A Local Homeless Education Liaison’s Toolkit: The Nuts & Bolts of Fulfilling Your Role

1. A Local Homeless Education Liaison’s Toolkit:The Nuts & Bolts of Fulfilling Your Role Patricia Popp, Ph.D. State Coordinator Project HOPE – Virginia The College of William & Mary

2. According to legend… If you wish to make an impact for one year, you plant corn. If you wish to make an impact for a generation, you plant a tree. But if you wish to make an impact for an eternity, you educate a child. Author Unknown

3. As the local homeless education liaison, you can facilitate the enrollment of a child for an impact that will last an eternity.

4. Goals • Highlight key McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act requirements • Explain local liaison responsibilities • Provide an overview of the Local Homeless Education Liaison Toolkit an other resources

5. What do you think? (T/F) • Only children who would be counted in the PIT are eligible for McKinney-Vento rights and services in schools. • A child experiencing homelessness cannot enroll in school without immunizations. • Where a child who is homeless enrolls in school is solely the decision of the parent. • All unaccompanied youth are considered homeless.

7. Who is homeless? • An individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, including children and youth : • sharing housing due to loss of housing or economic hardship • living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate housing • living in emergency or transitional housing

8. Who is homeless? (cont’d) Including children and youth : • abandoned in hospitals • awaiting foster care • having a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, regular sleeping accommodations • living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations • migratory students meeting the description • unaccompanied youth

9. Numbers from Educators • USED 2007-08 data (NCHE) : 794,617 students experiencing homelessness enrolled • Virginia 2008-09 • PreK-12 – 12,768 (29% increase since 2006-07) • PreK – 408 • Elementary – 6,998 • Middle – 2,646 • High –2,716

10. New for 2009-10: Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Flag

11. Primary Nighttime Residence Virginia 2008-09

12. Numbers • 2 million people experience homelessness annually • Approximately half are children • USED 2007-08 data (NCHE) : 794,617 students experiencing homelessness enrolled • Virginia 2007-08 • PreK-12 – 11,776 (19% increase over 2006-07) • PreK – 304 • Elementary – 6,413 • Middle – 2,652 • High –2,407

13. “The hardest part about being in the shelter was that it was hard to sleep sometimes because there was so many other people there and sometimes there would be fights. And it was hard to be around so many strangers. It was scary sometimes…” — Alphonso, age 12 Forget-Me-Not Campaign

14. How vulnerable are you to becoming homeless? Answer “yes” or “no” to the following: • Could you experience a flood, fire, tornado, or other natural disaster? • Do you work in an area of the economy/job market where your job might become obsolete? • Could you suffer from a long-term illness or accident without proper health benefits or other compensations? • Do you live in a household with only one full-time wage earner? • Are you behind in any monthly bills? • Are housing costs in your area increasing faster than wages? • Does anyone in your family struggle with addictions such as drugs or alcohol? Adapted from Helping H.A.N.D.S., Paducah, NY

15. Context • Poverty Tour VIDEO_TS.IFO • http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour.htm • National Low Income Housing Coalition • http://www.nlihc.org • VDSS Self Sufficiency Standards • http://www.dss.state.va.us/geninfo/reports/agency_wide/self_sufficiency.cgi

16. Causes Poverty Substance Abuse Domestic Violence Mental Illness Affordable Housing Physical Illness Mortgage market Impact Absenteeism is greater Developmental delays occur at 4 times the rate reported for other children Learning disabilities identified at double the rate Twice as likely to repeat a grade Causes and Impact of Homelessness

17. The child’s classroom may be the only place where the child can experience quiet, interact with children his/her age, and experience success… School is the most normal activity that most children experience collectively…For homeless children it is much more than a learning environment. It is a place of safety, personal space, friendships, and support. Oakley & King, 2000

18. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance ActEducation of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program Title X, Part C No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

19. McKinney-Vento Act • Reauthorizes the Stewart B. McKinney Act, originally enacted in 1987 • Provides states with funding to support local grants and statewide initiatives • Requires educational access, attendance, and success for homeless children and youth • Outlines responsibilities for local liaisons

20. Quiz time on liaison responsibilities How much do you already know about what you are responsible for doing to serve students experiencing homelessness?

21. Responsibilities • LEA: • Ensure access to school and appropriate services • Reduce school transfers & enhance educational stability • Strengthen parental choice & involvement • Liaison: • Review/revise local policies • Promote school/community awareness (post rights) • Ensure: • Identification • Full & equal access services, including appropriate referrals • Parents/guardians informed of rights, including transportation • Unaccompanied youth informed of rights & assisted with enrollment • Compliance with state’s dispute resolution process Get the student enrolled!

22. Tanya Tanya has moved into a domestic violence shelter. She has a two year-old son, eight year-old daughter in third grade, and a fourteen year-old son. Consider: • What educational needs might Tanya’s children have? • What challenges might be encountered in meeting these needs? • What could you do to support Tanya and her children in your school district?

