501.12 Homeless Children and Youth

The Spirit Lake School District believes all students should have access to a free, appropriate public education.  The District will ensure that homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free, appropriate public education as other children and youth.

“Homeless child or youth” is defined as a child or youth from the age of 3 years through 21 years who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence and includes the following:

1. A child or youth who is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; is living in a motel, hotel, trailer park, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; is living in an emergency or transitional shelter; or is abandoned in a hospital;

2. A child or youth who has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

3. A child or youth who is living in a car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing, bus or train station, or similar setting; or

4. A migratory child or youth who qualifies as homeless because the child or youth is living in circumstances described above.

To help ensure that homeless children and youth have a full opportunity to enroll, attend, and succeed at school, the Board shall:

• Designate district office personnel as the local homeless children and youth liaison;​​​
• Provide training opportunities for staff so staff may help identify and meet the needs of homeless children and youth;
• Remove barriers, including those associated with fees, fines, and absences, to the identification, enrollment, retention, attendance and/or success in school for homeless children and youth;
• Ensure collaboration and coordination with other service providers;
• Ensure transportation is provided in accordance with legal requirements;
• Provide school stability and school assignment according to the child’s best interests;
• Ensure the privacy of student records, as provided by applicable law, including information about a homeless child or youth’s living situation; 
• Engage in the dispute resolution process for decisions relating to the educational placement of homeless children and youth as provided by applicable law and;
• Prohibit the segregation of a homeless child or youth from other students enrolled in the district.

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