Latest news with #RiverRidgeHighSchool
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
The number of homeless students rising fast in Thurston County's urban districts
The number of homeless students attending North Thurston Public Schools, the largest school district in Thurston County, has risen to more than 1,000, nearly twice as many as the district reported in 2021. The increase can be partly attributed to the district doing a better job of identifying students who qualify for services under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, but there's also a too-familiar culprit: the cost of housing and the lack of affordable housing in the area. Amanda Yonker, who works with homeless students as a River Ridge High School student navigator, delivered those sobering comments at a recent joint meeting of the NTPS school board and Lacey City Council. 'There's a lack of affordable housing, and there is a continuous rise in rental prices,' Yonker told those gathered at River Ridge High School last Tuesday. 'So time and time again, we're seeing families, two-income families, that cannot afford the rent because it continues to go up.' Some of those families are still feeling the effects of the pandemic, a time when some families lost their housing, which forced them to double up with others, she said. As a result, their credit took a hit and now some people won't rent to them. Thurston County is an expensive place to live. The median price of a single-family home was $540,000 in April, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Service data, and average rents in the county last year were $1,592, Thurston Regional Planning Council data show. Yonker told those at the meeting that the district has 1,024 homeless students, up from 556 in 2021. Of that larger total, more than 800 students have doubled up to live with someone else, while close to 200 are considered unaccompanied. Although the numbers have increased since 2021, the year-over-year period has been stable, she said. However, the number of homeless high school students has climbed from 136 in 2023 to 351 this year. 'We define homelessness as those who are without fixed, adequate or regular nighttime residency,' Yonker said. That is the definition under the federal McKinney-Vento Act. 'This can look like students who are living in tents, or in their cars, or on the street,' she said. 'It can also look like being in an RV, or couch surfing, or living with your family, but perhaps your family is living with another family, and their name is not on the lease. You can also be living with your grandparents or another family member who's raising you, but they are not your legal guardian.' Olympia and Tumwater school districts also have seen dramatic increases in their student homeless population since 2021, according to data shared with The Olympian. Since the 2021-22 school year, the Olympia School District has seen an increase of 85 students experiencing homelessness, with 285 identified for the 2024-25 school year, spokesman Conor Schober said. 'Stigma around being unhoused continues to make self-identification a challenge for many families,' he said. Housing — the cost or availability of it — is among the contributing factors to higher homelessness in Olympia schools, he said. 'There has been a noticeable rise in families relying on motels or hotels when financially possible, as well as a sharp increase in evictions due to unaffordable rent, unpaid balances or occupancy violations,' Schober said. Tumwater, too, has seen a rise in its homeless student population, increasing from 159 in the 2021-22 school year to 225 this school year. 'We have found that lack of affordable housing is a significant factor,' spokeswoman Laurie Wiedenmeyer said. 'We have families with HUD vouchers to help with rent, yet some have had them for two years and are still waiting for housing.' Yonker's comments at Tuesday's meeting prompted Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder to seek an update about a low-income, city-initiated housing project that has been proposed across from Komachin Middle School at College Street and Mullen Road. 'We reached a purchase and sale agreement with the LOTT Clean Water Alliance (the owners of the property), and we're almost complete with the due diligence period,' said Lacey City Manager Rick Walk. Walk said the authorization for the purchase and sale agreement is expected to come before the council in June. 'We've been talking with the Thurston County Housing Authority about doing a multi-generational, low-income type of project there that would serve both low-income seniors as well as low-income families, targeting school-age families,' he said. Once authorized by the council, the next step would be to formulate a memorandum of understanding with whatever partner wants to step up and move that project forward, Walk said. The proposal has called for cottage-style housing that would be developed over two phases, totaling 60-80 units, he said. Despite the challenges of being homeless, a range of services are available to those students, Yonker said. For example, North Thurston has the Family Youth Resource Center, which is near North Thurston High School. It's a place where students can get clothes and hygiene products, touch base with community partners about benefits and health insurance, or take advantage of coordinated entry services to find housing, Yonker said. Tumwater, too, has a similar arrangement. 'We are grateful for our Community Schools Managers that are housed in our schools,' Wiedenmeyer said. 'Each of the CS Managers has a dedicated work area in their assigned school that is stocked with food, hygiene supplies, and more, and students know they are able to stop by any time if they are hungry or need assistance with essential resources.' Yonker said these students do move on and succeed. 'These kids are going to school,' she said. 'They're going to college. They're doing amazing things, which is fantastic because we know that the chance of homelessness rises 4.5% if kids leave high school without a high school diploma or a GED.' Site near Komachin Middle School could get affordable housing. Here's how it would work
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
River Ridge High School & Middle School closed after smoke from controlled burn enters classrooms
The Brief River Ridge High School and River Ridge Middle School are closed on Wednesday due to smoke from a controlled burn at Starkey Park. School officials say conditions are unsafe after "excessive smoke" entered classrooms. The Southwest Florida Water Management District said the controlled burn was authorized by the Florida Forest Service. NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - River Ridge High School and River Ridge Middle School in Pasco County are closed on Wednesday after school officials say "excessive smoke" from a nearby controlled burn led to unsafe conditions on campus. According to a post on River Ridge High School's Facebook page, smoke from Starkey Park made its way into classrooms, causing officials to cancel all classes and campus activities for Wednesday, March 12. The Southwest Florida Water Management District said the controlled burn spanned 107 acres and was authorized by the Florida Forest Service, adding that the area contained dead trees from a 2017 brush fire and debris from recent hurricanes. What they're saying The school's Facebook post reads, in part: "We appreciate your support and understanding. Though we know this is not convenient, our focus is student safety." SWFMD also released a statement, apologizing for the school closures while also writing: "Prescribed fires such as this one are critical to help protect the community from the spread of uncontrolled wildfires like the ones recently experienced in California." Follow FOX 13 on YouTube The Source STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
