Supports for Students Displaced From Home

Students/Families Experiencing Homelessness

If you and your children experience housing insecurity, please contact the district’s student services director and district homelessness liaison.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Federal Law) defines a student who is experiencing homelessness as:

• Sharing housing due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason;
• Living in hotels, motels, trailer parks (not deemed residential), or campgrounds due to a lack of alternative adequate housing;
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters;
• Abandoned in hospitals;
• Living in a public or private place not designated for or typically 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 places; and
• Living in one of the above situations and who are migratory.

The McKinney-Vento Act presumes it is in a student’s best interest to remain in their school of origin when displaced from their permanent home, but in some circumstances, the student may be immediately enrolled in the attendance area school (the place where the student is resting their head at night).

Schools and districts must provide services comparable to services offered to students who are not experiencing homelessness in accordance with this act and other provisions of the law. This includes:

• Automatic eligibility for free school meals and waived school fees.
• Transportation services within district eligibility and/or in collaboration with other school districts for transportation between districts.
• Title I, Disability, and English Learner Services if the child meets eligibility criteria
• Career and Technical Education Programs
• Gifted and Talented Students Programs

Yellow Spring Schools will provide referrals and support coordination with local agencies to assist families and students with accessing additional community resources based on the unique needs of each family/student. 

Youth in Foster Care & Justice-Involvement Youth

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) emphasizes the educational stability of vulnerable students, including those who are involved in the juvenile justice system or placed in foster care.  Please contact Donna First, the district’s student services director and Foster Care/Justice-Involved liaison, for more information.

Youth in Foster Care
Each Ohio school district designates a justice-involved youth liaison. The liaison works with juvenile detention centers, local juvenile courts, community agencies, and community partners to best support students in the juvenile justice system.

Title I, Part A, as enacted through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), requires that traditional public districts and community schools designate a point of contact or “foster care education liaison” to support students in foster care. Foster care education liaisons work with school personnel, the Ohio Department of Children & Youth, and the county children's services agencies to ensure identification, enrollment, and access to academic and non-academic services for students in foster care.  

Students in foster care are entitled to agency coordination for the best placement regarding school. They are also entitled to free breakfast and lunch at school and transportation coordination if more than one school district is involved.  

• Foster Care Educational Stability Overview-Ohio Dept. of Education and Workforce
• Foster Family Bill of Rights Supplement OAC NOV2025.pdf
   

Justice-Involved Youth
Each Ohio school district designates a justice-involved youth liaison. The liaison works with juvenile detention centers, local juvenile courts, community agencies, and community partners to best support students in the juvenile justice system.  

Students may be displaced from their home and placed in a county detention center or state facility operated by the Department of Youth Services or the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.  

By law, the educational services are coordinated through the center or facility and are expected to meet the state’s educational standards.   The school district communicates with the separate facility regarding the placement, assists in transferring records, and supports the transitions between the school and the placement.