"Here Is a Bus Pass": Nuancing Transportation for Unhoused Youth, the McKinney-Vento Act, and COVID

• In Event: Social Justice Leadership and Praxis in Contentious Times

Abstract

Ms. Green, single parent of two, enrolled six-year-old Charles and five-year-old Mikayla, at Parkview. Charles was previously held back in kindergarten, therefore she hoped to get him an individualized education plan (IEP), despite the lengthy process. While enrolling the children, the family became unhoused and found temporary shelter across town, far from the school. Still, Ms. Green chose to enroll her students at Parkview because of its predominantly Black school leaders, a rare occurrence in the school district. As a Black mother of young Black children, Ms. Green felt she could trust the school leaders and faculty. She wanted her children to attend school in person due to their IEPs and for stability after the family's displacement. Given covid-19 restrictions, they faced many challenges, including 1) few students were let onto campus, and 2) the school district had a school bus driver shortage, and the family did not have transportation. School leaders responded by providing the family with bus passes— which would have become a six-hour round trip commute for Ms. Green. Without consistent housing, transportation, or internet, the family lost access to schooling.



The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MVA, 1987) is intended to provide resources for unhoused youth by providing funding to states and schools (Losinski et al., 2013). However, few educational leaders know the resources available through the Act, including school district appointed homeless liaisons (Havlik et al., 2020). It is unsurprising that during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many families lost access to housing or were on the brink of eviction, families like the Green family, had their needs unmet. Stuck at the intersections of COVID-19, dis/ability (IEP procedures), and homelessness, the family could not turn to the school for help. This case study questions policy implementation and meeting the needs of families who experience intersectional oppressions.



Policies that target historically marginalized populations are often written in ways that focus on individual issues, yet historically marginalized populations live complex and intersectional lives and are subject to multiple marginalized identity variables (Samson & Cavendish, 2021). Policies are written at a far remove from those they govern (McNeil & Coppola, 2006) and lack intersectional approaches to address systemic inequities (Samson & Cavendish, 2021). To address the needs of students, educational leaders must be strategic when leveraging various resources and policies —particularly with added barriers arising throughout the pandemic. Educational leaders can consider how they can collaborate with local community organizations. For example, unbeknownst to the school leaders at Parkview a local community organization could have helped the school support the family as it had a grant through the CARES Act, to provide transportation to unhoused families. 



This case study has implications for social justice leaders, as it will interrogate how the leaders felt equipped to support unhoused families, yet considering intersectional historical oppressions, the leaders were also faced with systemic barriers to providing adequate resources to the family. The authors interrogate issues of homelessness, the implementation of McKinney-Vento, community engagement and resources, COVID-19 protocols, and the Individualized Education Plan process.

Author

• Michael J. Warren, Olentangy Local Schools
  Presenting Author