News Article - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Designation of School District Homeless Education Liaisons

To:	Superintendents, and Leaders of Charter Schools, and other Interested Parties
From:	David P. Driscoll, Commissioner of Education
Date:	June 13, 2002

The recent reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Act of 1965, "No Child Left Behind," includes reauthorization of the McKinney-Vento Education Act for Homeless Children and Youth. The McKinney-Vento Act now requires every school district to designate a staff person as a liaison for students in homeless situations. This person, who may also be a coordinator for other school programs, will serve as the Massachusetts Department of Education point of contact for education-related issues regarding homeless students in the school district. As the Commonwealth moves forward to comply with this requirement to assist this needy at-risk population, we ask that you designate a staff person as your Homeless Education Liaison whose role will be in part to ensure that:

homeless children and youth are identified by school personnel and through coordination with other agencies;
homeless children and youth enroll in, and have full and equal opportunity to succeed in school and receive educational services for which they are eligible;
parents or guardians are informed of educational and related opportunities, such as access to school nutrition programs, available to their children, and are provided with meaningful opportunities to participate in the education of their children;
enrollment disputes are mediated and resolved; and
parents, guardians, and unaccompanied youth are fully informed of all transportation services, including to the school of origin, and are assisted in accessing needed transportation services.

To assist school districts implement the goal of Mckinney-Vento - that each child of a homeless individual and each homeless youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as provided to other children and youth - the Department's Office for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth is planning Fall training sessions for district Homeless Education Liaisons on this new federal requirement.

School District Homeless Education Liaison Data Sheet

Please forward the following information by July 31, 2002 to: Peter D. Cirioni
Coordinator, Office for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
Department of Education
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148
781-338-6294/ pcirioni@doe.mass.edu. School District: ___________________________________________________ Homeless Education Liaison: __________________________________________ Title: ______________________ Address:________________________________________________________ Phone #: ____________________ Email: ______________________ FAX: _______________________ If you have any questions, please contact Peter D. Cirioni.

Last Updated: June 17, 2002