s everyone. My name is Grace Rivera and I am the chair of the Committee on Special Populations. And I would like to welcome you all on September 29th, 2025. Nice to see you guys. I would like to have my colleagues introduce themselves.
I'll start on my left. Good morning. Rita montoya, board er at large. Thank you everyone for being here today. Good morning, Laura Stuart. I'm representing district four. Thank you. Thank you ladies. With that I would like to ask
my colleagues if you have any corrections or additions to our minutes from the last meeting. Miss Stewart, you're good. I'm
good. Thank you. Okay. I would like to move to approve them. Okay. Do we need a second? Yes, I second. Okay. All those in favor, raise your hand. All right. Let's move on. So we
actually have a very nice, full agenda for today. We're going to go to item number three for the folks who are watching us at home. So identifying and serving students with communication, special circumstances including homeless students, medically
fragile students and those with communication needs. I see the staff is here ready to go. Thank you all for being here. So I am going to pass it over to you. Miss Cage, if you would like to introduce your your team. And who's here today?
Sure. Good morning, Madam Chair and board members, thank you so much for being here with us today. I am Doctor Margaret Cage, the chief specialized student support officer, and we will be here and switching out
teams as we go throughout the day to make sure that we're covering all of the topics that are on our agenda for today. If you don't mind, I'm a deviate just a little bit and going to the agenda for today. And then at that point, we'll have staff
introduce themselves when they get into their presentation. Sounds good. So the first presentation you're going to see today is assistive technology. And the McKinney Vento updates. And for those of us that are watching on line,
we may refer to assistive technology as a T. Sometimes it becomes habit. And McKinney Vento is also our homeless population so that everyone understands the the terminology
that we're using. So our overview today on our agenda for this set that is sitting before you, because our team is very, very large for today, we're going to talk about assistive technology supports
for our students and staff. And how those supports support our medically fragile students. How we build capacity across all school levels. And we're going to also talk about some barriers and opportunities to
be able to better serve our populations with assistive technology and our service delivery model. And also with this team, we're going to talk about McKinney Vento, explain a little bit about what it is,
how we enroll our students in that process, and what our supports and engagements look like. So of course, you know. Next slide please. So of course, you know, we are really, really big on our strategic plan
alignment. And we've been doing a lot of work in specialized support services to ensure that we align the work with our overall strategic plan and our strategic priorities. So the presentations that you're going
to see today aligned here with three of our four goals. Academic excellence, objective number six, improving performance for all students, including our students with disabilities or abilities. I'd
like to say our goal number three, positive, safe and effective environment. Specifically objective number seven, ensuring inclusive learning and work environments and equitable, distributed,
adequate resources and access to those resources. Goal number four high quality, diverse workforce, which is specifically objectives number two and four establishing and
maintaining our program capacity standards that meet the needs of our students and creating pathways, career ladders, and professional learning opportunities for all staff. Next slide. So at this
time I will transfer the mic to director Erika Williams and her team. Good morning everyone. We'll begin with introductions. I'm Erika Williams. I am the director for special education,
pre-kindergarten and related services. Happy to be here with you this morning. Good morning everyone. My name is Alice Wright. I'm the instructional specialist and the team lead for our one of our eight teams called interact. Good morning,
I'm Linda Wilson. I am the instructional specialist for assistive technology and the team lead for the Hyatt team, which is our other assistive technology team. Good morning. I'm Edna Ellis, and I am an
instructional specialist for occupational therapy in physical disability services. Next slide. So good morning everybody. My name is Sara Star
and I'm the proud principal of Longview School. Good morning everyone I'm Selma pattillo I'm the coordinator of interpreting services. Now we will begin
with the next slide. We will start out with why this work matters. Many students require assistive technology to access learning. IEP teams are required by law to consider assistive technology and
students ability to communicate at every IEP meeting, and assistive technology teams provide support to students and school teams to consider assistive technology devices and services. This work matters
not just because it's legally required, but it is ethically essential for many students with disabilities. Assistive technology is not optional. It's foundational. It can mean the difference between being able to read or being locked
out of text, between isolation and communication, between being misunderstood and being able to show what they know. With assistive technology, we're not only supporting academic growth, we're supporting opportunity,
connection and belonging. Next slide please. It is also important to note that assistive technology is in alignment with the individuals with Disabilities Education Act idea. There are two areas as
you can see on the slide, one with consideration of devices and the other with services. Idea defines assistive technology devices as any item, piece of equipment or product system that is used to increase,
maintain or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability. And as you can see on the slide, those are tangible items such as software or hardware. Idea also defines assistive technology
services for us, and it is any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition or use of an assistive technology device. And again, the description it could be support from staff to student. It could
be repairs, updating equipment, coaching for staff and for families or template creation. Next slide please. So now we'll provide just a brief overview
of how we support students, families and our staff. Next slide. So we here in M.C.P.S. Oh I forgot my thing. Sorry. Here in M.C.P.S. we have two
A-T teams. Due to the size of our county and the needs, I support our students with communication needs and our team is called the Interdisciplinary Augmentative Communication and Technology Team. Interact for short. You
see how long that title is interact for short. It's hard to say all the time. And we provide hands on support to school staff. Around 80 needs around communication for our most impacted students with
physical needs. They could also have access points that we're trying to figure out. So our team is interdisciplinary and we have SLPs on it. Our team we have OTS on our team. I'm using terms again, occupational
therapists on our team, physical therapists on our teams, and special education teachers on our teams as well. And our goal is to make sure we provide access to our students in each one of our buildings, that we have students with these complex communication
needs. And I'm going to introduce over to my colleague. My left. So is the sound okay? Yeah. Okay. So I'm the team leader of the Hiatt team. And we, as you can see on the slide,
do similar work. But our focus is different. So we support the assistive technologies for academics. So think reading and writing. Think many of the ubiquitous technologies that we use today on our cell phones,
on our own personal devices like text to speech and dictation software. And so for that reason, we're talking about technologies that are needed and used in every classroom across the district. And so that means that our
focus on capacity building amongst all the staff in M.C.P.S. is a larger focus, but we do also provide direct support to school teams. And through that work, it informs our understanding of what the
needs are out there in the school system. And then that, like a feedback loop, feeds back into the capacity building activities that we do. And we'll talk more about those later. Could you just tell us
what high stands for again, sorry, high incidence accessible technology. So that high incidence means high incidence disabilities, meaning the types of disabilities that are more frequently occurring in the student population. And
that's why it includes students who we will find in every classroom in M.C.P.S. So this slide just provides a high level view of the ways that we provide support. And just to
call out a few of them, we do work with students from birth through 21, often providing direct support for students and their families and our school teams. We also provide many professional learning opportunities in a variety of formats, and all with the goal
of supporting our students and ensuring that they can use assistive technology to access learning. Next slide. So oftentimes when thinking about assistive technology, folks
might think about sophisticated electronic devices, but it's just it's important to note that assistive technology can be viewed as a continuum that ranges from low tech through high tech. So as we move through the next slide, there's some images that will just
