McKinney-Vento Program
The Tallmadge City School District is committed to providing services to all resident families, including those that may be homeless. The district, in accordance with the McKinney-Vento Act, assures that all homeless children and youth have equal access to the same free and appropriate public education, including preschool age students, as children and youth who are not homeless. The district has developed policies to help remove barriers to the enrollment, attendance and success in school that homeless children and youth may experience.
Your child has the right to:
- Go to school, no matter where you live or how long you have lived there.
- Stay in the school that he or she was attending before becoming homeless or the school he or she last attended, if that is your choice and it is feasible.
- Enroll in school immediately, even if you do not have all the paperwork, such as your child’s school or medical records.
- Access the same special programs and services that are provided to other children, including special education, migrant education and vocational education.
- Receive the same public education that is provided to other children, including preschool. (Your child cannot be separated from the mainstream school environment because he or she is homeless. He or she cannot be segregated in a separate school, separate programs within a school or separate settings within a school.)
Under the McKinney-Vento Act, the terms "homeless children and youths" means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence. This includes:
- Children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals
- Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
- Children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
- Uaccompanied youth includes youth in homeless situations who are not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian.
For more information please visit the links and documents on the right side of this page.
If you feel you and your family are experiencing, or have experienced a situation that qualifies you under the McKinney-Vento Act, please contact the district Homeless Liaison, Roy R. Zeman Jr., at 330-633-3291 ext. 8203 or at [email protected].