Skip to main content

© 2026 Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. All rights reserved.

KPBSD E-Governance
  • Featured
  • Meetings
  • Policies
  • Library
  • AR 5022Parent/Student Handbook
  • AR 5040Student Nutrition and Physical Activity
  • AR 5111Early Entrance
  • AR 5112.1Exemptions From Attendance
  • AR 5112.2Exclusions From Attendance
  • AR 5112.6Education for Homeless Children and Children in Foster Care
  • AR 5113Absences and Excuses
  • AR 5118Transfers Into the District
  • AR 5119Access to District Schools by Private School, Correspondence and Other Programs
  • AR 5121AR 5121 Assessment (Evaluation of Student Achievement)
  • AR 5123Promotion/Acceleration/Retention
  • AR 5124.1Family Engagement
  • AR 5125Student Records
  • AR 5127 (a)Graduation Ceremonies and Activities
  • AR 5127(b)Graduation Regalia
  • AR 5128Alaska Performance Scholarship Program
  • AR 5131Conduct
  • AR 5131.1Bus Conduct
  • AR 5131.4Campus Disturbances
  • AR 5131.7Weapons and Dangerous Instruments
  • AR 5141Health Care Emergencies
  • AR 5141.21Administering Medication
  • AR 5141.22Infectious Diseases
  • AR 5141.23Infectious Disease Prevention
  • AR 5141.4Child Abuse and Neglect
  • AR 5142Safety
  • AR 5144Discipline
  • AR 5144.1Suspension and Expulsion
  • AR 5144.11Due Process
  • AR 5144.2Suspension and Expulsion (Individuals with Exceptional Needs)
  • AR 5145.12Search and Seizure
  • AR 5145.2Freedom of Speech/Expression
  • AR 5145.7Sexual Harassment
Policies
Administrative Regulations·5000 Students

AR 5112.6Education for Homeless Children and Children in Foster Care

Policy Details

Status
Active
Cross references
  • BP 5112.6 Education for Homeless Children and Children in Foster Care
  • BP 5116 School Attendance Boundaries
  • BP 5141.3 Health Examinations
  • BP 5141.31 Immunizations
Adopted
7/7/2014
Last reviewed
3/13/2025
Last revised
4/1/2024

HOMELESS CHILDREN AND YOUTH

No KPBSD student will be deprived of any opportunity or benefit offered by the program of instruction because of their living situation. Therefore, in compliance with the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, steps will be taken to remove barriers to education for homeless children and youth. Provisions will be made for homeless students to fully participate in all aspects of their education; this may include continued attendance in the school of origin; establishing a school of origin; transportation assistance; immediate enrollment; records retrieval; ensuring accrual of credits; immediate access to Student Nutrition Services; obtaining materials for instruction; and full participation in school activities, including extracurricular activity fee waivers.

District Staffing

The ESSA requires districts to designate a homeless student Liaison to perform various services to meet the needs of homeless youth and their families.

The Superintendent or designee will designate at least one staff person to serve as a Homeless Liaison to fulfill the duties set forth in McKinney-Vento law. The liaison(s) will work to identify homeless students and facilitate each homeless student's access to a free and appropriate public education.

The Liaison(s) will: assist parents, students, and unaccompanied homeless youth enrolling in and attending school, with the opportunity to meet the same high academic standard as students in stable housing; mediate disputes concerning school enrollment; assist in making transportation arrangements; assist in requesting student records; provide information and give referrals to both school and community-based services and opportunities, including assistance with status verification for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid; provide public notice of educational rights for homeless students in locations frequented by homeless youth and their families such as schools, shelters, public libraries, and food pantries; and assist any homeless student who is not in the custody of their parents or guardian with enrollments decisions. The Liaison(s) will participate in professional development provided by the State Coordinator, will receive additional professional development opportunities. The Liaison(s) will also be responsible for periodic review and evaluation of this policy and recommend changes to reduce barriers for homeless children enrolling in and attending school.

Homeless Student Defined

According to the McKinney-Vento Act, homeless students are defined as children or youth between the ages of 5 and 21 who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. This definition includes a child or youth who is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason; is living in hotels, motels, trailer parks, or camp grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations; is living in emergency or transitional shelters; is abandoned in hospitals; is living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing or similar settings; is a migratory child who meets qualifying homeless criteria; or is an unaccompanied youth (youth who meet qualifying homeless criteria and are not in the physical custody of their parent or legal guardian).