support, you know, looking at what these technology devices might look like. And we have Alice here who's going to actually show some of them in real life in real time. So augmentative and alternative communication or AAC devices,
that means a device that someone uses to communicate in a way other than talking. So augmentative is to add to someone's speech. And alternative is used instead of speech. So some examples across
the continuum is no tech. And that's what we're doing now using our bodies to communicate facial gestures or hands. And then low tech as Alice will show, is lly paper based ways of communicating, pointing to the symbols. And then as we
move along. Mid tech is a single recording button. So you press the button and the same sound will come out every time you press the button. And as we move further along, we get to high tech, which is a dynamic communication system and allows
navigation between pages or categories. For example, selecting a food tap opens a page of food choices so students may access their devices using their hands, their fingers, their eyes, or their head. And our goal is to determine the most effective
and reliable access method to support independent and consistent communication. Next slide. So this really is just a representation of the A-T continuum going from simple to more complex. And as complexity
increases in general, so does the learning curve, the maintenance and support needs and the cost. Next slide. And so assistive technology can enhance students access to learning across a wide range of
areas, including the areas shown on this slide. And some of our students may need assistive technology supports in one or all of these areas. Next slide. As stated
previously, we support our students from birth to 21, including our students who may be medically fragile. We have supports in place to make sure that they have their significant challenges. To take these up to the board just to
oh, sorry. Sorry. Our goal is simple but vital to empower our students with significant communication challenges to use their AAC systems as independently as possible. And today, we're going to highlight one student's story to try to
bring this to life for you. Next slide. So we have a wonderful student here who was very happy to record this video for us, showing us how he uses his AAC device. His name is Danny Vasquez. He's now a 12th
grade student at Kennedy High School. He has cerebral palsy and limited movement in his extremities. We've started working with him on the interact team since the age of four. In this video, he's going
to demonstrate how he uses his device to communicate, as well as how he uses it to access his academics. And I'm not sure somebody needs to click it. The video itself, the link to get
to the video. How do we click? Do we know you don't have a mouse pointer? I don't have anything. Oh, are we unable to
watch the video at this time? What they're saying is that they need to download it and they'll play it in a little bit. Let them. They're not able to play it directly from the PowerPoint right now okay. Great. Thank you. And oh okay. So we'll go back to we'll go back to Danny. We'll come back
to Danny. Danny. Sorry. Let me just say because we'll go watch the video then I was going to say something else. So I'll say what else I was going to say. So Danny is a student who first started using his device around age four. And he used switches to be able to access the device
with his head. And he was he would have talked about it in the video. And then around age 12 was when he started using the eye gaze device. So he's currently using an eye gaze device to support his communication access and his academics in the school
building. And we can come back to it after you've seen the video, but we can move to the next slide. Danny is an example of how we serve students across the district. His example is
serving a student at Kennedy High School, but we also wanted to highlight that we also support students at our special schools at Stephen Knowles and Longview schools. These schools serve medically fragile
students with the most complex physical and communication needs. They require assistive technology to access the curriculum and the school environment. At these sites, our approach is a little different. Rather than addressing the assistive
technology needs on a student by student basis, we focus on building staff capacity school wide. This whole school model prioritizes professional learning and classroom based support, as well as meeting the
individual needs of students. The school based speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists are the primary contact contacts for school needs. We also have three staff members who are
also an SLP occupational therapist and physical therapist who collaborate with the school team and related service providers, and together they determine the school's needs and focus the support accordingly. There's also a
point to occupational therapists allocation to support assistive technology needs in each building. This person is on site in each building. We thought it would be great this morning to hear from one of our principals at
one of the special schools. So Miss Sarah Star is here with us this morning. She's the principal of Longview School, and she will share just a few words with us about the use of assistive technology in her school and the positive
outcomes that it has for her students. I will pass it over to Miss Star at this time. All right. Thank you, Miss Williams, and it is a pleasure to be here this morning to share a little bit more about assistive technology, specifically at Longview. It's been great to
hear a little bit about Danny and look forward to hearing seeing the video. And we've learned a little bit about what assistive technology is available in M.C.P.S. But I want to discuss the positive impact that assistive technology has had for the students at Longview School. Assistive technology acts as a
door knob. It opens the world for students with multiple disabilities, with assistive technology, tools and instruction. Our students have had the opportunity to access their world, increase their independence and autonomy, and improve their overall quality of life. So I shared a couple
pictures with the board, and I'm going to talk a little bit about those pictures. So if you're at home, I'll try to paint the picture for you. So the first picture is our triathlon, which happens the last Friday in April. And it has been wonderful to have many members of the Board of
Education come and cheer our students on. They complete a triathlon and that is in conjunction with their absolute hard work and the dedication of the staff, but also assistive technology. So every student at Longview completes a triathlon which includes swimming, biking
and standing or walking, whatever is the most appropriate and most challenging for our students, for our students that are not able to move their legs to propel a bike, we have a switch activated bike that our physical education teacher has adapted so that again, all students are able to take part
in that activity. The middle picture is a picture of one of our middle school students who, just like Danny, is using an eye gaze AAC communication device, and she was asking to read a magazine with a staff member. She independently asked for that, and of course the
staff got excited, grabbed a magazine, and began sitting and reading with this young lady who, prior to the AAC system, we did not know she had a love of reading. The next picture is a picture of one of our elementary school students, and he's engaging in writing
independent writing, just as we expect for all M.C.P.S. students. He is using what is called an alternative pencil, so this student is unable to type or write in the traditional sense, but he is using an alternative pencil, which is a way of organizing all the letters of the alphabet
accessibly. So this so that this student can write just like any other student in our county. Another example is again, a student who uses an eye gaze system or even what is called a direct select system, where a child uses their fingers to touch the different
icons on the screen to give his opinion that he feels happy and good at school, we asked him how his day was and his response was feel happy, good, good. Without that opportunity of having AAC, he would not have been able to articulate
that to us. And lastly, our high school students all run student led businesses, and one of those businesses that our seniors run is a horticulture business, where they propagate and sell plants to the community. And so one of our senior students was using a switch and a water pick in
order to water the plants. Again, assistive technology opens those doors, gives opportunities for our students with complex bodies and intellectual challenges to do the things that they would not be able to do without. So we thank you for the opportunity to speak this morning and share
the power that assistive technology has for students with disabilities. Thank you so much, Sarah. Always good to see you. I swear, if I had more time in the day, I would be along view. And Stephen knows every day. It's it's it's
actually amazing. Your staff, the commitment that you guys have with the students to make sure that they have a wonderful experience in school. So thank you so much for for taking the time. I know you, you have very
busy days. Your school with that. I think we're going to take some time for have my colleagues, if they have any, any questions. I'll just want to let you know the video is ready if you want to see it. Before we go to questions, let's do the video and then we'll go. We'll we'll do
questions. Thank you. Okay. So what's your name? Introduce yourself. My name is Danny okay. And when did you start using a
dynamic device. Hi. Again.
