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Grand
Prairie ISD provides services to children and youth experiencing
homelessness through the Connections Program, which is funded
by the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act by the Texas Support for Homeless Education Project (TEXSHEP). |
Who is Homeless?
(Sec.725 of the McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act)
The term "homeless children and youth"--
(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence...; and
(B) includes--
(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;
(ii) children and youths who have 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...
(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
(iv) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
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The
Connections Program provides supplemental educational services
to approximately 1,234 homeless students on all district campuses.
The program operates year-round and is under the direction
of the Connections Coordinator, Christine Gonzalez, with assistance from GPISD social workers. Since
the inception of the Connections Program in GPISD, Brighter
Tomorrows Shelter has also provided services to approximately
300 families. |
In order to enhance the opportunity for homeless children and youth to enroll, attend and achieve success in school, Grand Prairie ISD, under the TEXSHEP grant, ensures the following for all identified homeless students in GPISD: |
- Eliminate barriers to enrollment for homeless students so they are enrolled within two days of campus application.
- Provide for the physical needs of homeless students, including school supplies, free lunch program participation, and schol uniforms (as necessary) so that they are in class upon enrollment.
- Provide abuse intervention as appropriate and report immediately.
- Provide appropriate educational interventions within two weeks of enrollment, including tutoring, after-school programs, and other special programs as appropriate.
- Paperwork will follow in-district student transfers (when requested and approved) within two days.
- Transportation will be provided as appropriate within three days of enrollment.
- Provide intervention when appropriate within seven days of enrollment; GPISD will monitor on a monthly basis.
- Provide information about available school and community services to families within the first day of enrollment.
- Provide translated written GPISD required materials (Student Code of Conduct, school handbooks, etc.) within the first week of enrollment (Spanish materials within the first day).
- Parenting skills classes/consultations will be provided for homeless parents.
- Sensitivity education training for educators, school personnel, shelter staff, and other community agencies regarding the needs of children and youth experiencing homelessness and the rights of such children and youth under the McKinney Act.
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