FARMINGTON — The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors voted unanimously on Tuesday, April 9, to accept revisions made to their policy regarding students that are experiencing homelessness.

The policy, originally listed as JFABD – MB: Admission of Homeless Students, has been broken into two separate policies. The revised policies separate policy and procedure into JFABD: Admission of Homeless Students and JFABD-R: Admission of Homeless Students Procedure.

In the revised policy, it states: “Mt. Blue Regional School District [RSU 9] recognizes its statutory obligation to provide a free public education to homeless children and youth. Homeless students will not be segregated or stigmatized on the basis of their homelessness.

“In cooperation with other school units, RSU 9 will provide homeless students with suitable programs that assure equal access to education. Such education shall be provided according to the best interests of the homeless student, meaning that, to the extent feasible, the student’s education shall continue in the school the student last attended before becoming homeless, unless doing so is contrary to the wishes of the student’s parents or guardian.”

In addition to the separation, the new policy further elaborates that RSU 9 will file with the Maine Department of Education, as part of its annual Title I Plan, a “description of services that will be provided to homeless children.”

It also states the superintendent will coordinate with their McKinney/Vento liaison to “coordinate the school unit’s services for homeless students” and the superintendent “is authorized to develop and implement any administrative procedures necessary to carry out this policy, consistent with applicable statutes and regulations.”

In the procedure, it defines homeless students as “those who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence”, which is further broken down to include the following:

• 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, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement.

• Children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designated for or ordinarily used as 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.

• Migratory children who meet one of the above-described circumstances.

In section two of procedure, titled Enrollment/Placement, the first paragraph now omits the section that read, “The school unit will determine, according to the best interest of the child or youth, whether the child or youth will be enrolled in the school of origin or in the public school that non-homeless students who live in the attendance area in which the child is actually living are eligible to attend.”

In place of that, the first section simply states, “The school unit will, to the extent feasible, keep the child or youth in the school of origin, unless doing so is contrary to the wishes of the parent.”

The RSU 9 board of directors had a first reading of the policy at their meeting last month on Tuesday, March 12, which yielded no discussion from the board.

Amanda Clark, social worker for Cape Cod Hill School and McKinney-Vento liaison, previously appeared before the RSU 9 board of directors at a meeting November to share that currently 38 students are registered with the program.

However, Superintendent Christian Elkington and others believe the number misrepresents the extent of student homelessness as the current system is based strictly on self-identification.

“I do think there are definitely students [unidentified] and this number is much bigger than what we have identified,” Clark stated at this meeting. “That can be for various reasons, such as not wanting to identify, which families have that choice.”

The board also saw a first reading for the policy KDB: Public’s Right to Know / Freedom of Access. According to Elkington, the policy was eliminated sometime in 2018, but he is unable to identify the reason for its removal.

“I’m not sure why we took this policy away,” Elkington stated, adding that it was removed before his tenure as superintendent began.

“The Board recognizes the importance of a well-informed public to the operations of the school unit,” the policy states. “The Board will comply with all applicable sections of Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.”

RSU 9 board of directors will vote on the policy at their next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 23.