Enrollment

The Homeless Liaison, in consultation with the student's parent /legal guardian or the unaccompanied youth, will consider the best interest of the student in determining. Whether the child should be enrolled in the school of origin or the current neighborhood school. The district presumes that keeping a homeless student in the school of origin is in the student’s best interest unless doing so is contrary to the request of the student’s parent or guardian, or (in the case of an unaccompanied youth) the youth. Consistent with the student’s best interest, homeless students will continue to be enrolled in their school of origin for the duration of their homelessness and until the end of the academic year in which they obtain permanent housing. Instead of remaining in the school of origin, a parent/ legal guardian of a homeless students or an unaccompanied youth may request enrollment in the school attendance area in which the student is currently living. For students new to the District, school of origin will be determined by considering the availability of appropriate support services for the student and the location of the student’s temporary address.
(cf. 5116 School attendance boundaries)

The school selected will enroll the homeless student immediately and without delay, even without records normally required for enrollment such as previous academic records, immunization and health exam records, proof of residency, or other documentation. Unaccompanied youth will be enrolled without a parent/legal guardian. The District may require a parent /legal guardian or unaccompanied youth to submit contact information.

Enrollment Disputes

If a dispute arises, the student will immediately be admitted to the school in which enrollment is sought by the student's parent /legal guardian or unaccompanied youth, pending resolution of the dispute. The parent /legal guardian or unaccompanied youth will be referred to the Homeless Liaison, who will carry out the dispute resolution process as expeditiously as possible. The district must provide a written explanation, including a statement regarding the right to appeal, to the homeless student’s parent/legal guardian or unaccompanied youth if the district sends the student to a school other than the school of origin or other school requested by the parent, guardian, or unaccompanied youth.

Transportation to School of Origin

If it is in the best interest of the homeless student or unaccompanied youth to remain in the school of origin, transportation to and from that school must be provided at the request of a parent/legal guardian (or the Homeless Liaison, for unaccompanied youth) for as long as the student is homeless and attending the school of origin. This transportation must also be feasible for the student and in the student’s best interest. Policies or practices regarding transportation of students which might cause a barrier to the attendance of a homeless child or youth may be waived by the Superintendent or designee.

Attendance and Retention

Regular District, school and classroom attendance policies will be approached with special consideration when regarding a student identified as homeless. Schools are required to contact their Homeless Liaison when a homeless student is absent for 3 or more consecutive days without prearranged notice or when the total number of absences in a quarter goes beyond 7 days. School Administrators will work with the Homeless Liaison to determine if waivers are appropriate for absences stemming from homelessness. No student with a waived absence will be denied the opportunity to make up work/take a test given on the day of absence, have grades tied directly to in-school/class attendance policies, or be denied an award or eligibility to compete for an award. Attendance issues will not act as a barrier to the student's education.

Records

Any records ordinarily kept by the school, including immunization records, academic records, birth certificates, guardianship records and evaluations for special services or programs of each homeless student will be maintained so that appropriate services may be given to the student, so that necessary referrals can be made, and so that records may be transferred in a timely fashion when a homeless student enters a new school district. Copies of records will be made available upon request parent/legal guardian or unaccompanied youth.

Review of Policy

KPBSD Administration, staff, and employees will be updated on this policy on an annual basis.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE

The Superintendent or designee will designate a District point of contact regarding children in foster care in order to facilitate communication and cooperation with child welfare agencies.
 
School Enrollment and Attendance

The District recognizes that educational stability is critical for all students and particularly for children in foster care. Accordingly, educational disruption should be minimized for children with changing foster care placements by maintaining foster children in their schools of origin for the remainder of the school term, unless it is determined to be in their best interest to change schools.

The school of origin is the school in which a child is enrolled at the time of placement in foster care or when foster care placement changes. In determining whether it is in a child’s best interest to remain in their school of origin, the District should take into consideration all factors relating to a child’s best interest, including the appropriateness of the current educational setting and proximity of placement. Districts should coordinate with State and local child welfare agencies when a foster child is transferred from one placement setting to another to ensure the child is permitted to attend their school or origin through the end of the school term when reasonable to do so and in the child’s best educational interest.

Transportation

In the event that it is in the best interest of the foster youth to attend their school of origin, transportation to and from that school may be provided through coordination with State or local child welfare agencies. The coordination will address transportation to their school of origin in a prompt and cost effective manner.

Legal Reference:

UNITED STATES CODE
McKinney-Vento Homeless Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2001, 42 U.S.C. §§ 11431, et seq.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 20. U.S.C § 1112(c)(5), as amended by Every Student Succeeds Act Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232

FEDERAL REGISTER
McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program, Vol. 81 No 52, Department of Education (2016)