Often Unseen, Bus Drivers Can Help Schools Find And Support Homeless Students
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Gregory Pierce was driving his bus route in Sheffield, Vermont one gloomy morning in January when a student boarded and informed him that her classmate had moved in with her grandmother down the road after their house was destroyed in a fire.
Pierce, worried about the situation, promptly took note of the classmate’s name and passed it on to Lori Robinson, the homeless liaison for the Kingdom East School District. Robinson confirmed that the family met the qualifications for assistance such as transportation help and nutritional aid.
This is a common scenario that Superintendent Jennifer Botzojorns has seen unfold time and time again. The district’s bus drivers, many of whom have been in their positions for over ten years, often serve as the eyes and ears of the rural district, ensuring that students who may otherwise be overlooked receive the support they need.
"They are very familiar with their routes and the students, so they can easily notice if a child suddenly doesn’t have a winter coat when they had one before… or if there’s no car in the driveway," Botzojorns explained. "This hidden connection is extremely important."
Bus drivers have a unique perspective on housing instability, as they are the only adults in the school system who regularly witness students’ living conditions. Advocates and experts agree that they play a crucial role in identifying and addressing these housing issues.
For Pierce, who has shared several tips with Robinson, supporting students starts with building relationships with them.
"When you ride my bus, you become part of our family," he tells the students. Pierce is part of a specialized transportation service that the district partners with to transport homeless students.
Pierce and his wife even buy gifts for students on their birthdays. Before the holidays, they purchased grocery cards and 12-pound hams for each family. Over time, many students have come to rely on him, attributing it to his nurturing nature compared to their teachers, who are seen as more authoritative figures.
The students Pierce transports are not only dealing with homelessness themselves, but they are also likely to be aware of other students facing the same challenges.
"The students tell us a lot," Pierce shared. "If you want to know who is homeless and who is not, you need to talk to the students and build a good relationship with them."
According to a 2022 report, U.S. schools identified over a million students, accounting for 2.2% of all learners, as homeless during the 2020-21 school year. However, these figures likely underestimate the issue, as thousands of districts reported zero cases of homelessness, suggesting that they are failing to identify students in need.
Students who experience homelessness have lower attendance rates, standardized test scores, and high school graduation rates compared to their peers. Limited data indicate that the percentage of homeless youth in rural areas like Vermont is similar to that in urban areas, but with significantly fewer social support systems available.
In December 2022, a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed that Vermont has the second-highest per capita rate of homelessness in the country, second only to California. However, the state also provides temporary shelters for a higher percentage of its homeless population than any other state, with 98% of them safely housed during the latest point-in-time count.
"We are currently facing a severe housing affordability crisis in Vermont," said U.S. Senator Peter Welch in an email to . While he is proud of the state’s efforts to provide shelter for homeless families, he hopes that school staff can also contribute to long-term solutions.
Once the Kingdom East school district becomes aware of a student experiencing homelessness, their transportation staff continues to play a vital role in supporting the child. If the student is living in a shelter or motel, the bus routes are adjusted so that they are the first to be picked up and the last to be dropped off, preserving their anonymity. At the end of the day, district guidance counselors discreetly provide backpacks filled with clothes and food to bus drivers, who then distribute them to children in need as they disembark the bus.
Kara Lufkin, the representative for homeless individuals in the school system of St. Johnsbury, which is adjacent to Kingdom East, utilizes MV Learning, a company based in Michigan that provides training for school staff on how to identify signs of homelessness. The company has supplied training videos to the transportation fleet of the district.
Lufkin stated that this training is primarily about being aware of certain indicators that could suggest a student is homeless.
According to federal law, all school staff who work with homeless students must receive training on identifying signs of homelessness. Although bus drivers and other roles are not explicitly mentioned, Jan Moore, the director of technical assistance at the National Center for Homeless Education, explains that since bus drivers interact with homeless students, it can be assumed that they should also receive professional development sessions.
However, there is a lack of oversight, and many transportation staff members never receive this training, resulting in missed opportunities for schools to support their most vulnerable students.
Karen Roy, an advisor for MV Learning, acknowledges that there are disparities in how, if, and when the training takes place. Roy emphasizes the importance of training everyone to recognize the red flags so that homeless students can be identified and supported.
Roy explains that bus drivers who undergo the training often reflect back on their past interactions with students and realize the signs of homelessness. For example, a bus driver in a rural district in northern Michigan noticed that two children would leave for school directly from a barn in the morning, indicating that they were likely homeless. The driver referred them to the liaison after receiving the training.
Schools are obligated by law to ensure that homeless students have equal access to education, which often involves providing them with food, clothing, transportation, and other necessary support.
Lexi Higgins, who runs a program called Busing on the Lookout, trains bus drivers to recognize and report human trafficking, which she believes is closely linked to homelessness since many youth victims of trafficking are housing insecure when recruited. Her company has provided training to drivers from over 2,000 districts.
Higgins emphasizes the crucial role that bus drivers play in ensuring student safety and identifies their unique skills based on their job that enable them to spot threats on a day-to-day basis. Despite being overlooked as education professionals because they are not on the school campus, bus drivers have a significant impact on student well-being.
Greg Pierce, an East Kingdom driver, believes that these training sessions will be beneficial in identifying more individuals who require assistance.
Pierce states, "The drivers are at the center of all this. I believe we will discover many more people who need help."
Lori Robinson, the homeless liaison for the Kingdom East School District in St. Johnsbury, worked together with Lufkin to assist a student after a bus driver raised concerns. Robinson had lost contact with a family on her caseload but was informed by transportation staff that the student was getting on and off the bus at different locations each day. When she reestablished contact, she learned that the family was fleeing from a domestic abuse situation. Once they found an apartment in another town, she connected them with Lufkin for further assistance.
The tip from the bus driver was the first indication that something was amiss, according to Robinson.