Excellent. First. I, I. For. Oh
my name is Danny. I get accent first time for all. Okay. And when you first used it, how did you access the accent when you
were four? And. Gotten. A
switch? Oh, my. Oh, and so you used switches with your head. Yes. Okay. So when did you
start using your eyes? When did you stop using the switches and start using your eyes as your main mode? Yeah. So. Stop.
Stopped. Oh. Switch. Fine. Is.
12. We can stop at any time and you can watch the video later if you like. Okay. So when you were 12 is when you switched to using your eyes. Can you tell us a little bit about how you
use your device to access different classroom assignments? Watch it a little bit, how you use it in school, a little show us he's going to do okay. So like I said, he was very excited to record this video with us. And we have Miss
Malaika who's here, who's here, who did the interview with us for the video and what he was going to show you as well, if you watch it a little bit later, is how he uses his device as well to access his classes. And also he has it in dual languages, so English and
Spanish. So he's also able to use it to speak in Spanish. That was going to be one of my questions. So you got ahead of it. You knew. So he is also able to access it to speak in Spanish when needed. He's actually taking a Spanish class
right now as well as part of his schedule. He does accommodations schedule. He is in the alternate outcomes program services. Sorry there, but he does a combination of, you know, alternate outcomes as
well as gen ed classes. So he's able to access both using his device. And so he's an example of a student who has very complex needs as well. And we have examples of these students across our whole district. So we have medically fragile
students that could be supported in their home, home schools if needed or in a services program wherever it occurs in the county. And our team supports the school team, provides professional development, provides support
in figuring out what access points could work best with the school teams, as well as supports the family and learning how to use the device at home. So now we can go back to the presentation. However we
get back to that. Thank you. So we're going to pause here. So my colleagues and I can have some questions. And and if you have any questions for Doctor Saad we can we can start with that because I know you probably want to go back to to
to to your kiddos. We know it's always a busy day at Longview. Miss miss miss Stewart, would you would you like. So I would like to understand more about
placement. That just seems so wonderful that the student was able to, you know, stay in the high school and engage. I know that maybe that's not always accessible, and maybe there
needs to be the more the whole school model. Can I just learn more about how that is? What's the tipping point or how that is determined and the collaboration that happens with the family? Best way I can
answer that is that it's an IEP team decision, and they look at all the data and make a decision based on how that student's profile comes across in terms of where services will be provided. It's such an individual decision. It's very
hard for me to give. Like this is the tipping point of why one student would go here or somewhere else. Okay, Miss Montoya, I just want to say thank you. I have had the privilege of being at Longview
many times, because it makes me happy to be there, because you've created an environment that is a happy space for your students. I see how happy the families are when they're there. I got to see The Lion King performed. I was at the triathlon. There was like the paparazzi line. I mean, it's
just if you have not been there for my staff as well, I'd be happy to take you. It's a great time. But also I've gotten to see this work being done, and I see the hard work and dedication of your staff. It doesn't matter what role they play at the school, everyone's
there, hands on, and also the way that you work with families. And I think that point that you made about helping the families to learn how to use the technology, making it so that it's not just in English, because if the family speaks another language, the whole point is to be able to communicate. So I'm just so
grateful to have all of you here, and that you're able to make sure that our families and our students have access, because our students are brilliant. And unfortunately, we still live in a society that tells us if our bodies don't function a certain way, then that must mean certain things. And we all here know that
that's not true. And our students, like Danny, are proving that every single day. So thank you so much. So I do have a couple questions. If I'm if I may, I do share the sentiments of of my colleague Miss Montoya. This is really I
always say it's not just a profession but it's a calling. So thank you for for doing such amazing work. But I do want to ask with the interact team, many people are part of that team? So we have 12 people for
the whole district, and we have 6.5 speech and language pathologist. We have five special educators, and we have 1.6 occupational therapists. And then we have a point five
physical therapist from the professional level. And then we have one FTE of of tech assistant. And then we also have one Paraeducator on the team, including me as the
instructional specialist. Okay, so Alice, I guess my question is all these folks that you mentioned are just are they just for Steven Knowles and Longview, or are we talking district wide? District wide? Okay. I just want to make that clarification. School district
is who we support. Okay. And so you included also the people with the hired team. Is that part of it? No. Okay. So who just the interact okay. Just interact. Those are the folks and the hire team. So on the hired team, we have two
occupational therapists and two educators, including myself. And again, since our work is more capacity building, we're preparing professional learning. We're preparing resources. We
are doing a lot of getting the word out, getting the knowledge out kinds of activities. We also do direct support to staff, but with that smaller team, we're able to do that because. Because just because of the nature of the work that we do.
And that's also for the whole district. Yes. So you're supposed to effectively train all of the staff in the whole school system just so that I'm clear. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So I guess you know where I'm going with this, I don't think I don't think I'm being
very transparent of where I'm going with this. And, and maybe Doctor Cage can, can enlight me a little bit later. But there is a, there is something that I think it was Alice who said it that the whole point of, of your teams is to support, to
give opportunity, connection and belonging to the kids. There's a very noble mission. I want to make sure that we're doing that. It just seems very overwhelming to me. I am not an expert in this field, but I
have been to Longview and to Stephen Knowles and I think just just for just for Longview, you might need the staff that you just mentioned, just for that school alone, let alone for the whole district. So I think it would be be a good
idea to reassess just with the numbers that are growing in our in our communities, with children with more severe disabilities. You also take care of children with brain injuries, right? I think you also work with infants and
toddlers. Am I am I do I have that right? That is correct. Okay. And help them do the assessment and infants and support them. All right. Go ahead. So our team supports them beyond what they can actually do. So they do the
assessments in infants and toddlers. But when they need additional support or additional expertise then they put in a request for support, which we'll talk about a little bit more. And then on this page that we have up with the Stephen Nelson Longview, the point to OT allocation. Can you
tell me just in, in layman's terms, how what how many hours, minutes that means? Point to is one day. So 1.0 would be 10.1. So it's one day. So that's one
day divided by both schools. No okay. That would be one day for Longview. One day because they're two separate okay. And that's weekly. Yes okay. And then I'm going to go to to okay.
And I just want to very quickly and I'll let you do your follow up. But I just want to very quickly. So so it's one day a week. And how many students Sarah take advantage of that at Longview. Like just for me to in the public to get an idea.
