MILTON — The Santa Rosa County School District’s Communities of Learning/Homeless Education Program is requesting a continuation grant of $100,000 from the state to keep the program going during the next academic year.
The mission of this program is to ensure homeless students the greatest level of academic success possible in accordance with the McKinney-Vento Act, according to the school district’s Office of Federal Programs website.
“Our work with the homeless is spot on,” Superintendent Tim Wyrosdick said. “I appreciate and celebrate Karen Barber and her work there.”
Barber, director of federal programs for the school district, submitted a request for continued funding for the program which works to meet the needs of homeless children and youth through collaboration with a network of 85 stakeholders.
Last year, the program received $120,000, but only $100,000 is requested this time around. The program currently serves 909 children and youth to provide a comprehensive, year-round support system designed to meet educational, social, emotional and health needs of homeless/runaway children and youth, according to the grant synopsis.
The goal of the program is to immediately enroll and maintain enrollment in school to promote academic achievement and ultimately successfully transition students to post-secondary education and meaningful employment.
The program’s local education agency liaison is serving her eighth year with the program, and there is a team of qualified family resource specialists with combined experience of 25 years.
The program partners with the Santa Rosa County Health Department for screenings, assessments and referrals. The program has also collaborated with Locklin Vocational School, Pensacola State College and the University of West Florida for assistance with financial needs and registration.
During to 2016-2017 school year, a review team from the Florida Department of Education came to Santa Rosa County to observe the program in action, and expressed their pleasure in the quality of the program, according to the program’s executive summary. That year, the program served 1,101 students.
According to the report for the 2016-2017 year, the program reached 97 percent of their homeless student identification rate objective, 95 percent of their homeless student attendance rate objective, and 103 percent of their homeless student promotion rate with 146 percent of the annual reading gap objective and 100 percent of the math gap objective.
The program had some barriers, including lack of participation with some parents and the fact that students older than 16 have the option to withdraw from school. Next year, the focus will be on proper referrals; increased contact with post-secondary personnel; annual training of LEA personnel; increased attention to data files to insure accuracy of records; and monitoring of attendance data, academic performance and tutorial activities.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: School district requests continued funding for homeless program