Homeless
Housing Insecurity Support (McKinney-Vento)
Parents and/or Guardians: Please fill out this form if you or your family are experiencing housing insecurity.
Definition of housing insecurity/homlessness:
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.
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
Students experiencing homelessness 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.
Learn more about the McKinney Vento Act here.
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.
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
District Liaison for Homeless Education:
High School:
Michael Mcguire
360-446-9135
mcguirem@rainier.wednet.edu
Elementary and Middle School:
Sammi Firman
360-446-2406
firmans@rainier.wednet.edu
State Liaison for Homeless Education:
Melinda Dyer
360-725-6050
McKinney-Vento Act Notice of Appeal
This link above takes you to a fillable Google doc or you can download the pdf version by clicking here
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
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.
