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As a future public school counselor and current public school educator is important to be knowledgable in the kinds of lives our students live outside of school and what kinds of lawful protections they have. It is essential to know the rights of homeless students and their families so that we know how to advocate for these students when they are in our care. It is essential for educators to know the rights and laws that protect our homeless students and for the students and families to understand how they are protected. The information in this guide will serve those working in the public school system as well as students and families that might find themselves in homelessness.

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The employment status and source of income is changing for families across the country on a daily basis. When income decreases, or disappears, the first thing to go is usually the most expensive payment and in many cases, that is housing. Families and students that fall on economic hardships have government protection and rights. The definition of homelessness is so broad that many families may not realize they qualify for any benefits.

Housing changes and living status can have direct impact on a students' education, especially in the ever changing world of the pandemic. It is imperative that teachers know the signs of homelessness in students so that proper help and advocacy can be provided to the students. Counselors, administrators and school staff must be knowledgeable in the rights of homeless students so that these students may receive the help and exceptions they need to be successful. It is believed that the only way to end homelessness is through education. These students need to receive an equal opportunity to education to help end cyclical homelessness.

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School House Connection is a non-profit organization that partners with early childhood centers, schools, and higher institutions to provide strategic advocacy and practical assistance to children, youth and their families that are experiencing homelessness (SchoolHouse Connection, 2020). The following document is a list of vital considerations to assist states and school districts to provide equal education when reopening schools to students experiencing homelessness, especially new homelessness after the pandemic (SchoolHouse Connection, 2021). In addition to the standard requirements for students to be considered for homeless services, the document mentions additional issues that students may be facing due to the pandemic. It is estimated that an estimated 420,000 fewer students have been identified and enrolled in schools since the pandemic (SchoolHouse Connection, 2021).

SchoolHouse Connection. (2021). School reopening and recovery. School House Connection. https://schoolhouseconnection.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/School-Reopening-and-Recovery.pdf

SchoolHouse Connection. (2020). About schoolhouse connection. School House Connection. https://schoolhouseconnection.org/about/about-schoolhouse-connection/

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Writing for Education Week, Evie Blad (2021), wrote an article about how school districts have been given more money to support and provide aid for homeless students, but one of the biggest issues is that due to the pandemic these students are harder to identify. In the article she outlines some ways that organizations and districts are planning to identify and support these students this school year.

School districts are under a lot of pressure to identify students and decide how new federal funds will be spent most efficiently. It is expected that there will be a new wave of homeless students when the government ends the moratorium and families are required to come up with rent or face eviction.

Congress required that much of the American Rescue Plan be used to identify and support children, youth and families experiencing homelessness. The $800 million in this plan is eight times more than what is received each year through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program; a federal program that helps school districts identify and support homeless students.

Federal Funds are typically spent on things like field trips, tutoring and transportation. Flexible funds give homeless student liaisons the ability to spend money on practical barriers that students encounter like the need of shoes or clothing. With more funding than normal, some are having a difficult time figuring out how to spend the money, while others are buying wifi hotspots, paying for more mental health counseling and services and some are even trying to figure out how to pay for emergency hotel stays for families, but all are trying to figure out how to keep these students on track academically.

Some families may not realize that they would qualify for assistance due to the definition of homelessness being so broad. School districts were reporting lower numbers of homeless students during the pandemic simply because they were falling off the radar. Program coordinators and liaisons are hoping funds can be used for hiring more help from social workers to help identify homeless students more quickly to provide them aid. If districts are showing ways of effectively spending the funds, they are hoping the funds will find a more permanent place in the budget.

Blad, Evie. (2021). As schools weigh how to use new aid for homeless students, finding them is step one. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/leadership/as-schools-weigh-how-to-use-new-aid-for-homeless-students-finding-them-is-step-one/2021/04

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Districts will soon have a fresh surge of federal aid to help support students experiencing homelessness, many of who have lost a key source of stability they find in schools as they face pandemic-related challenges presented by remote learning, quarantines, and strained family networks.

But the same pandemic-related circumstances that have created urgent new needs for homeless students have also made them more difficult to identify, district leaders told Education Week.

"Prior to the pandemic, school was the safest most stable place in the lives of children and youth who are homeless," said Barbara Duffield, the executive director of SchoolHouse Connection, an organization that advocates for students experiencing homelessness. "It was the place for noticing what was going on in their lives and for educators to do something about it. It's not like things are better. It's that we can't find them."

