McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act

1. McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act Ensuring School Success for Homeless Students June 2012 McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act Title X Part C, No Child Left Behind Act - 2001 Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools Title X Part C, No Child Left Behind Act - 2001

2. "Before the HEP my kids were failing school. They had to switch schools three times in one year. When I tried to keep them in a school after I had to move, they missed a lot of days because I couldn't always get them there. Now, thanks to the HEP, they get to stay in their school and have a bus. The HEP also helped out with school supplies, clothing, and lots of other things. Now my children love going to school and are passing all of their subjects!" - MPS Parent, 2005 "Before the HEP my kids were failing school. They had to switch schools three times in one year. When I tried to keep them in a school after I had to move, they missed a lot of days because I couldn't always get them there. Now, thanks to the HEP, they get to stay in their school and have a bus. The HEP also helped out with school supplies, clothing, and lots of other things. Now my children love going to school and are passing all of their subjects!" - MPS Parent, 2010

3. McKinney-VentoHomeless Assistance Act • Original legislation passed in 1987 addressed services for homeless individuals, such as increasing emergency shelters • 1990 and 1994 amendments expanded the definition and increased the mandates for educational services. • Reauthorized most recently in 2001. Since then, school districts are required to appoint a Homeless Liaison to ensure identification and provision of services.

4. Definitions of Homeless Children and Youth • Lack fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence • Share housing (due to loss or hardship) • Live in hotels, motels, campgrounds, emergency or transitional shelters • Abandoned in hospitals, awaiting foster care

5. Definitions of Homeless Children and Youth continued • Primary nighttime residence not designed or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation • Live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus, or train stations

6. Definitions of Homeless Children and Youth continued Unaccompanied youth (youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian) Migratory children who qualify as homeless because of their living situation

7. McKinney-Vento requires the elimination of barriers to school enrollment and school success

8. Barriers to School Success • High mobility • Lack of staff awareness • Inability to complete school assignments • Lack of psychological, social work, nursing services • Poor health and inadequate medical care • Physical needs -- food, clothing, health care

9. Barriers to Enrollment • Lack of immunization records • Lack of medical records • Lack of school records • Lack of birth certificates • Guardianship/residency requirements not uniformly interpreted by school

10. Immediate Enrollment McKinney-Vento requires schools to immediately enroll children and youth experiencing homelessness even if they are lacking required records. All barriers to enrollment must be removed and student must be able to fully participating in school within 24 hours.

11. Comparable Services Homeless children and youth must receive comparable services to those received by all other children including special education, tutoring, ELL, translation, Title 1, School Nutrition, Before and after school programs, extracurricular programs and school psychological, social work and nursing services. Homeless students may not be excluded from any school program due to homeless status.

12. Educational Stability & Continuity Schools must keep homeless children in the school of origin to the extent feasible, except where contrary to the wishes of the parent or guardian. • The school of origin is the school that the child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school where the child or youth was last enrolled

13. Educational Stability & Continuity continued • Every time a student changes school during the course of the year she/he loses 4-6 months of academic progress — National Association for the Education of Homeless Children And Youth (NAEHCY) • The child or youth’s right to attend their school of origin extends to the end of the school year, even if the student becomes permanently housed during the school year.

14. Transportation Transportation may be needed to keep a child in the school of origin. • Transportation is provided for the duration of homelessness. • If a student must cross district lines to remain in the school of origin, transportation must still be provided. Both districts share the cost.

15. Other Services/Supports • Free Meals • School Supplies • Waiver of school fees • Enrollment in before and after school programs (i.e. CLC’s) • Tutoring Services • School uniforms (when applicable) • Information and referral assistance for medical, dental, vision care, food pantries/programs, clothing banks etc. and/or social services agencies • Opportunities for parents to have meaningful participation in their children’s schooling.

16. Outreach and Networking • Internal training • Resource Fairs • Community agency training, including shelters • Other districts • Conferences • Committees and workgroups • Donations

17. National Data on Homeless Children Consolidated State Performance Report Summary of the State of Research on the Relationship Between Homelessness and Academic Achievement Among School-Aged Children and Youth National Center for Homeless Education Diana Bowman, Christina Dukes, Jan Moore January 2012

19. A January 5, 2010 UW Madison research article found that one renter-occupied household in every 20 is evicted each year. In neighborhoods in which the majority of residents are black, the number jumps to one in 10 renter-occupied households evicted each year. “The hardest hit are women and their children, whose lives are severely disrupted by such mobility. Eviction, in fact, can be thought of as the feminine equivalent to incarceration. Nearly 60 percent of the 50,538 tenants evicted in Milwaukee County between 2003 and 2007 were female, his research found.” “If you’re evicted, you carry this stain and you’re pushed to the very bottom of the rental market,” he says. “most landlords won’t take you, so you end up with really unscrupulous landlords.”

20. Wisconsin Statistics

23. MPS Homeless Education Program D

29. Questions?

30. Milwaukee Public Schools Homeless Education Program (HEP) 5225 W. Vliet Street, Room 133 Milwaukee, WI 53208 (414) 475-8911 Fax: (414) 777-7803 HomelessLiaison: Patricia Gill Homeless Coordinator: Janis Shogren (Bilingual) Homeless Coordinator: Kimberly Kampschroer Homeless Coordinator: Cathy Klein (414) 475-8532

31. McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act “If kids come from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job important .” — Barbara Colorose, author McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act Title X Part C, No Child Left Behind Act - 2001 Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee Public Schools Title X Part C, No Child Left Behind Act - 2001