Homeless Services (McKinney-Vento)
Northwestern Lehigh School District believes that homeless youth should have access to free and appropriate public education and wishes to limit the barriers that homeless children may face. Our goal is to have the educational process continue as uninterrupted as possible while children are in homeless situations. Northwestern Lehigh School District’s Homeless Children and Youth Initiative identifies students experiencing homelessness and implements strategies to address barriers to enrollment, attendance, and participation in school activities. Students experiencing homelessness are entitled under law to:
- An education on an equal basis with other children;
- Continue to attend their home school of origin
- Immediate enrollment, even if they lack records
- Special assistance from the Northwestern Lehigh School District Homeless Liaison
Note: If a student is in a temporary living situation, he/she may be able to remain in his/her current school. Please talk with Northwestern Lehigh personnel before dis-enrolling.
What does it mean to be homeless?
Homeless students are defined as individuals lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, which may include the following conditions:
- Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or similar reason.
- Lving in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations.
- Living in an emergency, transitional, or domestic violence shelters.
- Abandoned in hospitals.
- Using public or private places not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations for human beings, as a primary nighttime residence.
- Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, transportation stations, or similar settings.
- Living as migratory children in conditions described in previous examples.
- Living as run-away children, abandoned, or forced out of homes by parents/guardians or caretakers, or separated from parents/guardians for any other reason.
- Living as school-age parents/guardians in houses for school-age parents/guardians if they have no other living accommodations.
Please contact LeAnn Stitzel (Homeless Liaison) at stitzell@nwlehighsd.org, or at 610-298-8661 x1264 if you have questions about District support for homeless families.
Learn more about Education for Homeless Youth in the PDE Homeless Youth Basic Education Circular.
Additional resources and information can also be found using the links below:
McKinney-Vento NWLSD Student/Parent Handbook
PA Dept of Ed Homeless Education
Community Resource List for Students Experiencing Homelessness
Head Start of the Lehigh Valley - for preschoolers experiencing homelessness