Seasoned educators can often recognize the signs that a student may be slipping into homelessness: Showing up to class repeatedly without supplies or a sudden change in bus ridership might indicate their family had to move quickly due to eviction or income loss.

After an unprecedented year for U.S. schools, many of those opportunities for face-to-face interactions have been hampered by changes in schoolwide routines. And, as the COVID-19 pandemic affected job stability across many sectors, many families who had previously rarely interacted with public support programs may not realize their children now qualify for federally mandated supports, district administrators said.

"We have a need to focus on this population that is less visible, more mobile, more disconnected, with greater needs than they've had in the past," Duffield said.

The fresh challenges build on a problem that was growing well before COVID-19 caused mass school closures. A record 1.5 million students were identified as homeless in 2017-18, according to the most recent federal data. And school leaders say that number has certainly grown in the time since.

The challenge of identifying those students presents great urgency for school districts' homelessness liaisons. They must also prepare to use new federal funds efficiently in the long term, even as they plan for a potential wave of newly homeless students when federal officials quit renewing a moratorium on housing evictions. That order, which is currently set to expire June 30, has been extended several times, and educators don't know how to predict the volume of upheaval in their communities when months of unpaid rent come due for families in their communities.

"I have a knot in my stomach over what is going to happen when all of this lifts. I'm very worried," said Heather Anderson, the transitional student services coordinator for the Paducah, Ky., school district. "We are building the plane in the air."

Federal aid to support homeless students

Recognizing those challenges, Congress required a significant portion of K-12 aid provided through the American Rescue Plan to support the identification, enrollment, and school participation of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The $800 million included for those purposes is eight times what schools get this year through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program, the federal program that helps schools meet the needs of homeless students that may create hurdles to success in school.

As they await federal guidance on how to spend the new aid, McKinney-Vento coordinators around the country have pushed officials for maximum flexibility in how states can distribute the funds and how schools can use them. They'd like greater freedom to collaborate with community organizations in meeting students' needs. And they've also pushed other federal agencies to target fresh relief aid-like funds for emergency housing assistance-in ways that can provide the most benefit to homeless students.

And they've got some powerful allies.

A bipartisan group of senators wrote to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona April 9, encouraging flexible use of the new funds "beyond what is typically allowed" under the existing federal homeless education program.

Schools should be encouraged to prioritize "wraparound services" that help meet students' emotional, behavioral, and family needs that may affect their ability to learn, said the letter. Signers included Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, who both led efforts to target the relief aid; Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat and chair of the Senate education committee; and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., its ranking member.

New uses for new funds

In a typical year, qualifying schools spend federal funds on items like tutoring, field trip fees, and transportation to keep students in the same school, even if their family moves outside of its boundaries. The most-flexible-use category allows liaisons to address practical barriers to student attendance, like a need for new shoes or a coat to walk to school in cold weather.

Casey Gordon, the homeless services coordinator for a cluster of districts around Grand Rapids, Mich., once bought a student a flatiron after she lost it in a sudden move and repeatedly missed school because she was embarassed by her unstyled hair.

"We went to Walgreens and bought her one, and she came to school every day after that," Gordon said.

Student liaisons also frequently buy prepaid phones for unaccompanied teens so they can stay connected to school and participate in activities. They also use funds to extend hours of tutoring services to fit the needs of highly mobile families, and they install washing machines in schools to give students a place to do laundry.

Gordon has already adapted her approach during the pandemic. She's bought wireless hotspots and car chargers for computers to allow students to do homework in parking lots.

Anderson, in Paducah, bought a van to deliver tablets and meals to unhoused students and to distribute donated supplies. The van contains "everything you need to be a human being," she said, adding that giving a child a bottle of lotion or a pair of shoes can help maintain a personal connection when they aren't learning in-person.

Britney Gibson, the student services coordinator for Johnston County schools in North Carolina, has used community contributions to help cover things she might not be able to pay for with federal funds. The district uses an app that allows community members to meet the needs of anonymous students and their families by ordering items via Amazon.com. Those items could be as small as laundry detergent and paper towels and as large as a mattress, Gibson said.

