Wednesday, February 12, 2014
SPRINGDALE — Policies for homeless students and alternative learning environment students are now in writing in the Springdale School District.
The School Board approved the two new policies and four amended monetary policies at Tuesday’s meeting. The policies for homeless and alternative learning environment students were already in practice, but needed to be in writing and approved by the board, said Jared Cleveland, deputy superintendent for personnel.
“Bottom line is we want to do right by every child,” he said. “We don’t want to miss anybody.”
Homeless Students
Students are considered homeless in they:
Lack of a regular nighttime residence
Share a house with another person because of loss of housing, economic hardship or a similar reason
Live in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds
Live in emergency or transitional shelters
Were abandoned in hospitals
Are waiting for foster care placement
Source: Springdale School District Homeless Students Policy
Alternative Program
Springdale students must experience two of the following to be placed in the Alternative Learning Environment Program.
Disruptive behavior
Drop out from school
Personal problems or family problems that affect a student’s academic or social progress
Recurring absenteeism
Transition to or from residential programs
Source: Springdale School District Alternative Learning Environment Program Policy
The homeless policy will help everyone in the district understand how to help those students, said Stephanie Hinsey, homeless liaison for district elementary schools.
“It explains a lot of how we do business,” she said.
There were 142 homeless students in the district Tuesday, Hinsey said. Sixty-five are in prekindergarten through fifth grade, and 77 are in sixth through 12th grade.
The policy outlines how to determine if a student is homeless. It also states homeless students are eligible for free lunch at school and transportation to school, if it’s the last school they were enrolled in or the one they would have attended before they becoming homeless.
The alternative learning environment program policy states it’s an intervention program for students experiencing emotional, social, attendance or academic problems. The policy lists five issues, and students must be experiencing at least two to be in the program.
About 450 students in Springdale are in the alternative learning environment program, said Marsha Jones, associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction, accountability and education innovation. District officials plan to increase that to about 600 over the next year, because they want to place students in programs best suited to student needs, Cleveland said.
The School Board also approved amendments to four policies about using money for specific programs. The policies are about the alternative learning environment program, professional development, expenditures under the National School Lunch Act and English language learners.
The amendments state district officials will follow Arkansas’ Department of Education guidelines when spending money for those programs, Cleveland said. The additions to the policies also state district officials will review money spent for the programs each year to make sure money is spent properly.
“It’s just really a plan of money expenditure,” he said.