Resolución de disputas / Proceso de apelaciones

This document provides a list of examples of evidence that a parent, legal guardian, or unaccompanied youth may include in an appeal in order to show that the student is homeless under McKinney-Vento.

New York State Education Department

The New York State Education Department Office of Counsel’s website has instructions and sample forms for McKinney-Vento appeals. School districts must continue enrollment and transportation until the Commissioner gives a final decision on any McKinney-Vento related appeal. The appeal form, also called the Form Notice of Petition, can be found in English, Spanish, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, and Haitian Creole. The form should be completed by the parent/guardian or unaccompanied youth (with help from the liaison) any time that the parent/guardian or youth wants to challenge a school district’s denial of enrollment and/or transportation under the McKinney-Vento Act.

If a family or student in temporary housing and their school district disagree about a student's McKinney-Vento eligibility for enrollment, school selection options, or transportation, the school district may challenge the student's eligibility under McKinney-Vento through the Dispute Resolution 310 process. When a dispute arises, McKinney-Vento liaisons must help the parent or youth appeal to the Commissioner of Education using this form. Forms for Filing an Appeal to the Commissioner Involving Homeless Children and Youth | Office of Counsel (nysed.gov) - https://www.counsel.nysed.gov/appeals/homelessForms

New York State Education Department

This form should be completed by the LEA liaison or the person who has been designated by the board of education to accept service on behalf of the school district. This form affirms that the individual who completed the form has accepted the petition on behalf of the named respondents in the school district.

This form should be completed by the McKinney-Vento liaison to verify that the individual has been provided with the petition and that the liaison is mailing it to the school district employee who has been designated to accept service on behalf of the school district.

New York State Education Department

This form should be completed by the LEA liaison and given to the parent, guardian, or unaccompanied youth to verify that the liaison has received the petition and will mail it to the Office of Counsel of the New York State Education Department.

NYSED Field Memo

All LEAs are required to maintain processes to promptly address disputes related to a child’s eligibility under the McKinney-Vento Act, including, but not limited to, disputes regarding a student’s status as a homeless child or unaccompanied youth, school selection, and transportation. At the initiation of any dispute under this process, the LEA must immediately enroll the child in the school for which enrollment is sought, pending resolution of the dispute, including all available appeals.

NYS-TEACHS is a technical assistance center and cannot offer legal advice. You may contact the following agencies for legal advice and/or assistance related to the McKinney Vento dispute process. Please note, this list is not exhaustive, and there may be other providers who will also offer legal advice on these issues.

The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act is a federal law that protects the public education of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The text attached here is the latest version of the law since it was reauthorized on December 10, 2015 by Title IX, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

New York State Education Department

A McKinney-Vento District Decision Letter must be sent by the district when there is a dispute regarding a student’s eligibility under the McKinney-Vento Act. This resource has been updated to reflect the changes made to the McKinney-Vento dispute resolution process under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which went into effect on October 1, 2016.

New York State Education Department
This is a sample policy that school districts may adopt in order to follow the New York State procedure for resolving disputes regarding the McKinney-Vento Act. This resource has been updated to reflect the changes made to the McKinney-Vento dispute resolution process under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) which went into effect on October 1, 2016.

NYS-TEACHS

Districts are encouraged to check in with parents whose children are McKinney-Vento eligible (or youth themselves in the case of unaccompanied homeless youth) at the end of each school year to determine whether their housing situation has changed and make appropriate arrangements for the next school year if there has been a change. This template letter can be used to reach out to families for this purpose.

NYS-TEACHS

This tip sheet from NYS-TEACHS guides the user through best practices for having conversations about housing status with families. We provide best practices for common scenarios.

Interested in more tip sheets from NYS-TEACHS? See our Quick Tip Sheets series targeted to specific school roles.