Area school districts end the year with thousands of students homeless

While many students are excited school is out for the summer, it’s a worrisome time for school staff, knowing that there are record numbers of children experiencing homelessness in Tampa Bay. Melissa Babanats has been working in the Hillsborough County Public School District (HCPS) for almost two decades, now as the principal at Lewis Elementary School, with one of the district’s highest populations of students living below the poverty line and experiencing homelessness. needed Lewis Elementary Students Photo by: WFTS By: Stassy OlmosPosted at 5:59 AM, Jun 02, 2023 and last updated 5:59 AM, Jun 02, 2023 TAMPA, Fla. — While many students are excited school is out for the summer, it’s a worrisome time for school staff, knowing that there are record numbers of children experiencing homelessness in Tampa Bay. Melissa Babanats has been working in the Hillsborough County Public School District (HCPS) for almost two decades, now as the principal at Lewis Elementary School, with one of the district’s highest populations of students living below the poverty line and experiencing homelessness. Recent Stories from abcactionnews.com “It is a wide range when we talk about homelessness, but it's still the uncertainty of ‘where am I gonna put my head tonight?’ and we definitely have seen a difference. I think this year has probably been one of the biggest differences in our turnover in populations,” Babanats exclaimed, adding that she has never seen such a transient population of families in a single school year. “We're finding that students aren't staying put as long...and looking at the trend, a lot of it is due to financial struggles. Here at our school, we do have a higher population of homelessness,” Babanats added.