As she awaits word on how new federal funds can be used, Gibson hopes for maximum flexibility to pay for things that might not seem immediately related to education. For one family, a simple car repair helped a young mother get her children to school, she said. But that's not an allowed use of current funding, and it's not something that can be bought on Amazon.

"There are some things I just can't figure out how to pay for," Gibson said.

Ben Ruch, the homeless liaison for Polk County schools in Bartow, Fla., says he wants to focus the new funding on expanding current mental health and academic supports for students, rather than creating new programs. He wants to expand tutoring services, offering more remote options and new time slots for students who may work part-time jobs during typical hours. That's particularly important after a year when educators are concerned many students, homeless or not, may not have had time to cover all of the course material for their grade level, he said.

Ruch, who formerly managed a family housing shelter, said he feels urgency in keeping students on track academically.

"The parents who I had the most difficult time helping were those who hadn't graduated from high school," he said. "I see our program as one of the best chances of helping those students end that cycle of homelessness."

That's why coordinators around the country want to move quickly to identify students so that they can help them participate in summer learning programs, even as they chart longer-term uses for new funds during the next academic year.

A debate about using funds for housing

What's less clear, and more debated among homeless liaisons, is whether schools can or should use the new funding to help pay for housing itself.

Gibson, in North Carolina, would like the flexibility to cover the occasional emergency hotel voucher for families in crisis. Gordon, in Grand Rapids, said the task of helping families find and secure housing in a crowded rental market is beyond the capabilities of school employees, but she might want the flexibility to direct some funds to existing community organizations that are better equipped to do so.

Advocates for low-income students say that schools could stretch their dollars further by creating programs like school-based family resource centers that connect families to outside agencies with more housing expertise.

They point to other relief aid, provided to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as a more effective way to address the need for housing itself. In a March 30 letter, a group of advocacy organizations urged HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to ensure her agency doesn't tie too many strings to those funds so that they can more easily reach children at risk of homelessness.

At issue: HUD typically uses a narrower definition of homelessness than the Education Department, which includes children who are staying in motels, shelters, or "doubled up" in friends' homes, sleeping on couches as a make-do fix while their parents search for housing.

The American Rescue Plan allows HUD to distribute new housing aid under the definitions used by other federal agencies, including the Education Department, potentially opening up access to students who may have otherwise gone without. Regulations for how that funding should be spent should encourage housing organizations to cooperate with school districts to ensure they meet families' needs effectively, the letter to Fudge said.

These families "face some of the greatest barriers to stability, including the effects of intergenerational poverty, and are at high risk of COVID-19 transmission and illness, yet they are left with few resources and options to obtain and maintain housing, and achieve economic prosperity and well-being," it said.

Finding students can be difficult

That broad definition of homelessness is part of the reason some families don't enroll their children in supportive services. They might not realize they qualify.

"A lot of our families in Johnston County think that homelessness means you are sleeping under a bridge," Gibson said.

Even as federal data showed the number of homeless students hit a record high, advocates said they knew there were many more who hadn't been identified. During the pandemic, schools around the country have reported lower numbers of qualifying students. SchoolHouse Connection estimates about 1 in 4 students experiencing homelessness have fallen off of their district's radar during the upheaval.

Gibson has hung signs in laundromats and local businesses to make families aware of her services. Ruch, in Florida, made a video for families and educators to explain how his programs work and who qualifies.

Melinda Dyer, who coordinates homeless student services for Washington state, said districts will have more success both identifying and supporting homeless students if they use new aid to hire social workers and staff. She hopes that the funds can also be used in part to help beef up state and interdistrict efforts to track and support students as their families move.

The stakes are high for children and for their schools, said Duffield, of SchoolHouse Connection. She hopes that, if schools find effective ways to spend the new aid, it can help make the case for a more permanent funding increase in future federal budgets.

"This is unprecedented opportunity to show what investment can do and to show what this program can look like in the future," Duffield said. "As much work as it took for advocacy, implementation is going to take even more work."

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As Schools Weigh How to Use New Aid for Homeless Students, Finding Them Is Step One

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Districts will soon have a fresh surge of federal aid to help support students experiencing homelessness, many of who have lost a key source of stability they find in schools as they face pandemic-related challenges presented by remote learning, quarantines, and strained family networks.

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Linda Jacobson wrote in an article in 2018 discussing how teacher prep programs are not providing any type of training to future educators on how to identify the signs of homelessness in students, and how needed it is in today's society.