So you have an OT operational therapist correct one day a week. And that serves how many students. So the way that this is being unfolded is we have 65 students total at Longview. This additional OT allocation
is really working on capacity building for the 60 plus staff that work at Longview. So they do the training, correct training, collaboration, assessments. It's really we work as a transdisciplinary team modeling after how the interact team works, right. We
want to have our physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language therapists, teachers, parents, everybody. We all work with the students. So this individual is receiving additional training in regards to assistive technology, especially for students with complex needs. And working collaboratively
with my team to help in building our overall capacity. So they're not they they also are assigned to be an occupational therapist at my school, too, if that makes sense. So point two of that allocation is capacity building. And then the rest of their
allocation is that of a quote unquote regular occupational therapist who is serving, has a caseload and is serving the students at Longview. Okay. And and I know that Miss Montoya has a follow up. But before I forget my train of thought, we're talking about technology.
I know that you are very resilient. When it came to technology, when I met you, you were doing things, incredible things. Even before we were doing incredible things. I mean, M.C.P.S. with technology. And one of those graduates this past year that I had the honor
of officiating the graduation, she actually her world had we had no idea that she could communicate at that very high level until she had this
machine. I'm sorry, I don't know the name of it. I'm really bad at these things, technology, and I just don't get along that great. But she was able to communicate so clearly through it that it was like a whole new world had opened. And what
struck me from that was that we might have other students in that same situation. But what was special about this case is that the parents and you kind of advocated through, was it Medicare and Medicaid to be able to get it approved? So I
guess my question is, when I'm looking at all the levels of no tech, high tech, mid tech and high tech, it seems that the high tech. Could be very expensive. Again, please educate me. We do have a slide
on that. Oh okay. You do okay. It's coming okay. If it's coming that you'll really educate me okay. Because I just want to I just want to know, like, for somebody like Danny, for example, he has this amazing, you know, machine that he's able. What happens to Danny when he graduates? Does
he take the machine home? Is that machine going to be available? So? So he can still develop and grow. Right. Like I have all these questions of because you know, like Chromebooks they don't go they don't they don't leave with our kids. We keep them. Right. So
what what happens to to a child who has this at our school and then moves on. So there there are options. And I'll use an example of a wheelchair as an example. So that's a piece of durable medical equipment that
most of the time M.C.P.S. does not purchase for a student. And yet the majority of our students at Longview, not all some are ambulatory, but many of them utilize a wheelchair to come to and from school. So AAC devices, those high tech
eyegaze devices or those other devices are also, many insurance companies are now calling durable medical equipment. Like any insurance policies are different, plans are different, and parent choice is different. So for the
specific student who graduated last year, the parents were in agreement and actually wanted to pursue a basically a public private partnership, working with a private speech pathologist in conjunction with our school based team, our school based speech pathologist,
myself, and others who have kind of become an internal at team. And we work collaboratively with with the private speech therapists as well as the school based therapists, did a trial, collected information, and worked collaboratively with this family's insurance company per their request, per what
they wanted to do to to get an AAC device for that student using that method, that device becomes that that is that student's device. So the parents and as a school community, at the IEP team meeting, we have a discussion
and an agreement that that child will use her private AAC device at school to access her learning to use goes home each day. We also worked to provide additional training to the parents so that they knew how to use the device and support the student at home with the
use of that device. But when she graduated in June, it's hers. And now, at her day program that she attends, she has it and I hope is using her voice, continuing to use her voice to communicate and live her best life. So that is one option to providing AAC
supports. We do have some students that use a light tech AAC method at Longview, even with the complex bodies that they use, and a lot of times that's where we start with AAC instruction with our students is with a human communication partner, is the is the appropriate term where we're
teaching our students how to access AAC systems with working towards kind of, in Danny's example, a more robust electronic version. Okay. Thank you so much. I just go ahead. Go ahead. Since Sarah also
mentioned Danny. So when we're working with Danny's family, we also worked with a lot of times when we have students where we know they're going to be a lifelong user, we try to work with the families so that we can work with their insurance so that they can have their own device. And currently, right
now, even with Danny being the 80s, right now, we're working with the family to see if we can get a refreshed version of it so that when he graduates, he has a device through his insurance. So we do a partnership with families and have conversations with
families to be able to figure out what's the best way to be able to fund this. That's going to fit what the family needs, what we need in the school district in terms of supporting their education. So it's an individual decision that we work with each family as we
make determinations, and the IEP team makes determinations. What's required in terms of the assistive technology that they need? I think that's wonderful. I guess my my concern is for those families who do not have health insurance and that blessing of having insurance.
And in those cases, once it's required on the IEP, that this is what the student actually needs to be able to access their instruction or access their communication, then we go through the process within M.C.P.S. for us to be able to
purchase something if we need to purchase it. Okay. Thank you. That's that's good to know. Thank you Sarah, I just know that it makes such a difference in the life of many of these students, and it's priceless to be able to open that window of communication. So I appreciate
it. I'm still a little bit baffled by the numbers. The because you guys are doing miracles. Yes. Go ahead Alice. Yes we are. We are stretched thin. Just this morning I was looking at our numbers and our caseload and see how we divide the work so people aren't
overwhelmed. Yeah. But yes. Okay. That is a miracle. Yes. We need to revisit during these budget times. The other the last thing that I wanted to ask you, or maybe Sarah, is when we allocate funding for schools like Stephen and Longview, I
noticed that sometimes we allocate the same way that we allocate for other schools. Like we we have the same scope, if you will, of allocating. You know and I know Sarah, can I use those regular history books or things that you would
consider, you know, for regular schools? I'm just trying to understand if we're going to, with your leadership, maybe change some of those paradigms to be able to allocate correctly for schools like Stephen and Longview. So, yes,
thank you for that question. Just a few things we do allocate based off of enrollment numbers. But our special schools have a little bit of an additional allocation that goes along with them. Because of the special needs. We are looking at our staffing
standards currently where based off of least restrictive environment, we are including staff outside of that critical staffing component. So instead of schools waiting for critical staff, once school starts, we
are trying to create a process through our staffing standards where they will have those staff at the beginning of school, so they will have the same autonomy to be able to hire over the summer as everyone else. And that same
formula, our model we're looking at for resources as well. So one of the first things that Sarah told me so eloquently when I met her when I first got here was about the pool supplies, right? Yes. And
that's one of the platforms that I stood on, ten toes down in cabinet to ensure that that is going to be a part of the budget going to them and just working through little small things like that, that we may not have paid a lot of
attention to before. We are looking at closely. Thank you. I appreciate you doing that because I know it might seem a minimal change, but for for folks who run schools like Sarah and others, it makes a
huge difference with with the supplies that they that they get. So thank you, Miss Montoya. Do you have anything additional? Yes, actually, just kind of a little bit related. I wanted to know because one day is not that much. And what if the day there there is not the day that
you need them or and I recognize they're doing a lot of training to make sure that any day that there's a need that someone in your staff can address that. But your staff also have other jobs, right? Like there's an actual role that staff play. And it's not to support assistive technology by itself. Right. So I guess I'm just wondering and it
doesn't have to be now, but just so that when we're looking at our budget, we can get an idea of what is the actual need, not what you can get by with. I know you guys are super resourceful because you have no choice, but that's not the standard, right? We need to know what's actually needed. And I guess in that vein, I'm
wondering, as someone who has dealt with trying to get things from health insurance and the headache that it becomes, are there social workers or anyone like that on your teams to help with that piece? Or maybe a social worker is not the appropriate, but someone whose
role is to say, okay, this family needs some DME and there's a whole headache process. You have to deal with insurance, whether it's private insurance or Medicaid or something like that. Is there like a dedicated person who does that so that you guys can
focus on the other things that you need to focus on? There isn't a dedicated person, but our team that's supporting usually works with the school team and try to get the permissions needed to be able
to work with the private providers that are available for the family. And we work collaboratively, collaboratively to help the family figure out what they need and provide what we can provide to help that process. But that's currently how it
works. There isn't a specific person, right? Just as the need arises, everyone mobilizes to see who can help out and and get it done. I guess I'm just wondering if having someone in a dedicated role like that could also potentially then reach more families who may not
be aware that this might be an option, or maybe some, you know, some type of technology might be helpful in certain ways without realizing, but they're not even considering it because of costs and things like that. So most of what we we have to also keep in mind that most of
these decisions are made within the context of an IEP meeting. And so a lot of the discussions are happening in there to support the technology needs for assistive technology, since that's part of the law. And so usually in meetings, all the relevant people who need to be
involved in the process is involved in the process to make some of those decisions. And then, for lack of a better way to say it, they divvy up who's helping around which way, which supports are needed and who's going to help provide it, and who has the best expertise to help the family provide the
supports that are needed. And not saying that that wouldn't be an excellent role to have somebody. Well, I'm just thinking on top of everything you're already doing, look, I have to call my own health insurance, and I've been avoiding it and putting it off for weeks because I know it's going to be a headache and I don't have time for that. Right.
