhabitable. However, what pushed my son’s classmate out of his seventh grade class and into another school were the taunts from his classmates for wearing the same clothes and coming to school without being showered.
My son’s school did attempt to address this situation. For example, when teachers heard students saying mean things, they would ask the offending student to repeat the comment. The students would not repeat taunts. This approach was meant to signal that this type of language is not OK. However, it fails to address the harm…