Educators are seeing that students as young as pre-schoolers, are coming to school more stressed and anxious, unable to self-soothe, and sometimes aggressive due to constant transition of living in homelessness and are needing more support to learn how to cope and manage their emotions.

With the population of homeless students increasing every year, educators need to know how to identify the effects of homelessness in their classrooms. Higher education institutions are beginning to realize that they are not preparing their future educators with the knowledge and tools they need to do this.

Educators and those working with students have to recognize that a big part is building relationships with students, as cliche as it sounds. Teachers need to value the parents and their knowledge and expertise of their children and their needs. We hold no power over these parents and families.

When children lose their homes, they are losing all sense of consistency and routines outside of school, so it is important that they have consistency and routine when they are at school.

It is important for educators to be trauma-informed and provide trauma-informed education in their classrooms, but the best way to give students what they need is to to learn from each other because as educators and advocates, we are all in this together.

Jacobson, Linda. (2018). Teacher prep beginning to address growing homeless student population. K-12Dive. https://www.k12dive.com/news/teacher-prep-beginning-to-address-growing-homeless-student-population/544469/

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Even among the infants and toddlers in her classroom, Meital Sandbank sees the effects of homelessness and living in a constant state of transition - difficulty self-soothing, an inability to follow directions and sometimes aggression.

"Children come in to school and their bodies are stressed," Sandbank, who works at Horizons for Homeless Children - a Boston-area early learning provider and advocacy organization - wrote in an email. "Children who are constantly anxious or worried need much more support and one-on-one care to learn to cope and manage their emotions."

Sandbank, however, is also participating with her colleagues in a new Certificate in Child Homelessness Studies program at Lesley University in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts. The series of five courses - covering topics such as trauma, counseling and parent resilience - is designed to better prepare early educators to work with families in unstable living conditions.

"You don't know when you walk into a classroom who has experienced homelessness. People don't get trained," Lesley professor Lisa Fiore said in an interview. She added that the new certificate program, which is designed for undergraduates who might pursue careers in education or counseling, is intended to raise awareness of how homelessness affects children.

More than 40 Lesley students have completed the certificate thus far, and roughly 1,000 have taken at least one of the courses, Fiore said. One student from Haiti, she noted, is a psychology major, but he took the courses because he returns to Haiti a few times a year and plans to begin a music therapy program.

From Horizons, 22 teachers are taking the courses in a cohort that also includes some individuals who work at the organization's "playspaces" in shelters across the state. The partnership between the university and the nonprofit grew out of a request from the teachers, Wendy Kennedy, Horizons' education director, said in an interview.

"They really wanted some richer, deeper training and academic support," Kennedy said. "Coming in the doors, our teachers are drawn to this work. but they know there is always more to learn."

'Why isn't that required?'

While every child Horizons serves experiences homelessness, educators nationally are also increasingly seeing the effects of homelessness in their classrooms. According to the National Center on Family Homelessness at the American Institutes for Research, roughly 2.5 million children, including 1.2 million under age 6, experience homelessness each year.

Organizations, such as SchoolHouse Connection, provide resources, including research, state policy updates and webinars. Last week, for example, Barbara Duffield, the nonprofit's executive director, participated in a webinar featuring experts on the issue of homelessness among young children as part of the Sesame Street in Communities initiative, which includes videos and materials on how to discuss tough topics - including divorce or a family member's incarceration - with young children.

During the broadcast, Duffield described some signs educators might spot that should prompt them to further explore whether a child has a permanent address, including changes in behavior, hoarding food, falling asleep at unexpected times, and sudden or frequent absences. In fact, a recent policy brief from Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan showed homeless students are the most likely to be chronically absent from school in that state.

Districts also provide professional development on homelessness. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example - where the number of homeless children increased by 50% from 2016 to 2017 - training includes how to identify homeless students and understand the rights and protections that apply under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

But experts say there is also a growing need for beginning educators to understand some of the signs Duffield described, the challenges homeless families are facing, and how such trauma is manifested in children's learning and behavior.

"Some in higher ed are ... beginning to realize that teachers and school administrators are not prepared for the issues they must deal with at the district and school level," Jan Moore, the assistant director of the National Center for Homeless Education, wrote in an email.

