The School District of Jenkintown

The School District of Jenkintown’s

Annual Notification of the McKinley Homeless Assistance Act

In 1987, Congress passed the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, (subsequently renamed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act) to aid homeless persons. Subtitle B of Title VII-of this Act entitled Education for Homeless Children and Youth, has been amended and is now part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title X, Part C.

Under the NCLB Act of 2001 Amendments (Sec. 725), the term "homeless children and youths" means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The 2001 amendments explicitly include within the definition of "homeless children and youth" those who are "awaiting foster care placement." This BEC explains the categories of children who are "homeless" and entitled to the protections of the federal law. These categories include:
      (i)  children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to
           loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels,
           hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative
           adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters;
           are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;

      (ii) 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;

      (iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned
           buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

      (iv) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle
            because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses
           (i) through (iii). The term "migratory children" means children who are,
           or whose parent or spouse are, migratory agricultural workers, including
           migratory dairy workers, or migratory fishermen, and who, have moved 
          from one school district to another in the preceding 36 months, in order
          to obtain, or accompany such parents or spouses, in order to obtain,
          temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural or fishing work. 
          (See 20 U.S.C 6399(2)).

     (v) Children and youth "awaiting foster care placement," including those who 
          live in shelters or are placed in emergency, interim or respite foster care;
          kinship care; evaluation or diagnostic centers or placements for the sole
          purpose of evaluation. Local school officials should consult with their
          county children and youth agencies whenever necessary to determine if a
          child meets the definition of awaiting foster care placement,including, on a
          case-by-case basis, whether a child who does not clearly fall into one of
          these categories is nevertheless a child "awaiting foster care placement."

     (vi) "Unaccompanied homeless youth" including any child who is "not in the
           physical custody of a parent or guardian." 42 U.S.C. 1143a(6). This includes
           youth who have run away from home, been thrown out of their home, 
           been abandoned by parents or guardians, or separated from their parents
           for any other reason.

Under the Pennsylvania Education for Homeless Children and Youth State Plan, homeless children are defined as:

       Children living with a parent in a domestic violence shelter; run-away
       children and children and youth who have been abandoned or forced
       out of their home by parents or other caretakers; and school age
       parents living in houses for school age parents if they have no
       other available living accommodations.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Sec. 721(1)) states that it is the policy of Congress that state educational agencies shall ensure that each child of a homeless individual and each homeless youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as provided to other children and youths.  Specifically, Section 722(g)(3)(A) of the Act indicates:

the local educational agency serving each child or youth to be
assisted [under this Act] shall according to the child’s best interest
(i) continue the child's or youth's education in the school of origin
for the duration of homelessness  (I) in any case in which a family
becomes homeless between academic years or during an academic year;
or (II) for the remainder of the academic year, if the child or youth
becomes permanently housed during an academic year; or (ii) enroll the
child or youth in any public school that non-homeless students who live
in the attendance area in which the child or youth is actually living are
eligible to attend.

According to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 the term "school of origin" means the school the child or youth attended when permanently housed, or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled.  Sec.  722(g)(3)(G).

Please contact The School District of Jenkintown’s Homeless Liaison, Michele Glennon at 215-884-2335 if you have any questions.