Transition / Homeless Program

  • The Sault Area Public Schools are committed to helping all students who are in transition achieve their educational goals.
     
    The Federal Homeless Assistance Act / McKinney-Vento, ensures educational rights and protections for children and youth experiencing homelessness. Students are considered homeless or in transition, if they meet the criteria set in the McKinney-Vento Act; "a child or youth does not have a fixed, regular, and adequate place to sleep at night..."
     

    Sault Homeless Form

    Potential Warning Signs of Homelessness

    • Attendance issues
    • Poor health and nutrition
    • Lack of continuity in education
    • Transportation issues
    • Poor hygiene
    • Social and behavioral concerns
    • Mistaken diagnosis of abilities
    • Chronic hunger and/or chronic fatigue
    • Unmet medical and/or dental needs
    • Lack of basic school and/or health supplies

    Who is homeless?

    A homeless individual is someone who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.  This includes anyone who, due to a lack of housing, lives:
    • In emergency or transitional shelters
    • In motels, hotels and/or trailer parks
    • In campgrounds, abandoned in hospitals, awaiting foster care
    • In cars, parks, public places, bus or train stations, abandoned buildings
    • Doubled up with relatives or friends
    • Migratory children living in these conditions

    The McKinney-Vento Act gives children and youth in homeless situations the right to:

    • Stay in their school even if they move
    • Enroll in a new school without proof of residency, immunizations, school records or other papers
    • Get transportation to school
    • Go to preschool programs
    • Get the school services they need
    • Have disagreements with schools settled quickly
    • Go to the school they choose while disagreements are settled
    • Access to school meal programs
    • Access to special education and other programs for students with disabilities
    • Programs for language minority students
    • Before and after school programs

    Addressing Needs of Students Experiencing Homelessness

    School Responsibilities
    • Enroll students in free lunch programs
    • Ensure access to instructional supports/resources, including gifted programs and special education programs
    • Conduct educational assessments
    • Provide homeless awareness training to all staff, especially those responsible for enrollment
    • Alert teachers of student's living situations, while respecting their privacy

    What Can I Do?

    • Recognize stressful environments outside of school, and provide accommodations as needed
    • Encourage supportive relationships
    • Have high expectations
    • Provide necessary supplies
    • Donate 
    • Clothes
    • Books, 
    • Household goods
    • Supplies for healthcare bags
      • Shampoo
      • Conditioner
      • Toothpaste
    • Supplies for school bags
      • Crayons
      • Pencils
      • Erasers
    • Provide in-kind services or materials
    • Copying
    • Printing
    • Transportation
    • Marketing assistance
    • Building materials
    • Maintenance services