School Transportation News: From your perspective, how bad has the issue of home- less students been for schools over the past several years? Megan Carey: Tere is no doubt that the numbers have grown across the country and continue to grow daily. In fact, studies have shown that families with children are by most accounts the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. In 2010, the Coalition for the Homeless in Central Florida estimated that 1.5 mil- lion children go to sleep without a home each year, and that American children have a 1 in 50 chance of experiencing homeless- ness at some point in their lifetime. What is most startling are studies from the National Center for Family Homelessness, which have found that homeless children are twice as likely as other children to repeat a grade in school, to be expelled or suspended, or to drop out of high school. Te National Center also found that at the end of high school, few homeless students are proficient in reading and math — and their estimated
graduation rate is below 25 percent. Providing transportation through the McKinney-Vento Act is one way that school districts can remove these barriers to education for homeless populations.
STN: Are more districts approaching
American Logistics Company to find solutions to challenges regarding homeless transportation? Carey: Yes, in fact we are consistent-
ly hearing from school districts seeking information on how to solve the unique challenges associated with homeless trans- portation. We believe most want to stay informed as to what their options are and to determine the most efficient and cost-ef- fective means for helping these students as their existing resources quickly reach maximum capacity. Te greatest challenge for school districts when it comes to homeless transportation is keeping track of students. Tey move quite often, in some cases on a daily basis, and most schools districts do not have the flexi-
bility or resources that allow them to change their bus routes on a daily basis to respond to this population’s evolving needs. As such, alternative solutions like ALC offers are being evaluated and used widely across the United States. Another challenge is daily, if not weekly,
(physical) address changes. When districts have to change around bus routes that affect 10 to 40 other students, it becomes very difficult and creates hardship for others.
STN: What kind of services are school
districts requesting? Carey: Te biggest challenge is tracking the students and knowing when they arrive at their school, as well as routing when they move to locations that fall within a neighboring district’s boundar- ies. We have experienced many situations where school districts are now requesting us to provide transportation for their out-of-district homeless populations using smaller more nimble nine-passenger or less vehicles.
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