Homeless students often suffer silently: Programs like St. Joseph's Bears Care look for telltale signs. Student homelessness is up dramatically statewide.

Bears Care, in its first year in the St. Joseph (Michigan) school district, is carrying on the district's long-standing practice of looking after homeless students.

"The teachers are doing this because they want to, and they're doing it because they know it's the right thing to do," said Lynn France, the district's director of special education and its homeless student liaison. "Teachers are the ones who see the student every day and can notice any changes. Having a student-teacher bond makes a big difference in a student's education."

France, in her first year with the district, said the teachers who are part of Bears Care have volunteered to mentor students who they know or suspect are homeless.

There were 21 homeless students in the district in the 2010-11 school year, according to the Michigan Department of Education.

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