She was also glad to see that "The Central Labor Council is supporting us, as well as politicians, who understand our suffering."
San Diego School Member Richard Barrera by Nadin Abbott
When San Diego School Member Richard Barrera came to the microphone he told the Press Gaggle that at times companies do what they do in the shadows. "this comes into the light in our communities." He added, that the kids have been on Spring Break and they are coming back to school on Monday. Some of them, "will come back to school after their parents lose their jobs. This disrupts our classrooms."
According to Barrera the San Diego Unified School District serves one hundred thirty thousand children. "We don't check who is documented or not, but two thirds live under the poverty line. Their parents are working low wage jobs."
He also said that "the number one factor to success in school is poverty." Moreover, the Title One programs, used by the school district to teach these kids are being cut due to the Sequester to the tune of four million dollars. They are also losing Head Start Funds, and will not be able to fund one hundred slots.
Due to poverty, the School District is also seeing low level malnutrition. Two thirds of the students qualify for the Enhanced Lunch Program. This means that these kids qualify for both breakfast and lunch. This also means that on Fridays, those children have had the last good meal they will see, and by Monday they are very hungry since they have struggled all weekend. When they return from Spring Break, many of those kids have really struggled.
Some of them will be the children of the employees who have been threatened with dismissal by the Hilton. "If people care of the quality of the schools in San Diego, they need to care about poverty and the parents of those kids."
These children also qualify for Cal Fresh and Medical. For many of them, their primary health care provider is the school nurse. And as counterintuitive as it might seem, "obesity is a result of malnutrition."
Barrera is joining the Strikers for the first twenty four hours.
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