Quick Tips: 10 Things Administrators Can Do to Help Homeless Students*
- Welcome students.
- Make sure parents feel comfortable and let them know they're welcome in your school.
- Be sure homeless students are enrolled in the Free Breakfast and Lunch Program.**
- Appoint a staff person to do a brief educational assessment.
- Appoint a liaison for homeless children and youth with your district, as required by federal law.***
- Spend five minutes a week with a homeless student.
- Schedule an appointment with a shelter/mission director to learn more about temporary living situations.
- Post information about school events in local shelters/missions so shelter staff can keep children involved in school events.
- Make staff aware of any students living in temporary shelter.
- Provide an inservice training for all school staff to ensure sensitivity to needs of homeless.
** Effective July 1, 2004, section 107 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization act of 2004 establishes the categorical eligibility of runaway, homeless, and migrant children for free meal benefits under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Read the USDA memos on the act for more information.
*** Every district/LEA in the United States is required by federal law (McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act) to designate a local homeless education liaison. Read the NCHE issue brief What Administrators Must Know for more information on this and other federal requirements.
*Clicking on an external link will take you to a non-NCHE webpage or document. The external agency's privacy policy may differ from that of NCHE.
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The National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE) is associated with The SERVE Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. This website was produced with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, on contract no. ED-01-CO-0092/0001.