The Independent
08-03-2025
- The Independent
Hawks, butterflies and a song for her murdered son help Georgia mom reclaim joy after killings
A hawk swooped in and landed on a tree, then watched as Michele and Jeremy Davis mourned their murdered son at a vigil outside his high school. It was one day after their teenager, Carter, was gunned down in a random attack that sent fear through the suburbs north of Atlanta in the summer of 2016. The hawk stayed as the father spoke. When he finished, it began soaring silently over the crowd, flying just over the heads of Carter's classmates at the tearful vigil, Michele Davis recalled in an interview this week. Hawks and butterflies would show up later for the Davis family in surprising and unexpected ways. They've been part of a series of events that helped her regain her joy, she said. Michele Davis is an English teacher at the Lovett School in Atlanta, and one of the latest signs that her son is OK came through a former student, Slater Nalley. He wrote a song about Carter and later made it onto the TV show 'American Idol.' Nalley's performance of "Traces of You" will be aired on the season premiere Sunday night, ABC representatives said. Searching for signs that Carter is OK Michele Davis spent one of the last days with her son in her home state of South Dakota, beneath the towering granite peaks in the Black Hills. She and Carter noticed two granite spires touching each other across a ravine, a rock formation known as the Praying Hands. Three days later, Carter and his friend Natalie Henderson, both 17, were gunned down. It was the night before he was supposed to start his senior year at River Ridge High School in Woodstock, Georgia. Hours after the killings, Carter's parents gathered with their daughter, 8-year-old Greta, to find a path forward. They'd just heard devastating details of the murders from police detectives. When the police left, they went to their porch and decided to look for messages that signaled Carter was OK, Michele Davis said. To help Greta better comprehend the loss of her big brother, Jeremy Davis explained to his daughter that Carter may send messages that he's fine in unique ways, such as with feathers or dragonflies. They talked it over a bit before Jeremy Davis told the family: 'I see him as a hawk or an eagle, soaring high above." The next evening at the vigil, the hawk appeared. The butterfly visits As Michele Davis spoke with her parents a couple of days after the killings, a yellow and black butterfly landed near them. It reminded them of Carter's love for butterflies. Carter was also passionate about sports, and hoped to play lacrosse in college. Weeks after the killings, friends and family organized a pick-up lacrosse game in Georgia. Carter's best friend from South Dakota flew to Atlanta for the game and wore Carter's helmet and jersey. Midway through, players came to a halt. They began pointing at Carter's helmet, where a yellow butterfly had landed. Gunman pleads guilty but mentally ill Days after the killing, Roswell police arrested Jeffrey Hazelwood on two murder counts. Police said he stalked Carter and Henderson as they spent time in a parked car outside a Publix grocery store. Hazelwood, who was 20 at the time, had climbed onto the roof of the grocery store during the predawn hours on Aug. 1, 2016, to watch them, prosecutors said. He later confronted the teens in the parking lot, shooting both of them in the head, the medical examiner determined. There was no evidence that he even knew them. After the killings, Hazelwood wore a 'Guy Fawkes' mask — which gained popularity after the 2006 film 'V for Vendetta' — as he filled his car with gas at a nearby convenience store, surveillance video shows. There's no evidence he was wearing the mask during the killings, as there's no surveillance video that captured the teens being shot, police said. Detectives later found writings by Hazelwood that expressed his desire to become an assassin. Hazelwood pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of murder, and is serving a life sentence in a Georgia prison, according to the state Department of Corrections. Hazelwood has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, his defense lawyers said in court. A priest who prayed with her and the Henderson family, and the Roswell police detectives who interviewed Michele and Jeremy Davis also gave them comfort in their darkest days, Michele Davis said. She's also grateful that detectives secured a confession from Hazelwood. He shook uncontrollably as he recounted the crime to a detective, as seen in the interrogation video. The police department's forensic science laboratory now has a plaque on the wall: 'In Memory of Natalie Henderson & Carter Davis. When the innocent cannot cry out for justice, it is our duty to do so for them.' 'The most magical thing' Last year, Michele Davis shared a poem she had written with Nalley, her former student. Nalley then created a song about Carter and wanted to bring his guitar to school and play it for the class. 'It was the most magical thing I had ever heard," Michele Davis said. Students in other classrooms heard the music. So "we went on this classroom tour of him singing this song and me sitting there listening to it and crying,' she said. The song's opening lyric is 'Your laugh was like a river running home.' Later, the song evokes the hawks that bring comfort to her: 'Somewhere past the sky I can feel you dancing in the air. Every single time I see a bird fly by, I'm reminded you're answering my prayers.' Living in the 'and' Through a friend, Michele Davis was able to find a small group of women in the Atlanta area known as the Warrior Moms, all of whom have suffered tremendous loss. 'As Americans we shy away from talking about it,' she said. 'It's just underneath the surface — this sadness — that any one second, I can just sit still long enough and break down crying.' The Warrior Moms plan to share their experiences in a book, 'Grieve Like a Mother, Survive Like a Warrior,' set to be released later this year. 'We wanted to be able to tell our stories that help people find joy again,' Michele Davis said. 'It's very intentional with finding joy.' Another thing she's learned is what she calls 'living in the 'and,'" as in 'dark and light, sorrow and happiness, grief and joy," she said. She also plans to keep looking for those unexpected moments, when the memory of her son comes flooding back. 'You look for the hawks and butterflies," she said.