As part of a research study, Moore worked with another professor and a school social worker to deliver three courses on poverty, homelessness and trauma for the Masters of School Administration students at Western Carolina University. "We would like to do more of this work with other universities and in different formats," she said.

In another example, Patricia Popp, the coordinator of Virginia's homeless education program, Project HOPE, and a clinical associate professor in the William and Mary School of Education, weaves a discussion of highly mobile children into an elementary education classroom management course. She also includes a review of McKinney-Vento basics into a required Characteristics of Exceptional Populations course.

"I've had people say, 'Why isn't that required?'" she said in an interview. "I do think it's a good foundation for everyone."

'It's relationships'

At Horizons, Kennedy said there are some essential skills and knowledge early educators should have when working with children experiencing ongoing disruption. First, she said early educators should understand how trauma - and what Harvard's Center on the Developing Child terms " toxic stress" - affect brain growth. When a young child's body is constantly on alert, the frequent, elevated heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormone levels can lead to later health and learning problems. However, supportive relationships with caregivers, including early education providers, can help mitigate some of the effects of compound adversity.

"It sounds corny, but it's relationships," Popp added.

Second, teachers and early education providers "have to understand what they are bringing to the interaction" with parents and what might trigger a particular response, Kennedy said. It's important that they are "valuing the parent as the expert of their child," she said.

"We want the families to know that there isn't a power hierarchy here."

And third, it's important for school administrators and program directors to watch for "compassion fatigue" in their teachers, Kennedy said, adding that Horizons leaders are receiving training in reflective supervision, in which leaders create opportunities for educators and caregivers to discuss the range of emotions and experiences they encounter in their work with families. "Self-care is something you often don't think about," she said.

The need for consistency and routines

Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, the McKinney-Vento law was expanded to include preschools administered by a school district. This means the rights K-12 students have to remain in their school of origin, even if they move out of those attendance boundaries - and to receive transportation to that site - are also extended to preschoolers in programs such as Head Start and Title I-funded classrooms. Because there are often waiting lists for preschool spots, a family moving in and out of a shelter or doubling up with other families or friends likely won't be able to join a different class in the middle of the school year.

Such provisions are another way to provide some stability for children who don't have it outside of the classroom.

"Where [young children] thrive is with consistency and with routines and with structure and with the devotion of caretakers," Kate Barrand, president and CEO of Horizons for Homeless Children, said during the Sesame Street in Communities discussion. When children are homeless, she added, they "lose that consistency. They lose the routine that really allows their brains to develop."

Barrand also identified some issues school administrators might see among children entering kindergarten or public pre-K, such as developmental delays. And Karen Hudson, a community relations adviser with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said children's immunizations might not be up to date, and they might be overweight if their diet is primarily made up of fast food because they're living in a motel. To address absenteeism among older students, some schools have been installing laundry facilities.

Other practical advice for educators and early-childhood program directors is to form relationships with motel managers and to be careful how enrollment forms are worded, avoiding the term homeless.

"You'd be surprised how insensitive forms can be," said Marsha Basloe, formerly the senior adviser for the Office of Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families, within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In that position, she developed a self-assessment tool that administrators and program leaders can use over time to evaluate how they're already serving families who are homeless - or could potentially become homeless - and where improvements are needed. Now, as president of the Child Care Services Association, a resource and referral agency in Durham, North Carolina, she will continue to share the tool with faculty members of the North Carolina Community College System at two meetings next year.

'Learning from each other'

Sandbank, at Horizons, said she had long been interested in working with "more vulnerable populations of children." And she did a lot of reading on how trauma and adversity affect brain development in a young child. Now, she said, she has the added benefit of learning with her peers.

"We are all working together and sharing our experiences and then learning from each other as we implement in our early-education classrooms," she said. "Their experience is teaching me new ways to handle difficult situations."

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Teacher prep beginning to address growing homeless student population

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Even among the infants and toddlers in her classroom, Meital Sandbank sees the effects of homelessness and living in a constant state of transition - difficulty self-soothing, an inability to follow directions and sometimes aggression.

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Slide #6 Statutory Law- McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

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Slide #6 Statutory Law- McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

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The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was originally signed in 1987 by President Reagan and amended in 2015 by President Obama with the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

This statute defines homelessness for children and youth who may be sharing sharing housing with someone else due to loss of housing, economic hardship, living in motels, hotels, and trailer parks, because of a lack of adequate accommodations, children that live in a public or private space not designed or used for sleeping, or live in places such as cars, parks and substandard housing (McKinney-Vento Act, 1987).

