Fwd: Kick Off Your Week: Education access for our homeless youth

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From: Supt. Christina Kishimoto <reply@hawaiidoe.org>
Date: Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 10:53 AM
Subject: Kick Off Your Week: Education access for our homeless youth
To: 20048903@notes.k12.hi.us

VIEW EMAIL ONLINE Education access for Hawai'i's homeless youth One of the things that I enjoy doing during the weekends is getting around Honolulu on a Biki to the Farmer's Market in Kaka'ako, Chinatown to shop, Ala Moana Beach Park to swim, various museums and outdoor events, or just for a ride to take in the people, sights, and sounds of this great city. When I do, it is inevitable that I will come across a homeless person or family. The sight of someone living on the street makes me pause and I can't help but wonder about the stories behind each person's life. It was during one of these Biki rides a few weeks ago when I attended an 'ukulele music festival in Kaka'ako Waterfront Park that I came across a homeless woman among a group of people living in tents that was tending to her toddler. I thought about the students who attend our public schools, and the impact of fragile living situations on their access to quality education. Whether they're impeded by access to health care, permanent housing, dental care, vision care, haircuts, showers or a place to study, our homeless students need our support in ensuring that when they are in school, they are supported, welcomed, cared for, and highly prepared to be able to successful in their life. There are about 3,000 homeless students in our HIDOE school system, with 74 percent of them on O'ahu (see chart for breakdown). Of those, 10 percent are unsheltered, 30 percent are sheltered, and 60 percent are "doubled up," which means they are living from home to home with relatives or friends for short periods of time. Their challenges are many: being unprepared due to missed school days, fear of getting their family in trouble if they disclose their living situation, or just a feeling of shame for having a living situation that is different from their peers. As a community of public educators, we are committed to ensuring that students who do not have stable residency continue to have full access to public education, and as much as possible can remain in their home school. You may wonder how families register their children without proof of residence. Proof of residence is not required, but rather an address or location is accepted so that the school may stay in touch with family and extend services to support our students. There is a federal law that is important to this work — the McKinney-Vento Act ensures educational stability for children and youth in homeless situations from PK to 12th grade. The law requires that we remove barriers to identification and enrollment while ensuring full participation in school. Our goal is to mitigate challenges that children and families face, including providing free meals, transportation if appropriate, communicating with and engaging families, and connecting them with social service agencies. At the HIDOE we have a dedicated state coordinator and a resource teacher for service planning. Last year, we received funding for 17 part-time Homeless Concern Liaisons distributed across the 15 complex areas to connect families to schools, assess needs and further develop support resources. I am greatly appreciative of legislative support for these positions. In addition, all schools across our state have a homeless support designee. Our school counselors and social workers are an important resource to engage families, and often visit shelters where families have temporary housing. Family engagement is critically important in a child's success. To accomplish our work in providing quality access and support, we have many community and agency partners who work with us to provide transportation, tutoring, family support, homework help, school supplies, hygiene supplies, and housing outreach connections. The Department of Human Services convenes the Hawai'i Interagency Council on Homelessness with a bold mission to prevent and end homelessness in Hawai'i. The Council seeks to accomplish its mission by coordinating government, private entities, community and homeless service providers, and persons experiencing homelessness. There is also an Interagency Council at the national level in which Hawai'i participates. To think about As we finalize the process of hiring all of our Homeless Concern Liaisons, we will continue to think about our next level of work to ensure that all of our students are supported within our learning system, experience empowerment through education, and have a voice to contribute to school design. Some of our next work will include thinking about how to: Create viable alternatives during non-traditional school time for credit accrual for students in homeless situations who have had their instructional time disrupted; we are committed to having all of our students graduate Ensure a safe environment for students to self identify as unaccompanied youth without fear, so that they can receive services and supports Expand access to preschool offerings within the public school system — early engagement is key! Differentiate responses to truancy and behavior offenses for students in homeless situations to support continued access to school Share best practice models for schools to replicate and learn from; include sessions in the annual Educational Leadership Institute for HIDOE educational officers Expand upon meaningful parent involvement and community involvement opportunities The tri-level team that includes staff from the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Support Services, in partnership with Complex-level staff and school-level liaisons, are committed to continue to engage with and expand upon powerful community partnerships to ensure that all students have equitable access to quality education. Differentiation of supports and of school designs is important in addressing equity and access. FOLLOW US: Facebook | Twitter | Vimeo | Pinterest | LinkedIn | Google+      ONLINE: HawaiiPublicSchools.org This email was sent to all Hawai'i DOE staff. unsubscribe

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