News Homeless Transportation on the Rise WRITTEN BY SEAN GALLAGHER |
SEAN@STNONLINE.COM T
he life of a homeless kid is far from stable. However, school districts and transportation departments offer a form of consistency for these displaced students by provid- ing a steady educational environment.
Under no fault of their own, students often find themselves at the whim of economic hardships that befall their families. Te results are re- locations to motels or shelters, moving in with extended family or friends. Tis means upending lives and existing in a constant state of flux. Instead of ripping these children away from friends and forcing them to regularly change schools, federal law safeguards a form of continuity. Passed by Congress in 1987 and intermittently revised since then, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act guarantees that homeless children receive free transportation to and from school to ensure that these students remain in their school of origin regardless of what district the family resides in. Troughout the nation, transportation departments work dili-
gently to bus these students under the presumption that “staying in their original school is the best option,” said Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs for the National Association for the
Education of Homeless Children and Youth. According to Duffield, homelessness affects children across
the economic spectrum, with “pockets of poverty” found in every community in the country. School districts, she reported, act as eyes and ears in identifying students in need, and in conjunction with transportation departments, arrange the most feasible transport option available to keep them in their school of choice. “McKinney-Vento works in the best interest of the child. Schools take into account the age of the students, their safety and length of commute to original school,” said Duffield. “It’s a case by case basis, but the first step is knowing there is a problem.” Duffield has seen child homelessness explode over the years.
Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada, for example, has seen a 91-percent increase in the number of displaced students, from 1,856 homeless students in the 2010-2011 school year to 3,549 homeless students four years later. “It’s about maintaining that continuity, especially for kids in the
final years of middle school and high school,” said Margo Medeiros, assistant transportation director for the district.
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www.amfbrunsamerica.com 24 School Transportation News • MARCH 2016 1797 Georgetown Road, Hudson, OH 44236
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