The San Jose mayor met with students Tuesday after it was revealed that they were concerned about a homeless encampment near their campus.
Matt Mahan said he wants law enforcement to visit KIPP San Jose Collegiate to determine what needs to be done to make them feel more safe.
At the same time, he is working on a plan to remove the unhoused from that area by providing them housing and services.
“I saw your coverage about Alfredo and his classmates who are organizing to do something about the RVs and the encampments in the neighborhood and the negative impact that is having on the school,” said the mayor.
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He was talking about an NBC Bay Area report from April that showed homeless encampments next to the school, trespassers on campus, and needles found on lunch tables
Mahan said he has a plan to address safety on campus, including installing security cameras.
“I think a next step will be to have our new police captain for this district to visit campus, meet with the students as well, with the administration just to get an assessment of what exactly is going on and figure out what the dept can do to help and how we can support,” he said.
Mahan added that a short-term solution to the unhoused population outside the school is to bring the homeless outreach team to the area.
“Longer term I believe the single most important thing we can do is scale up basic safe housing, quick built or intermediate housing communities,” said the mayor.
Alberto Hernandez, an 11th grader who has been pushing for this since January, said hard work is finally paying off.
“I’m very grateful that the mayor was able to take time out of his day to speak to the youth here in the east side community in order to learn more about the experiences that the students here are facing,” said Hernandez.
KIPP Public Schools of Northern California sent a statement that said in part, “We know that a safe campus and community requires comprehensive coordination—to ensure the well being of all of our neighbors, including the unhoused community. We are committed to working with the district and the city of San José towards a resolution.”
