Homeless/McKinney-Vento

School District 197 strives to ensure that families have a secure educational program while experiencing homelessness. 

Under McKinney/ Vento legislation, homeless children and youth are individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence and includes,

• Children and youth sharing the housing of others persons due to loss of housing (doubled up), economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds; are living in emergency or transitional shelters, are abandoned in hospitals or are awaiting foster care placement
• 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
• Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations or similar settings; and
• Migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.

 Students have the rights to:

• Go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there.
• Continue in the school they attended before they became homeless.
• Receive transportation to the school they attended before their family became homeless.
• Receive the same programs and services that are provided to all other children.
• Automatically qualify for free breakfast and lunch.
• Enroll in a new school without all documentation