So I'm just being a realistic, practical point of view to have someone who's role is, okay, we've gotten all the info, we've talked to the family. This is everyone's on the same team now. We're going to hand it off to the insurance coordinator. Right. Who's really great at that? Because they deal with it all the time. I'm just wondering if that
could be beneficial. Would not say no thank you. If I, if I could just add a question to the people. There's people actually assigned to both schools. Is that a role. Are they involved in that process to this point? Just curious to. Sarah. Yeah. No, I just wanted
to speak a little bit with Miss Montoya's point about help and juggling all of those supports. So I'm sure Miss Wright and myself, I can speak to many of these companies that provide these these more dynamic Arc
systems have a lot of those supports built into their company. So if there is a student where the data shows that this is an appropriate device, we've partnered with those companies and they're very, very supportive in working with families and school teams and whoever's
involved in the process in working through a lot of that. So just wanted to share that piece. Thank you. No problem, Miss Stewart. Actually, that rolls into the questions I was having. So I actually have two lines of questions and they're
not too long. One is. Pilots. So in my head, what you described with that one family that advocated and worked with their, you know, private help and then got that included into
their overall services at the school. To me, that's like an organic pilot in a way. Right. And so then you can take that information and say, oh, who else could be helped with this device, with this new technology that might not have
that private connection and then can bring that in? So do you. So that's an organic pilot. But did you other types of pilots, do you work with the companies to pilot any kind of new technology that might not
have that health insurance? The, you know, that have health insurance that paid for that private help? So we're currently working on that now sort of Miss Stewart. So, so,
so there are different companies that support we're learning in different ways. And so, you know, the other thing is really kind of getting back to assistive technology isn't really about the thing. You know, it's not about the device.
It's about what the it's about kind of going back to my door handle thing. Right? Like what? What do we want to provide for this student that they can't do without that? At and sometimes for students with very, very complex bodies, it may be that
that eye gaze system that does have the highest price point, but there are systems and other supports. For example, I brought some things like my art teacher made an adapted painting tool with some PVC pipe and some plastic, you know, and this opened a door for a
kid and this probably cost, I don't know, $4 at the most. Right. But it does the exact same thing. We got a 3D printer. And so our physical education teacher, who is also, I mean, might as well call him an adapted or assistive technology
specialist, is 3D printing switches that cost $5 for our students. And then they get to design what color they want. And there's a smiley face and, you know, all the different things. So we're also learning is and the biggest thing I tell my team is it's not about the thing. It's about the what what
are we trying to do to help this child become more independent. And then from there, using something called the set framework, which was developed by doctor Joy Zabala, we go through the set framework to find out, okay, well, what tool or tools is going to
achieve that. And we want to be fiscally responsible, right? We want to you know, we don't want to spend money if we don't have to. But that is kind of the process that we follow in order to make sure that we are doing what we need to do, which is increase independence and
academic rigor. But doing it in a way that is focused on the student and what they need and what we want to support them in being more independent and and not immediately going to the stuff that makes a lot of sense. But I'd like to know, you said
you were working on that, so what's the work? I'm just curious how how you're thinking about. So the framework is taking some of our students who are demonstrating on a, on a low tech system or demonstrating with their communication behaviors that
they have more to say, like, we know they have more to say. And so then we work with different companies to they'll loan us devices, they'll say, here you go. And they'll loan them to us for a certain amount of time. And then we work with the student. The speech that the
speech pathologist works with the student. Again, I might work with the student ot, you know, members of the team work with the student, and we collect data. And with that data then comes, do we think that this is appropriate for this student or not? Most of the time if there is a funding
issue, it has been resolved at this point. But there is, you know, as Miss Wright said, there are times where that is, you know, the private insurance is not an option. And therefore, by law, we are to, as a school system, provide that support for our students. Okay. Well,
that sounds like really good work and thank you for doing that, because it could again, open up these portals that we might have not been able to open. So to and go through all the possibilities with, of course, our resources in mind.
