Ashtabula Area City Schools

 

The District has an obligation to remove barriers to the enrollment and retention of homeless students.  A school chosen on the basis of a best interest determination must immediately enroll the homeless student, even if the student does not have the documentation typically necessary for enrollment, such as immunization and other required health records, proof of residency, proof of guardianship, birth certificate or previous academic records.  The homeless student must also be enrolled immediately regardless of whether the student missed application or enrollment deadlines during the period of homelessness or has outstanding fines or fees.

 

The enrolling school must immediately contact the school last attended by the homeless student to obtain relevant academic or other records.  If the student needs immunization or other health records, the enrolling school must immediately refer the parent, guardian or unaccompanied youth to the local liaison, who will help obtain the immunizations, screenings or other required health records.  Records usually maintained by the school must be kept so that they are available in a timely fashion if the child enters a new school or district.  These records include immunization or other required health records, academic records, birth certificates, guardianship records, and evaluations for special services or programs.  Procedures for inter-State records transfer between schools should be taken into account in order to facilitate immediate enrollment.

 

In addition, the District will also make sure that, once identified for services, the homeless student is attending classes and not facing barriers to accessing academic and extracurricular activities, including magnet school, summer school, career and technical education, advanced placement, online learning, and charter school programs (if available).

 

Please reference Board Policy 5111.01 for more information.