Jun. 16—Reaching out to students homeless and/or in transition between permanent residence is a labor of love for Cleburne ISD Outreach Coordinator Debbie Reynolds. At times, it’s also a point of contention.

“We have school districts, and this is very frustrating for me, but there are districts in Texas who report zero homeless,” Reynolds said. “I don’t care what size your school district is, you have some families who are homeless.”

Such, unfortunately, is also the case for CISD.

Numbers over the past five school years range from 248 to 324. Reported numbers for the current school year total 321.

“We’ve averaged right around a little above 300 each year, which I know, if that’s not your world, is probably shocking to hear,” Reynolds said.

Homelessness presents a challenge ongoing, one aggravated by rising rent and food costs and one with few easy answers. But a challenge also, Reynolds said, she and others remain dedicated to addressing.

Reynolds discussed those and other challenges during Thursday’s weekly meeting of the Cleburne Rotary Club.

Identifying and reaching out to students homeless or in transition poses a massive challenge, Reynolds said, especially for smaller school districts throughout Johnson County and the state.

“In smaller districts the homeless liaison may be the assistant superintendent or it could be the superintendent or one of the principals,” Reynolds said. “Well, they don’t have time with all their other duties to do what we have been able to do. So our numbers are higher because we have been able to find and reach out to more students and families.”

Reynolds commended CISD’s efforts toward outreach.

“I started this job in 2013 and the district has always had one person dedicated to this job,” Reynolds said. “It’s not an administrator; it’s someone who can devote their full attention to this.”

The McKinney-Vento Act protects the educational rights of students homeless or in transition. Among other things, the law addresses situations of students lacking a permanent address and/or necessary paperwork required for enrollment.

“Before McKinney-Vento some families would try to enroll their children in school but, because they didn’t have a permanent address they couldn’t and so their children could not get a free public education,” Reynolds said. “So that’s the purpose behind this law.

“You also see situations where the family was evicted or a mom fled the home with her kids because of an abusive situation and so may not have immediate access to birth certificates, shot records and things like that. McKinney-Vento provides a 30-day grace period for situations like that and, if needed, we can help them get those documents.”

Homelessness and transition take several forms, Reynolds said. Most hear homeless and think of people living on the street, in a car or sleeping in tents. Certainly such situations exist in Cleburne, Reynolds said. She added, however, that homelessness also equates to families living in motels, situations where two or more families double up in a home, families in homeless or emergency shelters and other classifications.

Complicating matters is the fact that people homeless or in transition often don’t want to be found. Many also move around frequently.

The good news, Reynolds said, is that CISD officials want to help and want to ensure that all school age children in the district receive access to education. They do so through district initiatives and partnering with like minded community organizations to strive for outreach and student success.

Cleburne Rotarian Mike White called such programs awesome and cited one homeless New Orleans students who went on to graduate as valedictorian of his class.

“It’s helping them out and working to keep them engaged with their academics,” Reynolds said. “[TEAM High School Principal Georgann Storm] has a great method when juniors and seniors get discouraged and think about dropping out. She tells them, ‘What if you bought a car and just have two or three payments left? Are you just going to walk away when you’re that close to the end?'”

Reynolds added that federal grant money that funded 12 family liaison officers charged with helping families reengage with school after COVID-19 expired in May.

“The district has very graciously agreed to let us keep tow of those family liaisons,” Reynolds said. “We have changed their titles, it’s now family support specialists because they are going to solely focus on McKinney-Vento students and their families.”

Jessica Hyatt and Zulema Segura were tapped to fill those roles, Reynolds said.

“Both have hearts for these kids and their families,” Reynolds said.

Federal law, specifically the McKinney-Vento Act, requires all school districts to have a homeless liaison person, Reynolds said.