I was never educated in a school trailer. Not one day in my career did I ever attend a class in a trailer. Not one day.
The stress of overcrowding has to add to the pressures that cause bullying and violence. It obviously adds to poor outcomes for children and no doubt early dropouts from high school.
Published Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Updated Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 | 3:03 a.m.
Every weekday morning (click title to entry - thank you) Tiffany Leard walks 10 minutes from her Henderson home to Del Webb Middle School located less than a mile away.
Next year, the 11-year-old sixth-grader might be bussed more than three miles away to Bob Miller Middle School if her neighborhood is rezoned under a Clark County School District proposal to alleviate overcrowding at Del Webb.
The attendance zone proposal baffles Tiffany’s father, Kelley Leard, who moved his family from Summerlin to Henderson eight years ago specifically for the area schools — ranked among the best in the valley. Never did he fathom his house — located in the housing development just next to Del Webb — would be rezoned to any other school....
There is this incredible phenomena that has accompanied the housing bubble. It is the reality of homeless children and their ability to maintain some degree of normalcy to learn and at least grown out of their stranding in the USA educational system.
Oddly, though, it is not a new phenomena.
Principal Leadership Magazine, Vol. 4, Number 8, May 2004
Defining and Identifying Homeless Youth (click here)
According to federal law, homeless children include those who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. McKinney-Vento recognizes a wide range of living situations as homelessness, such as frequent mobility or living in shared housing (often a crowded residence with several other families), motels, cars, parks, makeshift housing, or shelters.
Unless students are directly referred to the school as homeless students, staff members will often need to make judgment calls to identify homeless students and offer assistance. Although some students will volunteer their personal information, many homeless students will make oblique references to where they are staying. Students may also indirectly indicate that they are homeless through changes in their habits and appearance, such as increased sleepiness; wearing the same clothes frequently or other personal care issues; a decreasing quality of school work; and most often, and absences from school.
While it is important to respect students' right to privacy, it is also essential for homeless students to know their legal rights under McKinney-Vento. Homeless students should be offered every opportunity to continue to attend their schools of origin and have access to all other appropriate services to help them achieve in school.