23. McKinney-Vento Act: Immediate Enrollment Requires public schools to immediately enroll students experiencing homelessness even when lacking documentation, such as: • proof of residency • guardianship • birth certificates, school records, or other documents • medical records, including immunization records • uniform or dress code requirements

24. McKinney-Vento Act:Enrollment • School choice: • school of origin, if feasible • school in current residency area • Posting educational rights • in all public schools • in the community • Access for unaccompanied youth • A dispute resolution process

25. McKinney-Vento Act:Enrollment: School Placement • School of origin, if in the student’s best interest • School in current residency area • Other placement allowed by school division (not in legislation)

26. School of Origin Defined “In this paragraph, the term `school of origin’ means the school that the child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled.” §722(g)(3)(G) “One child, one school, one year” Victoria, Texas

27. Best Interest Means… • To the extent feasible, keeping a homeless student in the school of origin, except when doing so is contrary to the wishes of the child’s or youth’s parent or guardian; • Providing a written explanation, including the right to appeal if the LEA sends the student to a school other than the school of origin or a school requested by the parent or guardian; • In the case of an unaccompanied youth, ensuring that the homeless liaison assists in placement or enrollment decisions, considering the views of the youth.

28. Feasibility—ED Sample Criteria • A child-centered, individualized determination • Continuity of instruction • Age of the child or youth • Safety of the child or youth • Length of stay at the shelter • Likely area where family will find permanent housing • Student’s need for special instructional programs • Impact of commute on education • School placement of siblings • Time remaining in the school year

29. School of Origin Applies: • Whenever the student becomes homeless (during the academic year or summer) • As long as the student is homeless • For the remainder of the school year in which permanent housing is obtained

30. Transportation to School of Origin • Must be provided when SOO is in the student’s best interest • Within a school division • Across school divisions • Work together to determine how transportation will be provided • If divisions cannot agree, they must split cost • USED Guidance: optional once permanently housed (can use fed. funds) • Use of M-V subgrant funds

31. Other M-V Transportation Issues • Provide comparable services • Remove barriers • What about students with IEPs???

32. McKinney-Vento Act: Attendance • Transportation • Attendance Officers • Truancy Laws

33. McKinney-Vento Act: Attendance & Success • Comparable services • Parental involvement • Liaison collaboration between social service agencies and school divisions to serve students • Restricts segregation of homeless students

34. Free and reduced price breakfast and lunch programs Title I Special education Gifted programs Transportation After school and summer programs Head Start and (Even Start), VPI Ensuring Access to Educational Services

35. State Policy and Code • VSBA Sample Policy (JECA) • See Superintendent’s Memos (Appendix R) • Memo #51(March, 2003) • Memo #64 (December, 2003) (dispute resolution) • Memo #125 (June, 2005) (revised dispute) • General Assembly 2004 • SB270 – Chapter 500 – align with M-V • General Assembly 2005 • SB1006 – Chapter 343 – foster care

36. Implementation

37. Tips for Identifying Homeless Children and Youth • Analyze information you have on record • Know your community- “network” • Disseminate brochures/posters to community areas with your contact information • Train school enrollment personnel to: • look for signs, • offer assistance, and • contact you

38. Warning Signs of Homelessness • Lack of continuity in education • Poor health/nutrition • Transportation and attendance problems • Poor hygiene • Lack of privacy/personal space after school • Social and behavioral concerns • Reactions/statements by parent, guardian, or child

39. Conduct a Needs Assessment • Determine the location of the shelters in the area • Identify organizations in the school division that assist the homeless • Know issues that commonly impact homeless children and youth in the school division

40. Promoting Educational Rights • Point of Contact in each school for homeless education to serve as a resource • Presentations to central office personnel, schools, and community organizations • Communication Vehicles • Posters • Brochures • E-mail

41. Know the Shelter Directors • Contact directors and staff of shelters in the school division attendance zone • Share your contact information • Provide flyers, posters, and brochures • Include shelters in school division mailings • Consider meeting to discuss ways to support each other (e.g., What resources can we share to best serve children and youth experiencing homelessness?)

42. Disseminate Information to the Schools • Provide a flyer/poster with the educational rights of children and youth experiencing homelessness to be posted where students enroll. • Provide tip sheets to school personnel with suggestions of what they can do to help. • Conduct in-service training.

43. Potential Partners for Collaboration: • Shelters, soup kitchens, motels, churches • Local Continuum of Care (HUD) • School District Departments • Title I • Special Education • Transportation Department • Staff Development • Preschool Programs

44. Resources • HUD Continuums of Care & Service Providers - www.hudhre.info (Virginia contacts on flash drive) • HIP and HPRP contacts: www.dhcd.virginia. gov/HomelessnesstoHomeownership/default.htm • NAEHCY – www.naehcy.org • NCHE - www.serve.org/nche • NLCHP - www.nlchp.org • NLIHC – www.nlihc.org • Project HOPE-VA: www.wm.edu/hope • USDE - www.ed.gov/programs/homeless/index.html

45. Project HOPE-Virginia The College of William & Mary P. O. Box 8795 Williamsburg, VA 23187 757-221-7776 877-455-3412 (toll free) 757-221-5300 (fax) homlss@wm.edu www.wm.edu/hope Contact Information

46. Thanks for all you do! • HMSE_PICS.mpg