Transcript Slide 1

McKinney-Vento:
Getting into the Issues
Compliance Meetings for LEAs
Diana Bowman, Interim Coordinator, NC HEP;
Director, NCHE
[email protected] – 336-315-7453
Jan Moore, Program Specialist, NCHE
[email protected] – 800-308-2145
McKinney-Vento Act
Main themes:
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School access
School stability
Support for academic success
Child-centered, best interest decision
making
• Case-by-case determinations
• Critical role of the homeless liaison
Identification
• All homeless children and youth must be
identified
• The Urban Institute estimates that approximately
10% of all children experiencing poverty will
experience homelessness in a year
• School districts are reporting increases nationally
in the number of needy children
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/education/01school.html?_r=
1&oref=slogin
Ideas for Identification
• Outreach is key – posters, key contacts
(schools, shelters, hotels, motels,
campgrounds, law enforcement, food banks,
medical clinics, banks)
• Make schools welcoming environments
• School staff awareness
• MV information in school district handbooks
• Database of student addresses
Determining Eligibility
• NCHE’s Determining Eligibility brief
www.serve.org/nche/briefs.php
• Some instances are clear; others require judgment call
• Use “fixed, regular, and adequate” as your standard
• Follow a process
– Get the facts
– Analyze the facts
• Is the living situation listed in the MV definition?
• Is the living situation another kind of situation
that is not fixed, regular, and adequate?
– Get additional input, as needed
Determining Eligibility
• Doubled-up situations: “Sharing the housing of
others due to loss of housing, economic hardship,
or a similar reason”
– Why did the family move in together?
– How permanent is the arrangement meant to be?
– Is it fixed, regular, and adequate?
• “Awaiting foster care placement”
– Collaborate with your local child welfare
community
– Consider whether the placement is temporary /
emergency or intended to be permanent
Determining Eligibility
• “Substandard housing”
– Communities vary; evaluate housing according to local
standards/norms, e.g., building codes, definition of
substandard, etc.
– Sample considerations:
• Health and safety concerns
• Number of occupants per square foot
• Age of occupants
• State and local building codes
– Collaborate with local housing agencies to establish
guidelines that incorporate state and local legal
requirements and community standards.
Scenario: John
John had been living with his parents in
permanent housing in District A when their
house was foreclosed on. John’s family moved
in temporarily with relatives in District B.
Since John is no longer living in District A, his
parents enrolled him in District B as a
permanently housed student. The local liaison
in District B spoke with John about his living
situation, but neither he nor his parents
consider themselves homeless.
Scenario: John (cont.)
• Would you qualify John as eligible under
McKinney-Vento? Why or why not?
• How would you discuss John’s eligibility with
his family?
• If the two families live together for a few
months and decide to purchase a home
together because they have more buying
power and it would make things more
affordable for them in the long term, would
this change things?
School Selection
• Homeless students may attend one of two schools:
– School of Origin: School the child/youth attended when
permanently housed or school in which child/youth last
enrolled
– Local Attendance Area School: Any public school that
nonhomeless students living in the attendance area in
which the child/youth is actually living are eligible to attend
• Best Interest: In determining the best interest, the local
educational agency shall to the extent feasible, keep a
homeless child or youth in the school of origin, except when
doing so is contrary to the wishes of the child’s or youth’s
parent or guardian.
School Selection
• Students can stay in their school of origin the entire
time they are homeless, and until the end of any
academic year in which they move into permanent
housing
• If a student becomes homeless in between academic
years, he or she may continue in the school of origin
for the following academic year
• If a student is sent to a school other than that
requested by a parent or guardian, the district must
provide a written explanation and the right to appeal
Feasibility
• Feasibility criteria in the U.S. Department of Education’s
July 2004 Policy Guidance:
– age of the child or youth
– distance of a commute and the impact it may have on
the student’s education
– personal safety issues
– student’s need for special instruction (e.g., special
education and related services)
– length of anticipated stay in the temporary location
– time remaining in the school year
• Student-centered, individualized determination
School Selection:
Key Questions
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How permanent does the family’s living situation appear?
How deep are the child’s ties to current school?
How strong is the child academically?
Does one school have programs and activities that address
the unique needs or interests of the student that the other
school does not have?
• Would the timing of the school transfer coincide with a
logical juncture such as after testing, after an event that is
significant to the child, or at the end of the school year?
• How would the length of the commute impact the child?
• Are there any safety issues to consider?
Guiding the Discussion on School Selection: www.serve.org/nche/briefs.php
Scenario: Ronald
Ronald , whose parents are deceased, is a senior who
has moved to District A to try to make it on his own.
Previously, he was living with his grandfather in District
B, which is at best a 1 ½ hour commute each way. He
really wants to continue to attend school in District B
to be with his peers, but he is a struggling student
who has had many attendance problems. District A
also has some programs that might better meet his
academic needs.
Scenario: Ronald (cont.)
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What are key feasibility considerations?
What additional information do you need?
What is in Ronald’s best interest?
If he disagrees, what will you do?
