McKinney-Vento/Self-Contained Questions

[ajinaz]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

I am the guardian of a 19 year old senior in high school (he is my brother). He has an IEP and is labeled as MMR and is in a self-contained environment in school. Part of his IEP specifies curb to curb bus service. I was just awarded guardianship this year when our mother passed away. He currently resides in a rental property with his caregiver who is also our older brother.
I had a long term plan to move him to a house in my neighborhood during Christmas break. At that time I was going to see about receiving a variance to complete his year at his current school with us providing transportation.
However, a situation with his landlord has arisen that is causing me to move him from his current rental this week.
I looked all weekend to try and find a place that would take him on a short term basis. I could not find him a place in the actual school's attendance area. I did find someone willing to allow him and his brother (caregiver) to stay for 4 to 6 weeks while I arrange permanent housing. The problem is that this temporary apartment is 1 mile outside of the school's boundary. It is in the same district but a different high school boundary.
This leads to a couple of questions:
Would this temporary housing situation fall under McKinney-Vento? If so.. would they need to provide transport to his school? Neither of them drive and I am too far away to provide transportation consistently.
Secondly, I had heard in the past that schools will generally provide a variance to high school seniors who must move in the middle of the last year so they can graduate with their class. Does this generally apply to special education students? I do know that I would then have to find transport for him.
any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[PQN]

What did the school say when you asked them? You may find that they would also prefer to continue to transport him to the existing room for a variety of reasons (if he will be moving back into that schools boundaries within 4-6 weeks it makes no sense to transfer him, there may not be a SC room at the other high school, so he may be assigned to the current class anyways, it's the same district so the money is a non-issue, etc).

Not legal advice, but I would just go to the school's special ed director and ask them to reassign transportation to the new address. If they have an issue with it, just explain that your brother lost his housing and will be staying for 4-6 weeks at a home in the district but 1-mile across the attendance boundaries pending starting at the new residence which will be in the original school's boundaries.

 

[Humusluvr]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona

I am the guardian of a 19 year old senior in high school (he is my brother). He has an IEP and is labeled as MMR and is in a self-contained environment in school. Part of his IEP specifies curb to curb bus service. I was just awarded guardianship this year when our mother passed away. He currently resides in a rental property with his caregiver who is also our older brother.
I had a long term plan to move him to a house in my neighborhood during Christmas break. At that time I was going to see about receiving a variance to complete his year at his current school with us providing transportation.
However, a situation with his landlord has arisen that is causing me to move him from his current rental this week.
I looked all weekend to try and find a place that would take him on a short term basis. I could not find him a place in the actual school's attendance area. I did find someone willing to allow him and his brother (caregiver) to stay for 4 to 6 weeks while I arrange permanent housing. The problem is that this temporary apartment is 1 mile outside of the school's boundary. It is in the same district but a different high school boundary.
This leads to a couple of questions:
Would this temporary housing situation fall under McKinney-Vento? If so.. would they need to provide transport to his school? Neither of them drive and I am too far away to provide transportation consistently.
Secondly, I had heard in the past that schools will generally provide a variance to high school seniors who must move in the middle of the last year so they can graduate with their class. Does this generally apply to special education students? I do know that I would then have to find transport for him.
any help or insight would be greatly appreciated.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

Though McKinney-Vento would apply, they must provide him transportation to A school, not necessarily the SAME school. As outlined in the bill -

SEAs and LEAs must adopt policies and practices to ensure that transportation is provided, at the request of the parent or guardian (or, in the case of an unaccompanied youth, the liaison), to or from the “school of origin” (see definition in Appendix A) in accordance with the following requirements:
• If the homeless child or youth continues to live in the area served by the LEA in which the school of origin is located, that LEA must provide or arrange for the child’s or youth’s transportation to or from the school of origin.
• If the homeless child or youth continues his or her education in the school of origin but begins living in an area served by another LEA, the LEA of origin and the LEA in which the homeless child or youth is living must agree upon a method to apportion the responsibility and costs for providing the child with transportation to and from the school of origin. If the LEAs cannot agree upon a method, the responsibility and costs for transportation are to be shared equally.

You might be able to convince the school that your brother's retention at his current school is in everyone's best interests, but if the cost is prohibitive, then the school district may choose to transport him to the new school, and then things may change again once he moves again. There are multiple reasons that the school district may decide to switch his schools, but I think that ultimately, they will decide to keep him in his current locale. All the paperwork would be a nightmare.

Your brother will be transported to a school, but the school district is ultimately responsible, both under the IEP and financially, to decide which school that is.

Good luck!

 

[Perky]

Some districts provide busing outside the usual service area for a fee. You might want to ask about that too.

Good luck