Homeless, but not Helpless

Regardless of the kind of area you work in, homelessness is probably a bigger problem than you think. In urban settings, it's even more pronounced. I recently attended a training on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the services available to families experiencing homelessness, and it was so informative and helpful. It was one of those trainings where I could use the information immediately the next day-- and did.

The biggest misconception about homeless is that the family is living on the streets, but it's actually living without a permanent home (specifically, a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence). "Homelessness," per the McKinney-Vento Act, can look like one of the following:

• Sharing housing.
• Living in a motel, hotel, trailer with wheels, or campground.
• Emergency or transitional shelters.
• Awaiting a foster care placement.
• Cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, standard housing, bus or train stations.
• A nighttime residence not ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation (i.e. park bench).

The biggest qualifier I see in my school is families sharing housing. It's actually astounding the amount of my kiddos who would qualify for McKinney-Vento now that I know this is considered a form of homelessness, because they do not have their own permanent residence. We also see a lot of families living in hotels.

How do you know if a family might be homeless? Watch the students closely. Are they wearing the same clothes every day, or don't have clothing appropriate to the weather conditions? Do they hoard food, ask for seconds, etc? Do they have working telephone numbers? Are they evasive about their living situation when asked? 

The McKinney-Vento removes the barriers impeding homeless children from attending school. It ensures homeless children transportation to and from school free of charge, allowing them to attend their school of origin (the last school they were enrolled at or the school they attended at their last permanent residence), regardless of what district the family resides in. It also requires schools to register homeless children immediately, even if they lack normally required documents, such as immunization records or proof of residence. Even after finding permanent housing, a family can access McKinney-Vento services for a year afterwards.

One thing that concerned me was how little I knew about the McKinney-Vento act. As an educator, I didn't know about a vital act that ensures proper education for disadvantaged students? And if I didn't know much about these resources, what about the parents?

Just a few days after the training, we were notified of a family who had experienced a house fire and has been living in a hotel for the past two months. The five kiddos in the family were wearing the same clothes every day, didn't have coats (good ol' Western NY weather is unkind), and always seemed hungry. Mom came into school looking for support, and we were able to provide her with quite a lot immediately. We gave the students extra uniform pants and shirts and also enrolled them in our school's Backpack Program, which provides a backpack of nonperishable food from the local food bank to students for the weekend. I also notified our district's McKinney-Vento liaison, who will contact mom for further support.

As school psychologists, we may seem to be primarily responsible for the appropriate education of special education students. However, we need to be mindful of the resources and tools that will lead to the proper instruction of ALL students. Investigate the McKinney-Vento act, find out who your district's liaison is, and refer families. You never know who might be in need. 

Here is the full text of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Asisstance Act, for those ambitious folks out there.

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When Parents Disagree With CSE Decisions

What do you do when parents disagree with decisions made regarding special education eligibility and programming at Committee on Special Education (CSE) meetings?


We recently had a case where the CSE recommended a more restrictive setting for a student. A is having a hard time maintaining appropriate behavior within her Integrated Co-Teaching classroom, and her grades are suffering. She exhibits a lot of tantruming, controlling/adultified, and noncompliant behavior. There have been a lot of interventions put in place, including a classroom management plan, Check-in, Check-out, and weekly individual counseling with a mental health counselor in our building, but there hasn't been much response. At the CSE table, we discussed behavior, cognitive skills, academic knowledge, etc and recommended A for a 12:1+1 Special Class placement. Dad was on board, as he wanted to do anything for A that would help her succeed.

Within a day, there were rumblings in the building that Dad was no longer in agreement with the decision. He didn't want her to move schools (we don't have a 12:1+1 placement), didn't want her to have transition in the middle of the year, didn't want her in special education, and didn't want her labeled. All very valid concerns. He felt that much of her behavior was due to the other less than well-behaved students in her class, and that she was watching them and acting out. He wanted us to try more interventions in our building to help her instead, though we felt we had exhausted them all. He was even considering pulling special education services completely, as he never signed consent for them, A's mother did when she was still in her custody.

