Educational Programs and Services

The School District shall provide homeless children and youth with access to all of its programs, activities and services to the same extent that they are provided to resident students, in accordance with the law.

Homeless children and youth shall be educated as part of the school's regular academic program. Services must be provided to homeless children and youth through programs and mechanisms that integrate homeless children and youth with their non-homeless counterparts, including programs for special education, vocational and technical education, gifted and talented students, before and after school, English language learners/limited English proficiency, Head Start, Even Start, and school nutrition. Services provided with McKinney-Vento funds must expand upon or improve services provided as part of the regular school program. Consequently, the School District shall verify that homeless children and youth are not segregated in a separate school, or in a separate program within the school, based on their status as homeless; and to the extent feasible consistent with the requirements of Commissioner's Regulations, keep a homeless child or youth in the school of origin except when doing so is contrary to the wishes of the child's or youth's parent or guardian. Further, the School District shall review and revise policies and practices, including transportation guidelines that may act as barriers to the enrollment, attendance, school success, and retention of homeless children and youth in the School District.

All homeless children and youth are automatically eligible for Title I Part A services whether or not they meet the academic standards or live in a Title I school attendance area. Homeless students may receive Title I educational or support services from school-wide and targeted-assistance school programs.

Transportation

If the local social service district or the Office of Children and Family Services is not required to provide transportation, the designated district is responsible for the provision and the cost of the student's transportation. Where a homeless student designates the school district of current location as the district the student will attend, then that district shall provide transportation to the student on the same basis as a resident student. Where the homeless student designates the school district of origin or a school district participating in a regional placement plan, then that district must provide transportation to and from the homeless child's temporary housing and school.

If the student in temporary housing designates the Royalton­ Hartland Central School District as the school district of origin or a district participating in a regional placement plan, transportation will not exceed fifty (50) miles each way, unless the Commissioner of the State Education Department determines that it is in the best interest of the child.

Transportation responsibilities apply to all school districts regardless of whether or not they receive McKinney-Vento funds. Transportation must be provided during the pendency of enrollment disputes. If the designated district provides transportation for non-homeless preschool children, it must also provide comparable transportation services for homeless preschool children.