Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2868
with the intention of selling them for a profit and buying another house. “Now they still have the high pay- ments, they owe more than the house is worth, but they aren’t making any more money and are paying double for health insurance, which is now at $200 a month, plus no COLA.” And some veteran teachers, Crane says, have been caught up in the mortgage mess by purchasing rental units as a source of future retirement income, only to have rents drop drastically as increasing num- bers of foreclosed homes are turned into rentals and flood the market. Things are tight all over In Riverside County, which also has a high rate of foreclosures, the school staff is very aware that students and their families are struggling. “I’m conscious in general that people have less money and that things are very, very tight,” says Angela Genet, a third- grade teacher at Harada Elementary in Eastvale, a new housing development that has been hard hit by the mortgage collapse. “We are not asking for classroom dona- tions in terms of paper or school supplies or putting out ‘wish lists’ for our classroom anymore because we know what kind of situations families are in.” Eastvale, known for having homes with seven or eight bedrooms, was built in 2005 and was home to mostly first-time buyers with no-money-down loans and adjustable mortgages that went sky-high. But many of those once living there have left their homes due to foreclosure and are now liv- ing in difficult circumstances. “We’ve seen a lot of students moving in with other family members because they’ve lost their homes,” says Genet, a member of the Ventura Classified Employees Association member Carol Brock of Anacapa Middle School in Ventura. 10 California Educator | november 2008 Corona-Norco Teachers Association (CNTA). “I have one little girl whose family had to sell their home because they couldn’t afford the payment. They rented the home from the people who bought it, but those people recently foreclosed, so the family was forced to move in with relatives 60 miles away.” Jana Jackson, a school counselor for the district and CNTA member, offers support to many students who are struggling with issues of poverty, and holds group counsel- ing sessions for students whose parents are struggling financially. “Poverty is hard on kids because they feel different,” says Jackson. “They feel strange coming to school with dirty clothes that have holes or with the same pair of clothes they wore the day before. Or they come to school sick because they can’t go to a doctor. They are dealing with adult issues that they shouldn’t have to