Poughkeepsie City School District

The McKinney-Vento Act defines “homeless children and youth” as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. Homeless students may be characterized as children and youth who are:

• sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (sometimes referred to as doubled-up);
• living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations;
• living in emergency or transitional shelters;
• abandoned in hospitals; or awaiting foster care placement;
• have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
• living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
• migratory children who qualify as homeless because they are living in circumstances described above.

The Pupil Personnel Department is responsible for collecting aggregate data regarding the District’s homeless population and the Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel is appointed as the Homeless Liaison. If you are or you become of a student in this circumstance immediately follow the listed steps:

1. Notify the building Social Worker.
2. The Social Worker will complete the Homeless Referral Form.
3. The completed form will be sent to PPS (fax # 845-437-3477).
4. PPS will maintain a spreadsheet of all students by building and will send copies of the Homeless Referral Form to Central Registration, the Transportation Department if transportation is required, to the Student Management Office to insure the student management system is updated to Central Registration, and a monthly report by building to the IST Chairperson for oversight and monitoring.
5. The Social Worker will maintain routine contact with the family and report status changes using the Homeless Monitoring Form. The completed form should also be faxed to PPS.
6. Copies of the Homeless Monitoring Form  will be sent by PPS to the Transportation Department if transportation is to be discontinued, to Central Registration to insure the student management system is updated.

05/13/09 LP