Homeless Students

Apache Trail High School provides an educational environment that treats all students with dignity and respect. Every homeless student has access to the same free and appropriate educational opportunities as students who are not homeless. This commitment to the educational rights of homeless children, youth, and unaccompanied youth applies to all services, programs, and activities provided or made available.

• Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason (“doubled-up”)
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to lack of alternative adequate accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Abandoned in hospitals
• Living in a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation
• Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings
• Migratory children living in the circumstances described above

• Immediate enrollment — documentation and immunization records cannot serve as a barrier to enrollment in school
• Remain enrolled in their selected school for the duration of homelessness, and until the end of the academic year in which they are permanently housed
• Participate in programs for which they are eligible, including Title I, the National School Lunch Program, Head Start, and more
• Transportation services — a McKinney-Vento eligible student attending their School of Origin has a right to transportation to and from it
• Dispute resolution — if you disagree with school officials about enrollment, transportation, or fair treatment, you may file a complaint with the school district; the district must respond and attempt to resolve it quickly, and the student must be immediately enrolled and provided transportation while the dispute is resolved