PUC Schools, a non-profit charter network which operates 5 schools in the area I discussed in the last post, has an extremely low homeless student population. According to their enrollment data (which was recored last Fall), out of their student body of 5,316 students, 3 were classified homeless. That is 0.06% of their student population. The average across all surrounding schools is 2.38%.
At every one of their 13 schools, their homeless population is lower than most nearby schools. For all of the schools, I used a 1 mile radius to select the comparative schools, with the exception of PUC CALS, which I used a 2 mile radius due to the geographic boundaries around it. Click each image for a higher quality, interactive display.
When asked for verification on this data, PUC School confirmed the validity, noting that the current number has increased to 8 families. But even at 8 families, their homeless student population would still be drastically lower than the surrounding schools.
Molly O’Brien, a spokesperson for PUC Schools, noted,
We do not know why our number is lower than other schools. We have noticed an increased reluctance among our families to submit official reports. However, our schools are very focused on reaching out to families to make sure they are receiving the proper support they need to weather these types of unbelievably challenging situations. We want all of our students to succeed and thrive and in order to do that, we have to address circumstances outside of school that could impact learning. Homelessness is one of them.
The reason they might have a hard time explaining it is that this phenomenon is not unique to PUC. Almost all charter schools across Los Angeles have lower homeless student populations than their surrounding neighborhood schools. More on that next time.