McKinney Vento Act

General Information

In Muscogee County School District, we focus on the philosophy that “Schools Can’t Do It Alone”. Collaboration and coordination between schools and community partners will improve identification and recruitment of children experiencing homelessness while increasing the potential for expanding services to families and cross-training key stakeholders. Partners will complete surveys and environmental scans to create a comprehensive local collaborative to increase awareness and identify needs of our students and families in transition. The McKinney-Vento staff will continue to focus on building fundamental partnerships and relationships with community leaders, school personnel, and policy makers who have resources to provide to students in transition. We currently have operational partnerships local community agencies that provide direct services to our students and parents in the McKinney-Vento program. Our goal is to increase awareness of McKinney-Vento by expanding our partnerships with local agencies who will provide immediate wrap around services to our McKinney-Vento students and families. It is our objective to collaborate on city-wide projects and conduct Awareness and Sensitivity Trainings with these agencies to develop new outreach programs that directly impact our McKinney-Vento students and families.

Needs Assessment Process

Success and Beyond is a district-wide initiative and outreach program to identify, enroll, and assure a quality education and college/career readiness for all students experiencing homelessness. Homelessness presents an array of needs; therefore, our needs assessment process is ongoing and designed to be both qualitative and quantitative. MCSD uses a multi-tiered approach to assessing and addressing the needs of McKinney-Vento students and families.

Student Residency Questionnaire (SRQ)

The SRQ is designed to collect formative data aimed at identifying families and youth with living arrangements that are defined as homeless according to federal guidelines. In August and January of each school year, the SRQ is sent to 32,828 students in pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools and programs in MCSD to be disseminated to parents. For organizational purposes, the forms are color-coded to denote the school level. Prior to 2013, school administrators were asked to input his or her school’s data based on the SRQ into our student information systems (Infinite Campus). M-V staff found that the data was not always accurate, which often caused a delay in services. To overcome this issue, administrators are now required to send all forms to the M-V department for review. Schools administrators are given a deadline to return all completed forms. The M-V and temporary staff members cross-reference over 33,000 forms with school rosters and make calls to the building level administrator when forms are omitted or are not return by the designated deadline. This new procedure was successful in ensuring that all forms were return and processed in a timely manner to ensure that family needs are judiciously met by M-V staff members. Because families living situations could change throughout the school year, SRQs are disseminated to 56 schools again in January to identify the needs of our families in transition.

Services and Activities Form (SAF)

The SAF, qualitative and quantitative in design, serves as a tool to be utilized by Homeless Children and Youth, HCY, unaccompanied youth, parents, school district personnel, and community agencies in an effort to identify, assess, and address the needs of families and students in transition. The SAF is a succinct formative and summative document that initiates an open dialogue with M-V staff members and parents concerning the needs of the student and family. This document houses questions related to demographics, prior school enrollments, transportation needs, before/after school programs, special education/gifted needs, and specific needs to eliminate educational barriers. In an effort to meet the needs of the total child, the SRQ and SAF function as standard tool for developing and monitoring policy and procedures, data collection, and planning quality personal/social, academic, and career programs for students and families in transition.

In addition to this needs assessment process, M-V Staff members conduct ongoing community and system-wide trainings on the M-V Homeless Act and SRQ/SAF processes with Parents, Teachers, Building-level Administrators, School Social Workers, School Counselors, Graduation Coaches, Title 1 personnel, Bus Drivers, Transportation Supervisors, Food Nutrition Staff, ESOL, educational screenings, Teaching and Learning, Paraprofessionals, Custodial Staff, Parent Coordinators, Central Registration, School Nurses and Clinicians, and Program for Exceptional Students. Central Registration staff members are also trained on legal requirements for immediate enrollment.

Data Digs and Early Warning System

To accurately assess and address the needs our McKinney-Vento students and families, data obtained from the SRQs, SAFs, and Student Attendance Protocol Meetings is used by the M-V staff to complete Data Digs twice a year. The MCSD Information Technology department works closely with the Staff to develop Infinite Campus (student information system) reports. The Early Warning System was developed to summarize demographics, attendance data, out of school suspensions, standardized testing results, academic performance. This software alerts school personnel when a student misses five or more days, receives a discipline referral, does not meet standards on standardized testing or makes 69 or below fails a course by highlighting the area of concern green, yellow, or red. This information allows the M-V staff to initiate systemic approaches to addressing the needs of students in transition by creating relevant programs, tutoring options and supplies, and credit and attendance recovery opportunities.

