• McKinney– Vento Homeless Assistance Act
     
    If your family lives in any one of the following situations:
     
    • On the street 
    • In a shelter, motel, or campground
    • In an abandoned building, trailer or any inadequate accommodation
    • Doubled up, living with others because you can’t find affordable housing
    Your preschool and school aged children have certain rights and protections
    under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act—those rights are:
     
    • to go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there
    • to stay in their original or last school even though they move to another
      district
    • to get transportation to their original school
    • to enroll immediately in a new school
    • to receive automatically free breakfast and lunch at school
    • to receive Title 1 services
    • to receive all the educational and supplemental services that all other
      children are provided

     Parents and Gaurdians:
    Please fill out this form if you or your family are experiencing homelessness

     

    Click here to view OSPI's Dispute Resolution Process
     The McKinney-Vento Homeless
    Education Assistance Act states:
     
    Homeless children and youth must have access
    to the education and other services that such
    children and youth need to ensure that children
    and youth have an opportunity to meet the same
    challenging state student academic achievement
    standards to which all students are held. Homeless
    students have the right to enroll in their
    neighborhood school without records, i.e. birth
    certificates, transcripts, immunization, academic
    and/or evaluations for special education.
    Under McKinney-Vento, homeless students
    must be given the same access to education as
    other students and cannot be separated from other
    students.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Local Liaison for Homeless Education:
     
    Kim Sackett : sackettk@rainier.wednet.edu
     
     
    State Liaison for Homeless Education:
     
    Melinda Dyer: 360-725-6050
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Community Resources
    for the Homeless
     
     
    Food:
     
    Rainier Emergency Food Center
    360-446-2517
     
    WIC (Women, Infants, Children)
    1-800-841-1410
     
    DSHS Community Services Office
    877-501-2233
     
    Health/Medical
     
    Medical Assistance for Children
    877-501-2233
     
    Sea Mar Community Health Center
    Dental: 360-570-8016
    Medical: 360-704-2900
    Yelm Office: 360-400-4800
     
    Housing:
     
    Safe Shelter
    888-698-1825
     
    Safeplace
    360-754-6300
     
    Hotlines:
     
    Crisis Line
    360-586-2800
     
    Emergency Shelter Network:
    844-628-7343
     
    Haven House:
    360-754-1151
     
     
    Child Protective Services
    360-725-6700
     
    School’s Responsibility
     
    • Help students to enroll in school if needed
    • Help students obtain meals and snacks at school
    • Help to ensure that homeless students have access to all of the
       programs and services offered at school
    • Help to obtain educational and immunization records
    • Help students and families to obtain health insurance, primary care, and immunizations
      if needed
    • Help identify homeless students, including children in ECAEP and Head Start
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Parents’ Responsibility
     
    • Make sure your child attends school regularly and completes homework and projects on
      time
    • Attend Parent/Teacher conferences and other school related activities
    • Stay informed of school rules, regulations and consequences when students break rules
    • Participate in school decision making activities such as IEP’s, 504 plans, etc. for
      your child
       
       
       
       
       
      Homeless students have the right to remain in their school or origin for the duration of the school year; even if they move outside of the district.
       
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    		 Definition of Homelessness:
     
    Children and youth who lack a regular adequate and fixed nighttime residence including: children who share housing with other persons due to loss of housing or economic hardship; children living in emergency or transitional shelters; children living in motels, campgrounds, trailer parks, etc. as well as unaccompanied youth.
     
     
     
    Some statistics regarding homelessness:
     
    • Over 3 million men, women, and children become homeless each year. The demand
      for shelters has increased annually by 14%.
    • Reported barriers by school districts that may inhibit the education of homeless
      children are domestic violence, lack of adequate housing and transportation, and lack of adequate family support systems.
    • In the 2009-2010 school year, 21,826 students were identified as homeless in Washington state.