And my last question, I don't expect an answer today, but we are entering budget season and as Miss Montoya already talked about the what you actually need. I would also like some kind of priority list. What's
bang for the buck, right. Because you might need this thing and it's like, wow, that position makes so much sense. Of course we should fund it. But was there another position that actually would have been even more impactful because our budget is limited, so I'd love
to see prioritization lists based on some kind of collaborative approach with principals and providers and staff. So that would be wonderful. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Sorry. I just need us to keep us on track. Just a quick shout out to Mr. Jeff. I
know he comes up with so many resourceful items. My younger son watches the videos of him putting together just these amazing technology supports of just items that he might have found around the house, and he's just always blown away. So I just appreciate all of his
work. Thank you. Thank you so much. So we're going to move to the next. Section. Actually, we didn't finish this presentation. We have not finished it okay. Yes ma'am. There is some a few more slides where they wanted
to introduce some data here. We can go through that rather quickly and then call up the next presenters. All right. Slide 18 I think we're on. Yeah. So thank you. As an interact
team we're supporting the whole district. And this just represents the increase of requests. Just like I think Miss Montoya said I'm not sure we have an increased number of students coming into the district that have complex needs. And our requests are
going up every year. This year, it's gone up by 26% in terms of the number of students we need to support. Next slide. This just represents our ongoing caseload as well as our
consultative supports. It shows us data up to October, just October 15th. And you can see that for this year we're already up to 892 students. So we're rivaling what the end of year number was for the
previous year already. Next slide. Just wanted to point out that for this year alone, we're already supporting students and staff in 144 schools, including the four infants and toddlers sites, in terms of
providing supports on all this data is as of October, when we got the request that we're presenting. This slide just shows the number of high tech devices that M.c.p.s is providing. On the left hand side. That's the number of students already receiving a device. And on the right hand
side is the number of students who are trialing a device. We're not sure yet whether this is going to be a high tech device. User. Next slide. This is what is the money slide. This shows you the average cost. And this is an average cost of
what an eye gaze system could cost for a single student. Or a dedicated system could cost. Or the solution that we use in M.c.p.s. Most often is the iPad with the communication app and the accessories that go along
with it, and that's around $750 for each one. And then obviously the cost for a mid tech or high tech. So average cost for some of those communication systems. Next slide. This kind of talks about
acquiring and providing AAC devices according to the law. Once it's been determined by the IEP team that this is a required device for the student, we have different ways we can consider funding. One is if the student has Medicaid, a public
benefits of some kind, private insurance of some kind. We work with the families around that, and once we know where the lay of the land is, you know, it may be the private insurance is the best way to move forward, or it may be that we're requesting to provide that
device. M.c.p.s is providing it for the student. So this just kind of tells you that we look at all the funding sources to decide what's going to work best alongside the family. Next slide. Quickly talk about
capacity building. Yeah. So the these slides represent some of the work that goes on in the background. As we discussed with the capacity building. So on this slide you can just see that our professional learning encompasses a variety of types
of learning. Everything from live synchronous sessions to resources and asynchronous modules. We even have office hours on a regular basis. And we'll customize a training based on need. So we are doing that all the time. And then I
just wanted to also mention that creating that. Well let's go to the next slide because I think it's on there. Well first some of the challenges that I think we already talked about the increased number of
students and maintenance costs. And just from a funding perspective, you you may know from your private life that a lot of our software tools that we purchase have shifted to a subscription model. So that's just changed how we think about
our budgets and maintaining our software licenses, because now whatever we choose to buy to support our staff and students becomes an annual cost instead of in the past, we would buy something and be able to use it for, say, 3 or 4 years before
we needed to pay for an upgrade. So those are some of the things that we are, you know, always working with, pushing those balls up the hill. And if we go to the next slide, there's some work in the background that we're doing that is really important. Not not out on the
front lines, but important to make sure that we're maintaining an accessible ecosystem across the district. So besides the management of the devices and the licenses, like we talked about, we partner with the technology office, the procurement office,
the curriculum offices to make sure that we are procuring accessible materials for our curriculum and complying with Maryland accessibility laws, which state that our digital tools, whether even if they're not considered assistive
technology tools, we need to make sure that they all meet accessibility standards. So those are the kinds of things happening in the background to make sure that when a student, either like Danny or a student with a mild reading disability comes into our system, that we
have the supports and materials and training in place. Thank you so much. We're good. Nobody has any questions. And thank you so much for for the
presentation. Appreciate you. Thank you so much for being
here. Thank you.
So I have my next slides. I have speech and language services. No but we're flexible. We're flexible. Yeah. Those were not supposed to be printed. They should have. They were they're hidden on the presentation. So they should
not have been printed okay. So then we're going to go to Mckinney-vento enrollment support. Take it away. So good morning. Thank you so much for having us today. I am Margarita Bohórquez, director of International Admissions and
Enrollment and the Mckinney-vento liaison. Good morning. My name is Steve Neff. I'm the director of student support and attendance services. And today we will be talking to you a little bit about our
Mckinney-vento subgroup population here in M.C.P.S. Those are our students that are unstably housed. Next slide please. Like I mentioned, I am the M.C.P.S. Mckinney-vento liaison. This is my ninth year
in that role, and I am ecstatic that you have asked us to come and present on this subgroup. We haven't had the opportunity to speak about this important population until now. I also want to recognize my Mckinney-vento team Pam Lanning,
Janice Musser, Maria, Veronica and Heidi. They're in the audience with us today, and they're an amazing team that support all of this work. I do want to point out that they each are residency or intake specialists that do other work.
Aside from the mckinney-vento work, only Heidi is fully dedicated to Mckinney-vento work, so that speaks to some of the work that we have to do to juggle the support that we need to provide our Mckinney-vento students. We also have a
dedicated drop box where our schools and our community and our families can communicate with us, and none of this would be possible without our collaboration with Mr. Steve Neff and his department and team of people. So we work very closely together supporting
this group of students. Next slide please. I always like to start by letting everyone know that Mckinney-vento is federal law. It's an act. It was originally passed in 1987, and
it was last updated in 2015 as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act. It's very important federal law that protects this particular student population. The main
goal of this act is to remove all barriers and ensure that the students have equal access to education and all of the supports and services that other students enjoy. So all of our work is basically centered
on that fact that we are supporting these students and removing all barriers. None of you'll happy. You'll be happy to know that none of the recent executive orders that have been passed over the past few months have changed or interfered with this act. Next slide please.
I'd like to also talk about the definition of homelessness. This is something that a lot of people misunderstand or don't quite fully understand. I think most people, when they think of homeless, they think of people
that are completely unhoused, living on the street or out of their car. But it couldn't be further from the truth. It is quite a large umbrella, and it's important to build capacity and educate everyone around us on what the definition of homelessness is.
The definition is individuals who lack a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. Those words are critically important, and we really focus on each of those words when we're interviewing families to try and identify whether or not
they're eligible for McKinney Vento services. I'll speak a little bit more to them in a minute. There are different categories of homelessness you can see there on the slide. We have shelters and transitional housing. So obviously families or students that are living in
shelters would qualify. Families who are living in hotels or motels because they've been evicted or they're going through financial troubles. There are many circumstances that could lead a family to live temporarily in a motel, staying with others.