Federal Definition of Homelessness

The following definition of “homeless” is given in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Title X, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act – Sec 725):
The term “homeless children and youth” –

Means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence…; and
Includes
1. Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship or similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
2. Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings…
3. Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
4. Migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (1) through (3).
5. Unaccompanied youth (emancipated) includes youth in a homeless situation who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.

McKinney-Vento Law

Student who qualify as homeless under the definitions in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, require an immediate school enrollment and full participation in all school activities with or without normal registration documents. If a dispute arises over school selection or placement of a student identified as experiencing homelessness, the principal must admit the student to the school in which enrollment is sought by the parent or guardian pending a resolution of the dispute.

When applying any district policy regarding tardiness or absences, any tardiness or absence related to a child’s or youth’s living situation shall be excused. The Muscogee County School District will follow state procedures to ensure that youth in transition are identified and given equal access to appropriate secondary education and support services. School personnel shall refer children and youth in transition to appropriate health care services, including dental and mental health services. The liaison will assist the school in making referrals, as necessary. School personnel must also inform parents of all educational and related opportunities available to their children and provide parents with meaningful opportunities to participate in their children’s education. All parent information required by any provision of this policy must be provided in a form, manner and language understandable to each parent.

Under federal law, McKinney-Vento students must have access to a free appropriate public education, including preschool, and are given an opportunity to meet state and local academic achievement standards. They must be included in state and district wide assessments and accountability systems.
Information regarding the rights and services for homeless students will be: distributed to all students and parents in August and January and upon enrollment. Information is posted in every school in the district, as well as other places where children, youth and families in transition receive services, including family and youth shelters, motels, campgrounds, welfare departments, health departments and other social service agencies.

For more information, please see Board Policy JBC-1 and Georgia Department of Education Rule 160-5-1-28.

McKinney-Vento Services

Services:
McKinney-Vento students shall be provided services comparable to services offered to other students in the school selected, including:

Transportation to and from school
Title I services
Educational services for which the student meets eligibility criteria, including special education and related services and programs for English Language Learners
Vocational and technical education programs
Gifted and talented programs
School nutrition programs
Before and after school programs
School Uniforms
School Supplies
Senior Cap and Gowns
Link to Community Resources
Summer Enrichment Programs
Tutoring
Parent Training/Informational Workshops
Student Training/Informational Workshops

Parent and Student Rights

McKinney-Vento students shall have “equal access” to the same education as other students.
Muscogee County School District assignments are made based on the “best interest” of the student.
The student is to be “immediately enrolled” even if medical, academic and residence records are not available.
The “notice of the educational rights” of McKinney-Vento/transitional students is disseminated in schools, shelters, community agencies and the parent or guardian is fully informed of all services provided.

If a dispute arises over any issues dealing with enrollment, the homeless student shall be immediately admitted to the school in which enrollment is sought, pending final resolution of the dispute. The student shall also have the rights of a homeless student to all appropriate educational services, transportation , free meals and Title I services while the dispute is pending.

Steps to be taken during the dispute:

The school where the dispute arises shall contact the Homeless Liaison.
The liaison will ensure the student is enrolled in the school of his or her choice and receiving services to which he or she is entitled immediately.
The principal will make a decision of school placement according to the child or youth’s best interest by the end of the next school day.
If the principal cannot resolve the dispute, then the principal will contact the McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison and arrange a meeting with the parent/guardian or unaccompanied youth.
A written statement of the school placement decision and the appeal rights will be given to the parent, guardian or unaccompanied youth within 4 days of the initial reported dispute.

*Factors to consider for best interest:

age of the child or youth
the distance of a commute and the impact it may have on the students’ education
personal safety
student’s need for special instruction
length of anticipated stay in temporary placement
time remaining in the school year

If the principal cannot resolve the dispute, then the principal will contact the McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison and arrange a meeting with the parent/guardian or unaccompanied youth.

A written statement of the school placement decision and the appeal rights will be given to the parent, guardian or unaccompanied youth within 4 days of the initial reported dispute.

Documents and Resources

2020-2021 Guidance for School Attendance and Withdrawal Procedures:VIRTUAL MODEL
National Education for Homeless Children and Youth
United Way 211 Helpline
Hope Harbour
Open Door Community.org
Red Cross

Contact Information:

Dr. Trikella L. Nelson LPC, NCC, PSC, YMHFA
Homeless Liaison
706-748-2226

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