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Kansas residents are not strangers to the hazards of severe weather and sadly many Kansans recently have first-hand experiences with the recent series of destructive storms.

After these adverse weather events, one of the many issues facing communities is damaged or destroyed housing. Families with students enrolled in public schools who have lost housing due to natural disasters may be considered eligible for services under the McKinney-Vento Act  (Subtitle VII-B of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, reauthorized in 2015 by Title IX, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (42 U.S.C § 11431). This federal act ensures students who lost housing have educational protections including those who have become homeless due to disaster. 

Ideally, districts have a team of staff in place to identify and assist students in crisis. If the district does not have a team, all school districts in Kansas, and nationwide, must identify a district liaison (42 U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1)(J)(ii)), whose responsibility it is to assess the needs of the displaced students and ensure they have access to the services to which they are entitled.  While utilizing community and local funding to provide needed services is preferred, funding may be strained during natural disasters. To serve students experiencing homelessness specifically, school districts may use their Title IA set-aside as a funding source.   

After natural disasters, families who can no longer live in housing may be staying in hotels, campgrounds (or camping on their own property), emergency trailers or shelters, or staying temporarily with friends and family members (which is called “doubled up”). Any of the temporary living arrangements after a housing loss mentioned may qualify students of displaced families for McKinney-Vento eligibility. In some circumstances, siblings may not be together if the family is temporarily staying in more than one location. In a family of four children, for example, one family member can accommodate the two oldest students while the parents and remaining two children will stay with a grandparent. All four students have school of origin rights at the school in which they were enrolled before losing housing.  

The recent severe weather events impacted many states in addition to Kansas; therefore, districts may have non-Kansas residents enrolling in their schools. School of origin rights would apply to students temporarily staying in Kansas if it is reasonable to do so. For instance, crossing the state line from the Missouri side is a regular occurrence with students experiencing homelessness in the Kansas City metro area.  

Ensuring students experiencing homelessness receive the services to which they are entitled can be especially challenging during the aftermath of natural disasters. When everything around students becomes unknown, they need stability to decrease anxiety, depression, and reduce the potential for additional trauma. 

During severe storm season and in general, be mindful that school staff may be experiencing their own crises while working to ensure all students in the district are safe. If you, your staff, or your family members experience any form of a mental health crisis, call or text the crisis lifeline at 9-8-8. The crisis lifeline is there to support anyone who wants to reach out. 

Contact Trish Backman, KSDE school mental health coordinator, for additional information and resources on school-based mental health. Contact Maureen Tabasko, KSDE McKinney-Vento state coordinator, for additional information on students experiencing homelessness.

The district liaison for each Kansas school district may be found here: Link to list of district McKinney-Vento contacts. 

View the KSDE list of McKinney‑Vento district liaisons to find the district liaison for each Kansas school district. For more information, visit the Homeless Children and Youth (McKinney-Vento) webpage.

References:

The National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) operates the U.S. Department of Education’s technical assistance center for the federal Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) Program. Below are links to some of the NCHE publications from which detailed information on the topics included in this article may be found.  

• NCHE home page: https://nche.ed.gov/ [external link]
  • Access to Food for Students Experiencing Homelessness [external PDF]
  • Meeting the Educational Needs of Students Displaced by Disasters [external PDF]
    
  • What School Administrators Should Know About the Educational Rights of Children and Youth Displaced by Disasters [external PDF]
  • Serving Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness under Title I Part A [external PDF]
    
  • Local Homeless Education Liaisons: Understanding Their Role [external PDF]