You're staying with a family member. You're staying with a friend because you don't really have a place to live. We see this a lot with our high school students who are couch surfing with friends and family members, and we ask specific questions to try and identify these students. And then the most
commonly known is the unsheltered. Those are the the families or the students who are living on the street out of their cars. We definitely support them as well. The important thing to also note is that the law doesn't establish
a time limit on homelessness. There's no time frame. You can be homeless for a couple of weeks, a couple of months or several years, and we we hold best interest meetings at the end of every year to determine
whether the eligibility still exists. The one thing I want to point out on this slide is the word adequate in the definition of homelessness. That's another thing a lot of people don't think about. Adequate could refer to the condition, the
house or the apartment you're living in is. So if you have multiple families sharing a two bedroom apartment, or there's no heat or there's no hot water, or it's infested with rodents or insects that could be
considered and taken into account when trying to determine if someone is eligible for McKinney Vento services. So as you can see, the definition is quite complex and the way we interview families and work with them. Take all of this into account.
Next slide please. The other thing that we also like to build capacity around is avoiding the term homelessness or homelessness. As you can imagine, it carries a lot of stigma. We updated our regulation recently in 2024,
and part of what we were trying to do is replace the terminology as well. We like to refer to our students as mckinney-vento students because it's not about a student being homeless, but experiencing homelessness. Homelessness doesn't define a student. And
we we use words like displaced or in transition or unstably housed to better identify them. So that's part of the capacity that we build with school staff and offices and, and the community as well. Next slide please. So I know there's a
huge interest in knowing where we are with the enrollment of Mckinney-vento students and whether or not there has been an increase or not. As you can see, I pulled the last three years of enrollment and we have had a 68% increase in enrollment from FY 23 to FY 25.
That is a very large increase of Mckinney-vento students. And currently we have about 13, a little over 1300. So we are already at the same number we were in FY 23 by the end of that year. So we're confident
that we will probably surpass last year's numbers. We have become a lot more intentional about identifying Mckinney-vento students, making sure that, like I mentioned in a previous slide, those
different categories and the definition of homelessness that everybody understands that. And teenagers who are couch surfing that wouldn't normally consider themselves mckinney-vento actually are and can benefit from these services. So our identification process has
changed and improved dramatically, which has also, excuse me, which has also is also reflected in the increase that we're seeing. And of course, you know, economic times have changed and there's a lot going on that has
increased those numbers. Next slide please. This is just a snapshot of our demographics page. Our Mckinney-vento unit does a wonderful job of updating our demographics. I have linked it in the slides so that you can go back and really
drill down into the data that we collect on a monthly basis. We have this disaggregated by many categories, but you will see race, ethnicity, gender, special education needs, ML
needs whether they're newcomers or not. And we have it also disaggregated by school. So you can see what schools are more heavily impacted by the enrollment of Mckinney-vento students. And that's one of the ways we are intentional in how we support our schools in the
district. But we update this monthly and it's available to many people in the school system and also in the community that we collaborate with. Next slide please. Another topic I'd like to bring
to the forefront is the challenges that you can imagine are Mckinney-vento students experience. They are disproportionately represented in some of these challenges. As you can imagine, there are frequent school transfers,
especially if they're moving around a lot. Inconsistent attendance. Attendance is something that we really monitor and try to support with. There is loss, destruction and gaps in academic records from all the moving around. The lack of support and advocacy,
especially if they haven't come forth and identified themselves or shared their experience so that we could help identify them for mckinney-vento services. As you can imagine, the anxiety, the trauma, mental and physical health challenges
that they experience as well, and not to mention the lower graduation rates. The bar graph you see on the slide shows the how they compare to low income students and to the national average. There are about 67%
graduation rates. One of the things that we're doing to support our Mckinney-vento students here in M.c.p.s is focusing on graduation rates, really focusing on attendance and how we can support them. Next slide please. I'm going to
speak a little bit about the identification and enrollment process. Identification, as you can imagine, is critical. Again, because it's such a complex definition. And a lot of people don't identify as mckinney-vento. We have to ask a lot of important questions.
We really dissect the definition of homelessness to determine eligibility. So you have to ask questions that determine if the home, the situation they're in is fixed, if it's regular, if it's
adequate. So we ask questions like, how is your home? How many families are living in that home? Are there any challenges in that home? So there are a lot of questions that we go through with the families. Another part of enrollment is immediate enrollment. We need to enroll
these students within 48 hours, if not sooner. So they are taking advantage of the services that we provide. And the school of origin is also very important. Like the federal law says, we are very focused on stability and
continuity. So we really focus on where the student was enrolled when they became homeless, so that we can make sure that that student can stay at their school of origin whenever possible. We also look at transportation and work very
carefully with our transportation department. Transportation does a wonderful job of routing bus bus requests within four days, and I'm happy to announce that we are launching a pilot program. It's
a new program where we're going to provide cab services for families who need to go to an IEP meeting, who need to go to a back to school evening event. They need to go to a medical appointment if it's a screening of some sort. So we will be providing additional services
in that regard this year. We also work very closely with food services to arrange their meals. They qualify for free meals. We provide supplies and resources, mental health referrals to community partners, and we educate them on their
rights and responsibilities. Late last year, we developed a needs assessment survey that we offer in English and Spanish, and we plan to translate in additional languages to really assess where our families are and what kind of needs they have, so that we can better
support them. Next slide please. These are the mckinney-vento rights that we share with families as they enroll. And we go through the rights with them whenever possible. We use interpreters, we use translated
documents when we meet with the families and when we communicate with them. So that's an important aspect of the work as well. Next slide please. We provide a lot of professional learning for schools and offices. We try to build capacity and and
understanding and awareness around this vulnerable population. We hold regular biweekly office hours and monthly meetings with our team. We also attend quarterly meetings with our record keepers, annual meetings with pre-K, Head Start, family
engagement, and we also go out to schools and support them as requested or as we are able to target them. Given the population of Mckinney-vento students, they may have enrolled. Next slide please. This is part of the postcards
and posters we designed in our office to help educate our school staff, for teachers to be able to identify students who may be experiencing homelessness and what they can do about it, what questions they can ask. And of course, we want them to always refer the
student to their PCP to ask additional questions and do that important interview. And Mr. Neff is going to talk a little bit more about the PCP and the work that they do. So thank you. So it's important to
note that when families are going through the trauma and stress of housing instability, we don't expect them to know or have to figure out. Who do I go to to get help? They really can go to any staff member in their current school, or, if they've moved, had to move from one
area county to another. Any staff member at the school that's closest to where they're temporarily living. And so that speaks to the importance of building trust and relationships with families, because, as Margarita said, there is a stigma to it. And so
we want to make sure that they tell us when they need help. That information is immediately funneled to the pupil personnel worker or the PCP, and the PCP becomes the point person or the quarterback for the supports and services for the family.
