Thousands of California students are homeless. Here’s how one young woman made sure you’d never notice her
Had you sat by Alizé Satberry a few years ago at Kearny High School or Herbert Hoover High School or one of several charters she attended, you might have noticed that her dresses were a few years out of style. Maybe you flagged that she never seemed to come on a field trip. But the fact that she, her mom and three siblings were bouncing from hotel to hotel and shelter to shelter? That probably slipped by. And she could just as easily have missed if you were in the same boat. The thing is, it’s a crowded boat. When Satberry and her family first got to San Diego in 2016, there were about 16,500 students countywide who lacked a steady roof, according to the California Department of Education. By last academic year the total had risen to more than 17,800, including children who’ve temporarily doubled up in houses with other families. The problem has become so pervasive that Barrio Logan’s Monarch School, which only serves unhoused families, has started to train educators at other organizations about how to spot and care for families on