The district will work with students experiencing housing instability, and their families to provide stability in school attendance and other services. Special attention will be given to ensuring the identification, enrollment, and attendance of students experiencing housing instability not currently attending school, as well as mitigating educational barriers to their academic success. Additionally, the district will take reasonable steps to ensure that students experiencing housing instability are not stigmatized or segregated in a separate school or in a separate program within a school on the basis of their housing status.

Students experiencing housing instability will be provided district services for which they are eligible, including Head Start and comparable pre-school programs, Title I, similar state programs, special education, bilingual education, vocational and technical education programs, gifted and talented programs, and school nutrition programs.

Students experiencing housing instability are defined as lacking a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, including those students who are:

A.    Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing or economic hardship, or a similar reason;

B.    Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations;

C.    Living in emergency or transitional shelters;

D.    Abandoned in hospitals;

E.    Living in public or private places not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodation;

F.    Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, transportation stations, or similar settings; or

G.   Migratory children living in conditions described in the previous examples.

The superintendent or designee will designate an appropriate staff person to be the district’s McKinney-Vento liaison for students experiencing housing instability and their families. The liaison may simultaneously serve as a coordinator for other federal programs, provided that they are able to perform the duties listed in the procedure that accompanies this policy.

The principal of each elementary, middle, and high school building will establish a point of contact for such youth. The point of contact is responsible for identifying students experiencing housing instability and unaccompanied youth and connecting them with the district’s McKinney-Vento liaison. The district’s McKinney-Vento liaison is responsible for training the building points of contact.

According to the child’s or youth’s best interest, students experiencing housing instability will continue to be enrolled in their school of origin while they remain unstably housed or until the end of the academic year in which they obtain permanent housing. Instead of remaining in the school of origin, parents or guardians of students experiencing housing instability may request enrollment in the school in which attendance area the student is actually living, or other schools. Attendance rights by living in attendance areas, other student assignment policies, or intra and inter-district choice options are available to families experiencing housing instability on the same terms as families who reside in the district.

If there is an enrollment dispute, the student will be immediately enrolled in the school in which enrollment is sought, pending resolution of the dispute. The parent or guardian will be informed of the district's decision and the reasons therefore, (or informed if the student does not qualify for McKinney-Vento, if applicable) and their appeal rights in writing and in a language they can understand. The district’s liaison will carry out dispute resolution as provided by state policy. Unaccompanied youth will also be enrolled pending resolution of the dispute.

Once the enrollment decision is made, the school will immediately enroll the student, pursuant to district policies. However, enrollment may not be denied or delayed due to the lack of any document normally required for enrollment, including academic records, medical records, proof of residency, mailing address, or other documentation. Additionally, enrollment may not be denied or delayed due to missed application deadline, fees, fines, or absences at a previous school.

If the student does not have immediate access to immunization records, the student will be admitted under a personal exception, including immunizations where personal exemptions are no longer granted by the Washington Department of Health. Students and families should be encouraged to obtain current immunization records or immunizations as soon as possible, and the district liaison is directed to assist. Records from the student’s previous school will be requested from the previous school pursuant to district policies. Emergency contact information is required at the time of enrollment consistent with district policies, and in compliance with the state’s Address Confidentiality Program when necessary. However, the district cannot demand emergency contact information in a form or manner that creates a barrier to enrollment and/or attendance at school.

Students experiencing housing instability are entitled to transportation to their school of origin or the school where they are to be enrolled. If the school of origin is in a different district, or a student experiencing housing instability is living in another district but will attend his or her school of origin in this district, the districts will coordinate the transportation services necessary for the student or will divide the costs equally.

The district’s McKenney-Vento liaison will coordinate with local social service agencies that provide services to children and youths and their families; other school districts on issues of transportation and records transfers; and state and local housing agencies responsible for comprehensive housing affordability strategies. This coordination includes providing public notice of the educational rights of students experiencing housing instability where such children and youth receive services under the McKinney- Vento Act, such as schools, family shelters and soup kitchens. The notice must be disseminated in a manner and form that parents, guardians, and unaccompanied youth receiving such services can understand, including, if necessary and to the extent feasible, in their native language.  The district’s liaison will also review and recommend amendments to district policies that may act as barriers to the enrollment of students that are eligible for McKinney-Vento services. The liaison will participate in professional development and other technical assistance activities, as determined by the state-level (OSPI) coordinator for homeless children and youth programs.

The Superintendent will:

·       Strongly encourage district staff, including substitute and regular bus drivers to annually review the video posted on the OSPI website on identification of students experiencing housing instability.

·       Strongly encourage every McKinney-Vento building contact to attend trainings provided by the state on identification and serving youth experiencing.

·       Ensure that the district includes in materials provided to all students at the beginning of the school year or at enrollment, information about services and support for students eligible for McKinney-Vento services (i.e., the brochure posted on the OSPI website);

·       Use a variety of communications each year to notify students and families about services and support available to them if they experience housing instability (e.g., distributing and collecting a universal annual housing intake survey, providing parent brochures directly to students and families, posting information on the district's website).

