• Homeless Services (McKinney-Vento)

    Homeless Liaison - LeAnn M. Stitzel, Director of Curriculum and Instruction

    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 children may be found in the following places:

    • Public or private shelters;
    • Public or private places not designated for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations, such as vehicles, parks, motels, campgrounds, etc.;
    • With a parent in a domestic violence shelter;
    • With relatives or friends due to lack of housing;
    • In transitional housing programs;
    • In a temporary living situation due to an event such as fire, domestic violence, eviction or code violations;

    Those also considered homeless are:

    • Runaway children (under 18 years of age) and children/youth who have been abandoned or forced out of home by parents or other caretakers. They may be in temporary shelters awaiting assistance from social service agencies or may live alone on the street or move from place to place among family members, friends, or acquaintances. This also includes youth from 18 through 21 years of age who may still be eligible for educational services in regular or special education;
    • Children of migrant families who lack adequate housing;
    • Children abandoned in hospitals or awaiting foster care;
    • School-age, unwed or expectant mothers living in houses for unwed mothers when they have no other available living accommodations.

    Please contact LeAnn Stitzel 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:

    PA Dept of Ed Homeless Education

    I want to go to college: Now What?

    United Way 211 Program