EDUCATION OF HOMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTH
The Wrightstown Community School District is committed to ensuring that all students have equal access to free, appropriate public education. Children who have been defined as homeless or unaccompanied youth shall be provided services comparable to services offered other students attending Wrightstown Schools.
The McKinney-Vento Act defines homeless students as children and youth who lack a fixed, regular, or adequate nighttime residence and include those who are:
- Sharing the housing of other persons because of loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
- Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds because of the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
- Living in emergency or transitional shelters;
- Awaiting foster care placement;
- Living in a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations for human beings;
- Living in care, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings: or
- Living in a migratory situation that qualifies as homeless because a child lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.
The District has appointed the District Administrator as the Liaison for homeless students. The Liaison for homeless students will provide enrollment support and coordinate services within the school district and through community agencies in order to ensure that each homeless child or youth has equal access to an education in the District. Specifically, the Liaison has the following responsibilities:
- Making sure that homeless children enroll in and have a full and equal opportunity to succeed in district schools;
- Making sure that homeless families and children receive educational services they're entitled to, such as preschool care, and referrals to services such as health care;
- Making sure that the parents and guardians of homeless children are informed of the educational opportunities availabvle for their children and are given opportunities to participate;
- Distributing a public notice of the educational rights of homeless children where such children receive services, such as schools, family shelters, and soup kitchens; and
- Making sure that enrollment disputes are mediated appropriately. If a dispute arises between the District and parents about school selection or enrollment, the district must immediately enroll the student in the requested school, pending resolution of the dispute.
Homeless students will enroll, attend classes, and participate fully in school activities. If critical enrollment records, including immunization and medical records, are not immediately available for homeless children, the Liaison and school staff will work with these children and other agencies to obtain them in a timely manner.
The Liaison for homeless students, with help from other school staff, will decide on homeless students’ placement in school based on the students “best interests”. In making this determination, the District must, to the extent feasible, continue the students' education in his or her “school of origin” — that is, the district school the student had been attending prior to becoming homeless — unless the student’s parents or guardians want him placed in another school.
The District will provide homeless students in the district with transportation services comparable to those of other students. Individual accommodations will be considered. If a homeless student moves out of the district but continues to attend a district school, the district will coordinate services with the new district to meet the student’s transportation needs. The school principal, the Liaison, and the transportation manager will coordinate homeless students’ transportation needs.
Please contact Andy Space, homeless liaison for the Wrightstown Community School District at (920) 532-5551 or email space@wrightstown.k12.wi.us for additional information about homeless issues.
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