Lots of meetings with Dad, our building parent advocate, the teachers, and even the principal ensued. As a CSE, we stood by the decision we made to move her to the 12:1+1. Oftentimes when parents disagree with or question a meeting outcome, they are referred to an impartial district CSE team to appeal it. I am uncomfortable changing a decision made in a CSE meeting, as I do not recommend classification or program changes without careful consideration of what is best for the child, gathering of data, consulting with relevant school personnel, and lots of time spent writing the report and Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

Ultimately, Dad was recommended to contact the district CSE team to appeal our decision, instead of revoking all consent for services. He also wanted her placed in the other classroom at her grade level, which is not an Integrated Co-Teaching classroom, in order to get her away from any students who might be affecting her behavior. It would also give him information to see how she would do without ICT supports, should he wish to revoke consents for services once he has the meeting with the district appeal team.

It's a very slippery slope trying to make teachers, parents, and administrators happy with decisions, while ultimately keeping in mind the best interest of the child. At the end of the day though, I always remember that my duty  is to serve the student, and support them with whatever they might need to be successful, no matter if it goes against what another party wants. Administrators can be reasoned with and will get over it, parents can appeal a decision, but the kid usually has no say. The primary client of the school psychologist is always the kid. (Note: this is not to say that the parents', teachers', and administrators' views, opinions, and information are to be ignored. They are extremely valuable in decision-making, and those parties should always be consulted with.)

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Increasing Parent Involvement

Working in a large, low socioeconomic status, urban district, we have very low parent participation at my building, both at CSE meetings and at other school functions. What's a super psychologist to do? We know (or hope) that parents care about their kids and how they're being educated, but what can we do to get parents involved in our school community?

Parent involvement in our CSE process is poor. I think it's for a number of reasons: lack of understanding of special education, apathy about the educational system, and general involvement. We constantly come up against disconnected phones, wrong addresses/transient families, and have to fight to get consents signed to do evaluations. Our social worker makes many home visits to obtain signatures and social history reports. Most parents do not attend our CSE meetings (though we had FOUR parents attend this week, I think it was a record!). In order to meet their needs and hopefully get them to school, we will try and schedule a meeting time according to what the parent wants (i.e. an afternoon meeting for the parent that works mornings). We've had our guidance counselor pick up parents and bring them to school if they do not have a means of transportation. We also do phone conferences if the parent can take a longer phone call while at work. Otherwise, we go ahead with CSE meetings without the parent, notes that in our meeting minutes, then call them afterwards to go over the results and committee decision. Our social worker has also made home visits to go over meeting findings. 

Two brothers at our math & literacy night last year.

In terms of other school functions, I can recommend two things whole-heartedly that will get parents to school: food and gifts! We ALWAYS feed our families when they come to school for functions. For a lot of inner city families, having a meal served is really important for them, plus the school gets the added bonus of having parents in. Last year, we had a spaghetti dinner during our math & literacy night, we served pizza and cupcakes at parent/teacher conference night last year, and to start this school year, we had a BBQ in our courtyard. We also offer incentives for if parents decide to come to school functions, like educational games (Monopoly, Uno, Checkers, Chess, Sorry, Battleship, etc), books, and door prizes. We also usually have a bounce house set up in our gym, which is a big hit. I usually have to stop myself from kicking off my leopard print shoes and jumping in.

How do you involve parents in your building? What strategies work for you to help parents get invested in your school community? What suggestions do you have to schools that struggle with parent involvement?

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Helpful Resource on How to Give Parents "Bad" News

Angela over at The Cornerstone for Teachers posted an excellent blog entry today about how to give parents bad news at parent meetings. There's a great list of tips and suggestions on how to have productive conferences, or in the case of the school psychologist, perhaps how to facilitate them. How often do we struggle with this, or see others struggling? I know I've sat in on a few parent meetings where it's an all out offensive from the teacher at the parent, which is utterly unproductive. What parent wants to come into school to talk to a teacher that's on high alert and hear how horrible their child is?

I always talk about positives first, whether in parent meetings or at the CSE table. What can the child do? What is positive about their work habits, personality, behavior, etc? What skills to they have? Then, I discuss any deficits, concerns, or problems. Going in guns blazing on what’s “wrong” only serves to put the parent on the defensive. If that's the case, no one's working to help the child.

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