Board to discuss education of homeless students

Marisa O’Neil

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees tonight

will consider adopting a formal policy to ensure students from

homeless families get to and stay in school.

More than 300 homeless students passed through the Newport-Mesa

system during the past school year, said district spokeswoman Jane

Garland, who also serves as the district’s liaison to homeless

students. The policy is designed to let children to attend school

even if they cannot provide a permanent address when they register.

“We’re trying to reach children wherever they are and open doors

for them,” she said.

The district started the program last year, in accordance with the

No Child Left Behind Act and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education

Assistance Act. Those state that schools must ensure homeless

students are not segregated or stigmatized because of their status.

Districts must also appoint a liaison, provide transportation for

the students and allow the students to stay in the school even if he

or she moves. Last year, the district found 176 homeless students

registered and attending school at the end of the year, Garland said.

They also identified 50 who registered and never showed and 129 who

had been in school but moved elsewhere.

Though the majority of those families are concentrated on the

Westside of Costa Mesa, she said most schools throughout the district

had at least one student who was considered homeless. The majority

are in kindergarten through the third grade.

According to the district’s new policy, a student is classified as

homeless if he or she is sharing a residence, living in a motel or

trailer, staying in a shelter or living on the street or in a car.

“These are people who’ve found themselves in this situation,”

Garland said. “They’re usually young mothers with young children who

can’t make ends meet. Most of them are not on the street, they just

don’t have enough money to put down for a home.”

Last year, the district also started the Nurturing Enriching

Teachers program, which helps teachers learn how to work with

homeless students. Its coordinator, Diana Hensley, said that schools

can also provide tutoring if necessary, direct students to free lunch

or breakfast programs and may even provide backpacks or school

supplies.

“We try to be as creative as we can,” Hensley said. “We get in

there and roll up our sleeves and see what we can do.”

Other issues on the agenda for tonight’s school board meeting are:

* An update on Measure A progress and change orders for 10 Measure

A construction jobs, increasing individual project costs.

* Adoption of a new board policy for better student nutrition and

a resolution in support of National School Lunch Week Oct. 13 to 17.

* Adoption of a new board policy about parents’ rights to deny

release of their children’s directory information to business and

military recruiters.

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Roderick H. MacMillian

Board Meeting Room in the District Education Center, at 2985-A Bear

St. in Costa Mesa.