School systems restore order for homeless students

Gwinnett County Schools: 1,188

Cobb County Schools: 670

DeKalb County Schools: 1,754

All figures are for 2011-2012

Nikita Heard’s daughters are among the first students to catch the school bus each morning and the last to be dropped off at the end of the day, so it won’t be obvious to other students where they live.

School districts do this for about 7,100 students across metro Atlanta every day and take other measures to preserve the students’ privacy and self-esteem. The reason: The students are homeless.

Until 16 months ago Heard and her daughters, Precious, 11, and Dannyea, 6, lived in Gwinnett County and Precious attended Beaver Ridge Elementary School. When Heard split with her husband they wound up at My Sister’s House homeless shelter in downtown Atlanta.

With the help of the shelter, the school principal and the homeless liaison office of Atlanta Public Schools, order has been restored to their lives. “We’re in a good place now,” said Heard, who agreed to talk to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and identify her daughters. “My daughters are doing great in school. It’s a totally different environment.”

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