Teachers know more about increasing rates of poverty than most people.
Teachers see the children who come to school without decent clothes or shoes.
They know the children who are homeless.
They teach children who are sick but never get medical care.
Poverty is worse in the U.S. than in other advanced nations.
Child poverty is about 23%, which makes the U.S. #1 in child poverty.
Teachers already knew it.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My white, middle-class mentality was severely tested in my last position in a low income, minority community. Thank goodness for a savvy parapro who kept me in the loop and helped me recognize the signs of distress that too often just look like a disengaged, apathetic lost cause.
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So true. I have learned that we must utilize the wealth of human capital available from those individuals with ties to the community who can help connect us to our students and who understand the workings of that community. When I need a phone number, my secretary can tell me the name of a relative, my janitor tells me when a parent gets arrested, a para can inform me when a student is living with a great grandmother, a teacher can tell me when a family is struggling with loss of a job, etc. etc. That is why it is so important for true public community schools to exist. When we remove students from their community, we remove them from their support systems.
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