Transportation
• LEAs must provide homeless students transportation to
their school of origin, at a parent’s or guardian’s request
(or at the liaison’s request for an unaccompanied youth)
• If the student’s temporary residence and the school of
origin are in the same LEA, that LEA must provide or
arrange transportation; if the student is living outside of
the school of origin’s LEA, then the LEA where the
student is living and the SOO’s LEA must determine how
to divide the responsibility and cost, or they must share
them equally
Transportation
• In addition to providing transportation to the SOO,
LEAs must provide homeless students with
transportation services comparable to those
provided to other students
• School districts must eliminate barriers to the school
enrollment and retention of students experiencing
homelessness (including transportation barriers)
Transportation Strategies
• Develop collaborative relationships - create buy-in
• Re-route school buses, including special education
and magnet school buses
• Develop formal or informal agreements with LEAs
where children cross district lines
• Reimburse parents (or youth) for gas
• Link homeless students with carpools
• Explore community resources
Enrollment
• Homeless children have the right to enroll
immediately, even if they do not have required
documents
• If a student does not have immunizations or
immunization or medical records, the liaison must
assist with obtaining them and the student must be
enrolled in the interim
• Enrolling schools obtain school records from the
previous school; schools must make their records
available
Enrollment
• SEAs and LEAs must develop, review, and revise
policies to remove barriers to the enrollment and
retention of homeless children and youth
• Federal law supersedes state and local laws where
there is a conflict [U.S. Constitution, Article VI]
Enrollment
• The terms “enroll” and “enrollment” include
attending classes and participating fully in school
activities.
• Schools must provide students with a free,
appropriate public education; therefore, schools
must make an appropriate placement decision for
McKinney-Vento eligible students upon their
enrollment
Scenario: Brandon
Brandon has struggled since he and his mom left their
abusive home situation and moved to a domestic
violence shelter about 100 miles away. He enrolled in the
local school, but his mom does not want any of Brandon’s
school records to be transferred there because she is
scared Brandon’s father will find out where they are
living. The enrolling school staff suspects that Brandon
may have an IEP because Brandon’s mom said he was put
in a special classroom after he caused a lot of problems in
his regular classroom.
Scenario: Brandon
• What steps should Brandon’s enrolling school
take to gather needed information and make
an appropriate initial classroom placement?
Unaccompanied Homeless
Youth
• MV defines UY as a youth “not in the physical
custody of a parent or guardian”
• Living arrangement must meet the Act’s definition of
homeless to qualify for McKinney-Vento services
• No lower age limit; upper age limit (as with all
McKinney-Vento eligible students) is your state’s
upper age limit for public education
• North Carolina’s upper age limit = 21
• Can be eligible regardless of whether he/she was
asked to leave the home or chose to leave;
remember that sometimes there is “more than
meets the eye” in a youth’s home life situation.
Unaccompanied Homeless
Youth (cont)
• Train all district and school staff who work with
youth (enrollment staff, secretaries, guidance
counselors, principals, teachers) on the definition,
rights, and needs of unaccompanied youth
• Develop caretaker forms, self-enrollment forms for
unaccompanied youth, and other forms to replace
typical proof of guardianship; such forms should be
crafted carefully so they do not create further
barriers or delay enrollment; visit
www.serve.org/nche/downloads/toolkit/app_d.pdf
for sample forms
Unaccompanied Homeless
Youth (cont)
In North Carolina:
• Schools are mandatory reporters of suspected abuse;
schools are NOT required under law to report runaways.
• Medical consent
– Emergency care can be given to a minor of any age
without parental consent if this is deemed medically
necessary by a physician
– Students age 18 and older can consent to their own
medical care
– Married minors are emancipated and can grant
consent for their own healthcare
Scenario: Delores
16-year-old Delores comes to enroll in your school
in March. She says she left home because she
can’t get along with her stepfather and is staying
with a girlfriend. Her mom wants her to come
home, says she as a perfectly good home, and
does not want her to enroll in another school. In
addition, it is so late in the school year, that she is
unlikely to complete the coursework needed to
attain full credit for some of her courses.
Scenario: Delores (cont.)
• Should the school enroll Delores?
• How do you handle the mother’s protest?
• If you decide to enroll her, how would you
handle the challenges of accumulating credit?
• What would you do to help Delores beyond
her school needs?
• What other programs and agencies should be
involved?
Preschool
• Liaisons must ensure that families and
children have access to Head Start, Even Start,
and other public preschool programs
administered by the LEA
• Head Start was reauthorized in December
2007; many provisions address serving
homeless preschool aged children
Access to Services
• Homeless students must have access to
services for which they are eligible
• Undocumented children and youth have the
same right to attend public school as U.S.
citizens (Plyler vs. Doe) and are covered by the
McKinney-Vento Act
• US DA policy allows homeless students
immediate access to free meals upon
identification by liaisons or shelter providers
Access to Services – Title I
• Any student who is homeless and attending any school in the
district is eligible for Title IA services
• LEAs must set aside funds as are necessary to provide services
comparable to those provided to children in Title IA schools to
serve homeless children who do not attend participating
schools
• LEAs can choose to provide services not ordinarily provided to
other Title I students that are not available from other sources
• Title I funds cannot be used for transportation to the school of
origin, but can be used for other transportation needs of
homeless students
Title IA Set Aside Funds
• Additional instructional services in Title I schools or
non-Title I schools
• Partial support for the liaison position if Title I duties
are performed
• Tutoring programs in shelters
• Eyeglasses
• Field trips
• Uniforms
• Transportation to the school of origin once housed for
remainder of the school year
X No prom dresses
X No rent and utilities for families
For More Information
• National Center for Homeless Education website:
www.serve.org/nche
• NCHE helpline: 800-308-2145 or [email protected]
• Other national organizations:
NAEHCY (www.naehcy.org)
NLCHP (www.nlchp.org)
A Unique Professional Development Opportunity
NAEHCY’s 21st Annual Conference
November 14-17, 2009
Denver, CO
http://www.naehcy.org