Facilitating on-time grade level progression

 The district will: 1) waive specific courses required for graduation for students experiencing housing instability if similar coursework has been satisfactorily completed in another school district; or 2) provide reasonable justification for denial of the waiver. In the event the district denies a waiver and the student would have qualified to graduate from their sending school district, the district will provide an alternative process of obtaining required coursework so that the student may graduate on time.

The district will consolidate partial credit, unresolved, or incomplete coursework and will provide students experiencing housing instability with opportunities to accrue credit in a manner that eliminates academic and nonacademic barriers for the student.

For students who have been unable to complete an academic course and receive full credit due to withdrawal or transfer, the district will grant partial credit for coursework completed before the date of the withdrawal or transfer. When the district receives a transfer student in these circumstances, it will accept the student’s partial credits, apply them to the student’s academic progress, graduation, or both, and allow the student to earn credits regardless of the student's date of enrollment in the district.

In the event a student is transferring at the beginning of or during their junior or senior year of high school and is ineligible to graduate after all alternatives have been considered, the district will work with the sending district to ensure the awarding of a diploma from the sending district if the student meets the graduation requirements of the sending district.

In the event a student enrolled in three or more school districts as a high school student, has met state requirements, has transferred to the district, but is ineligible to graduate from the district after all alternatives have been considered, the district will waive its local requirements and ensure that the student receives a diploma.

Informed Consent for extra-curricular activities and school programming

Prior to granting consent, the school athletic director, administrator, school social worker, or McKinney Vento Liaison must attempt to contact the parent or legal guardian (if listed) and must document all attempts and responses or lack thereof.

The McKinney-Vento Act defines enrollment as “attending classes and participating fulling in school activities”.

Informed consent for extra-curricular activities and school programming on behalf of the unaccompanied student experiencing housing instability may be obtained by the district McKinney Vento liaison when:

a.       The student is under the age of 18 and consent or an adult signature is necessary to remove barriers to accessing academic and extracurricular activities, including but not limited to, career and technical education, and athletics, if available.

b.       The student is eligible for McKinney Vento services as an unaccompanied youth under the federal McKinney-Vento educational assistance program act of 2001, and

c.       The student is not living in the physical custody of the parent, custodian, or legal guardian.

d.       Is requested by the school athletic director or school administrator.

The district and district employees authorized to consent for extra-curricular activities and school programming under this policy are not subject to administrative sanctions or civil damages resulting from the consent for participation or payment for participation.

Informed Consent for healthcare

 Prior to granting consent, the school nurse, school counselor, or McKinney-Vento liaison must attempt to contact the parent or legal guardian and must document all attempts and responses or lack thereof.

Informed consent for healthcare on behalf of a student experiencing housing instability may be obtained from a school nurse, school counselor, or McKinney- Vento student liaison when:

a.     Consent is necessary for non-emergency, outpatient, primary care services, including physical examinations, vision examinations and eyeglasses, dental examinations, hearing examinations, and hearing aids, immunizations, treatments for illnesses and conditions, and routine follow-up care customarily provided by a health care provider in an outpatient setting, excluding elective surgeries.

b.     The student is eligible for McKinney-Vento services a under the federal McKinney-Vento education assistance improvements act of 2001; and

c.     The student is not under the supervision or control of a parent, custodian, or legal guardian, and is not in the care and custody of the department of social and health services.

Upon the request by a health care facility or a health care provider, a district employee authorized to consent to care must provide to the person rendering care a signed and dated declaration stating under penalty of perjury that the employee is a school nurse, school counselor, or McKinney-Vento liaison and that the minor patient meets the requirements of RCW 7.70.065 (2) (b) listed above in this policy.

The district and district employees authorized to consent to care under this policy are not subject to administrative sanctions or civil damages resulting from the consent or non-consent for care or payment for care. Any declaration required by a health care facility, or a health care provider described in the above paragraph must include written notice that the district employee is exempt from administrative sanctions and civil liability resulting from the consent or non-consent for care or payment for care.

Training and information can be found on the OSPI website at:

http://www.k12.wa.us/HomelessEd/Trainings.aspx

 

Cross References:
Board Policy 3116 – Students in Foster Care
Board Policy – 3120 Enrollment
Board Policy – 3231 Student Records
Board Policy 3413 - Student Immunization and Life-threatening Conditions

Legal References:  
Enrollment of children without legal residences - RCW 28A.225.215
Unaccompanied youth – Building point of contact – Duty of District - RCW 28A.320.142
Support for homeless students – RCW 28A.320.145
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as amended by the Every Student Success Act [ESSA] – 20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq. 
Provisions applicable to all districts - Chapter 28A.320 RCW (new section created by 3SHB 1682, 2016 legislative session)
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act - 42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.      

Management Resources: 
Policy News, October 2002
Policy News, October 2004
Policy News, December 2014
Policy & Legal News, July 2016
 Policy & Legal News, July 2019       

Highline School District 401
Adopted by the Board:  October 26, 2005
Revised by the Board:   7.09; 5.11; 7.11; 9.15; 9.16; 8.18, 10.20
Classification:  Essential