McKinney Vento | Families in Transition

According to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act:

"The Education of Homeless Children and Youth program is to ensure that all homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including preschool education, provided to other children and youth."

Who is a Homeless Student?

McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Tital IX, Part A of ESSA) - states that:

The term "homeless children and youth" - 

    (A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence...; and

    (B) includes-

        (i) 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;

        (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 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).

• receive a free, appropriate public education. 
• enroll in school immediately, even if lacking documents normally required for enrollment. 
• enroll in school and attend classes while the school gathers needed documents. 
• enroll in the local school; or continue attending the school of origin (the school they attended when permanently housed or the school in which they were last enrolled), if that is your preference. 
• If the school district believes that the school you select is not in the best interest of your children, then the district must provide you with a written explanation of its position and inform you of your right to appeal its decision. 
• receive transportation to and from the school of origin, if you request this. 
• receive educational services comparable to those provided to other students, according to your children’s needs.

For more information on enrolling in Holland Public Schools, please contact the Administration building at 616-494-2000

Information for Parents/Guardians/Youth McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act

If your family lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence and is forced to live in any of the following situations:

• ●  Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (example: evicted from home, etc)

• ●  In a motel, hotel, campground, or similar setting due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations

• ●  In an emergency or transitional shelter

• ●  Have a primary nighttime residence that is not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for humans (car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing, bus or train station, or a similar setting)

  Then your children have the right to:

• ●  Assistance with documentation to enroll in school

• ●  Choose between the local school where you are living or the school last attended before becoming homeless, when feasible

• ●  Receive transportation to / from school

• ●  Attend school and participate in school programs with children

  who are not experiencing homelessness

• ●  Receive all the school services available to other students

• National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE)
• NCHE Educational Flyer (ENG | SPAN)