At the state level, every state must have a designated official that can provide information and answer questions for families, provide training for liaisons, and monitor that educational agencies are following and enforcing laws and regulations (SchoolHouse Connection, 2020).

Every educational entity must have a designated person for homeless students that is able to identify homeless students and make sure they enroll in school, receive verification for financial aid, ensure that homeless students are getting necessary medical referrals including mental health, and provide information to families (SchoolHouse Connection, 2020).

The Act allows requires that homeless students be enrolled in schools as soon as possible even if they lack required paperwork, allows students to stay at their home school and also receive transportation even if they gain permanent housing in the middle of the year. The Act allows barriers to be removed that could be preventing a student from receiving partial credit for a course. (SchoolHouse Connection, 2020).

If Title I funds are received, part of the funds must be reserved to support homeless students and be spent in a way that Title I funds are not normally spent (SchoolHouse Connection).

SchoolHouse Connection. (2020). The McKinney-Vento quick reference. SchoolHouse Connection. https://schoolhouseconnection.org/mckinney-vento-act/

McKinney-Vento Act of 1987, 42 U.S.C. §11434 et seq.

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Slide #7 Administrative Law- Adaptations for Special Populations

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Slide #7 Administrative Law- Adaptations for Special Populations

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According to the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) under the development of systems to ease transitions and establish procedures, school districts and open enrollment charter schools in Texas are required to develop plans to assist in the transition of homeless students and those in substitute care.

Students must be provided with information about school administration including contact information for the principal, assistant principal, counselor, homeless liaison, foster care liaison nurses and social workers, as well as information about school activities including clubs, sports, organizations, and tutoring.

Procedures must be in place to ensure that qualifying students are receiving nutrition benefits immediately after enrollment. All homeless students are eligible for the United States Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Programs.

Students are required to participate in an enrollment conference no more than two weeks after enrollment or homeless identification to discuss things such as, but not limited to, class credit, attendance, behaviors, college readiness and social and emotional support. The conference team should consist of administrators, teachers, counselors, drop-out prevention specialists, homeless liaison and a parent or guardian.

Adaptations for Special Populations, 19 Tex. Admin. Code §89.1605

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Slide #8 Statutory Law- Students that are At Risk of Dropping Out

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Slide #8 Statutory Law- Students that are At Risk of Dropping Out

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In Texas, any student that is under the age of 26 and homeless is considered “at-risk of dropping out” (Tex. Educ. Code §29.081 (d)).

Students that are at-risk of dropping out are sometimes eligible for optional flexible school day programs (Tex. Educ. Code §29.0822). This would benefit students that need to work in order to help provide income for their families.

A school district may provide free pre kindergarten classes if the district is able to identify 15 or more eligible children under the age of 3, including homeless children, regardless of residence of the child, parent or guardian (Tex. Educ. Code §29.153).

School districts may create a drop out reduction program in which funds are used to create a program that provides services to a population of students where at least 50 percent of students are identified as at-risk of dropping out (Tex. Educ. Code §29.096).

Tex. Educ. Code §29.0822

Tex. Educ. Code §29.096

Tex. Educ. Code §29.153

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Slide #10 Local Administrative Law/Policy/Rule

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Slide #10 Local Administrative Law/Policy/Rule

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Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District (LCISD) homeless students flexibility in some district provisions.

Homeless students enrolling in LCISD are given flexibility in providing proper documentation for proof of residency, immunizations, educational program placement if the student is not able to provide previous academic records. A homeless student may stay in their home school or enroll in a school in the attendance area where they are currently living (Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District, 2020).

At any point in the school year students may be given opportunities for credit-by-examination, and may be given partial credit for passing only one semester of a two semester course (Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District, 2020).

If a student in grade 11-12 enrolls in another district and does not meet graduation criteria, the student is allowed, per state law, to request their diploma from their previous district and graduate from that district (Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District, 2020).

Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District. (2020). Student handbook. Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District. https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1345558/StudentHandbookNov162020.pdf

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Slide #12 Non-Law Source- Texas Education Agency

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Slide #12 Non-Law Source- Texas Education Agency

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Texas Education Agency (TEA), provides information on their website about supporting at risk students, such as students experiencing homelessness. The information outlines the responsibilities of homeless liaisons in local education agencies, provides information about how homeless students are identified, and also outlines how schools and transportation is determined for homeless students. Since many teachers were not provided any type of training in their teacher prep programs about dealing with students living in homelessness, this serves as vital information to everyone working in the field of education.

Texas Education Agency. (n.d.) Texas education for homeless children and youth (TEHCY) program. https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/support-for-at-risk-schools-and-students/texas-education-for-homeless-children-and-youth-tehcy-program

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Slide #13 Dest Practices for Compliance and Recommendations

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Slide #13 Dest Practices for Compliance and Recommendations

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With the population of homeless families and students in schools increasing everyday, it is extremely important that educators know how to best serve these students as soon as they walk in the school doors. Below are my recommendations on best practices schools can follow for compliance:

School districts should provide training and information for teachers about the signs of homelessness in students. Teachers spend the most time with students during the day, so teachers are typically the first to notice how a student looks or behaves during the school day. If teachers know what to look for, the student will be able to receive the support and services needed more quickly.

School administration and counselors need to build and maintain relationships with educational stakeholders and outside services so that when a need arises, resources are readily available to serve students and families in need.

With the definition of homelessness being so broad, many families do not even know they qualify for services. School districts and school counseling departments need to work to disseminate information in the community about homelessness so that more families are aware of the services provided to people living in homelessness.

Housing situations are likely to continue to change for students along with increased homelessness due to the pandemic. Teachers, students and administrators need to be extra aware of students that may have been unaccounted for during the new school year. Districts need to come up with a plan of how they will identify and find these students.

Districts are receiving extra money to serve students living in homelessness due to the pandemic. The population, economic status and need of students needs to be continually evaluated so that the money can be spent in a way that directly impacts, serves, and benefits the students in need.

Current supports that are in place for homeless students need to be evaluated to ensure that they are directly aligned to the ever changing needs of students.

Counselors and administrators need to be up-to-date and knowledgeable in the rights and protections of homeless students and their families so that adequate and effective services can be provided to these students.

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Slide #9 Judicial Law- N.J. v New York State Education Department

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Slide #9 Judicial Law- N.J. v New York State Education Department

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In 2009 a single mother and her two minor children lost their home to a fire in New York State. The mother alleged that the school district denied the rights of her now homeless children by denying them rights of a free public education, violating the McKinney-Vento Act.

At the time of the fire, both students were attending school in the same school district, the district closest to where they lived. After the fire, the mother rented an apartment in the same neighborhood and the students continued attending their home schools (N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 2011).

In the summer of 2011, the mother and her students moved into an apartment with the mothers boyfriend in a neighborhood outside of their school district. The two children slept on sofas in the basement of the apartment. The mother claimed that this apartment was not permanent, it was “a temporary situation necessitated by economic hardship” (N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 201, para. 21).

The school district found out in September 2011 that the students were no longer living within the school district. A residency meeting was held and the mother claimed they did not have a permanent address. As a result of the residency meeting, the district concluded that the family was not residents of the district and therefore, the students would be unenrolled from the school district (N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 2011).

The mother claimed that disenrolling the students from the district was going against their rights of homeless students under the McKinney-Vento Act. The act gives homeless students the right to attend school at their home school, or campus of origin, for the remainder of the school year even if their new housing situation is outside of the district. (N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 2011).

The court concluded that the school district was prohibited, under the McKinney-Vento Act, from unenrolling the students from their schools. It was ordered that the school district arrange transportation services for the students to their respective schools under the obligations of the district under the McKinney-Vento Act (N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 2011).

N.J. v. New York Department of Education, 2011

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According to the American School Counselors Association (ASCA), school counselors have responsibilities to themselves as counselors to expand their knowledge of multicultural and social-justice awareness so that they can be more effective and culturally competent (American School Counselor Association, 2016). Counselors need to be aware of how social prejudices such as living situations in homelessness, foster care and incarceration, can affect students, and also educational stakeholders (American School Counselor Association, 2016).  If counselors understand what students are going through outside of school, it is easier to know how to serve and advocate for students when they are in school.

American School Counselor Association. (2016). ASCA ethical standards for school counselors. American School Counselors Association. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/f041cbd0-7004-47a5-ba01-3a5d657c6743/Ethical-Standards.pdf