And so, as Margarita mentioned, the first and foremost decision to be made is what is in the best interest of where the child or children attend school. More often than not, it is the school of origin because, as Margarita said, we're trying to
build continuity and consistency with students, so having them have to change homes and also change schools seems sort of like a double impact that we can avoid. Transportation is almost always a part of it. And as Margarita
says, we work closely with her office and with our transportation department to request that. And there are families that tend to move or have to move more often than not. So we're sort of following them with a bus as soon as we know where their new living
location is. Also, families who are having housing instability. That's typically not the end of their needs. There's often food insecurity or clothing needs, Margarita mentioned mental or physical health. So the PCP and the student well-being teams in
the schools help to coordinate all of the services that families need as they're going through these stressful times. And then Margarita mentioned that there is not a time limit to homelessness, and there are
families who experience housing instability across years. And so there is a very specific articulation process that happens because the school of origin does not just apply to the specific school they're in. It could apply to the cluster of origin. So if you have a
student moving from fifth to sixth grade or from eighth to ninth grade, there's the opportunity to think about, is it time to transition to the the cluster serving the nighttime address? But there's also the opportunity to say, do we want to keep them in the
cluster of origin again for continuity. So we do a lot of work across PBMs and with margaritas team to make sure that families have, you know, their school identified well before the start of school. So there's not any time missed at
the start of school. Next slide please. Thank you so much, Steve. So like Steve mentioned our work with the PBC. We work hand in hand every day with them. We couldn't do this work without them. Another component of the work that we do to
support Mckinney-vento students is our community outreach and our parent engagement. That's a component we hope to build out even further in the next coming years. There's a brochure there on the slide that was designed by our team, and we have it
translated in the top seven languages. And part of our community outreach is going out into the community, having a table at resource fairs. We take the brochures and the posters to libraries, to rec centers so that the community is also understands and we
build their capacity around this population and how to help serve them. That's just a screenshot of our parent needs assessment, available in English and Spanish, to better understand the needs of the families. And they get this assessment after they've
enrolled. When we send the the welcome email to them. But we continue working with a lot of community partners again to build their capacity and their understanding of this population. Next slide please. One of the exciting areas that
we are starting to focus on, and we started more intentionally than ever last year, is really supporting our older Mckinney-vento students, our high school students with college and career readiness. As you can imagine, a Mckinney-vento senior or junior is going to need additional
supports when thinking about college or vocational schools or any other program outside of high school, and we provide additional graduation support. We also assist and support with Fafsa and dependance verification, and the Fafsa
application has a new checkbox in section six that actually asks a student if they have ever been homeless or self-supporting since 2023. There's a box that actually tries to identify them, which
is wonderful because Mckinney-vento students have support at the college level. The Maryland tuition waiver for homeless youth. It's linked on the slide, but students, it shows that students continue to
remain exempt from paying tuition and fees until ten years after they enroll or upon getting their degree, whichever comes first. So a lot of school staff and a lot of Mckinney-vento families and
students don't know that they can attend public colleges, public universities with having to without having to pay tuition, which is very it's a wonderful support and resource to take advantage of. Mckinney-vento students are
exempt from paying tuition and mandatory fees. That includes all fees for credit bearing and not credit bearing courses. It does not include room board books, so we do still encourage them to apply for scholarships that cover those other areas,
and homeless status can be verified by a variety of ways, including our office. But you can have directors or designees of emergency or transitional shelters or street outreach programs helping to identify them, which is very important
as they move into applying and being accepted at a university. Just a quick anecdotal story, a success story we experienced last year. We had an intern at IAE last year and she was a a
newcomer many years ago, but we found out that she was living with an aunt, and little did she know that she qualified for Mckinney-vento services. Her situation again, one of those families that didn't really consider themselves homeless in the traditional sense of the
word, and we found out that she could qualify for Mckinney-vento services, and she is currently enrolled at Yale. She got a full ride and she's there this year. So again, another example of why we are
so intentional. Hey, so okay, so intentional about helping our our seniors and our students in high school. Right now we have 104 Mckinney-vento seniors that we want to really reach out to and help them with
this process. Next slide. And our last slide really speaks about the Mckinney-vento funding that we receive and some of the staffing implications for the work that we do. We do receive a modest annual Mckinney-vento grant,
about 150,000 a year. Last year we were wowed with 246,000. From whom do you receive that? We received that from Msde. From the state? Yes. And we have focused on this money. We're we're thinking about
other things that we want to do to support this population. But for the last couple of years, we have focused on their mental health needs and getting them direct mental health services. We collaborate with Jessa in the community to be able to provide that. We also receive
some funds from title one, part A, and that is helping us pay for our TPT clerical support. There's a lot of paperwork that goes with supporting our Mckinney-vento students. As you can imagine, transportation requests, meals, and just a lot
of documentation. So we have a clerical support that helps us with that. And then the rest of that money we use for supplies, materials and for the cab pilot that we're launching this year. And then for staffing, it's important to note that federal
law and MSD guidance really supports a dedicated, full time, mckinney-vento position to really fulfill the duties and responsibilities of this role. Right now, it's me and my Mckinney-vento unit, and we dicate a portion of our time
to supporting our Mckinney-vento students. But having a dedicated professional to really focus on this population, of course, with our help, would be tremendous in supporting this population. I have five full time staff that
dedicate part of their day to supporting the Mckinney-vento population. And that was my my last slide. Thank you so much for having us today. Thank you Margarita, I really appreciate it. This is besides all the
other duties that you have, which is also heavy lifting with the division that you run on top of it. So. Okay, I have questions too, but I'm going to let you go first. Thank you. Well, thank you so much again.
Just as Mr. Rivera-Oven mentioned, you all have additional duties on what could probably be a full time duty, right, with just Mckinney-vento. So I do appreciate it. And just providing all of the information, it really helps us to really understand. What does that mean, what does it cover?
Who are we talking about? Which is probably the most important part, right, when we're talking about our students. And so a question that I have, because you talked about how we identify our students, because a lot of our students, especially our teenagers, who wants to think about that? I'm
unhoused, or we don't want that to be the forefront of what we're doing every day. Right. And so to be able to think that and to realize that this might apply to them and itself is a whole process. So they really do rely on us as the adults to help with that in different
ways. And I know you have these really great staff postcards and letters to help staff, kind of just some indicia where they might want to consider. And I really appreciate when students, for example, apply for change of school assignment. Is that a
space where we might also look to see whether or not we see any indicia of a student who may be eligible for mckinney-vento services versus just, well, my family had to move. And so maybe in the
middle of the year or something like that. And I know we have we let them kind of finish out the year sometimes. But just for argument's sake, are we looking at that as well? Because as the body that sees some of those, I get a little concerned sometimes that perhaps we might need to look a
little deeper. So the answer to that question is yes. So when families submit a course or a change of school assignment request, they are sharing their rationale and reasoning. And in our analysis or I guess, investigation of their request.
There are times when we feel like what's happened to them is qualifying under Mckinney-vento. So for example, if if they had a house fire and they had to be displaced for 2 or 3 months and
they inadvertently or I guess mistakenly went through the Cosa process, we would circle back to them and say, actually, you qualify under Mckinney-vento and then they would have the option of not only requesting to remain at their school, but
transportation and other supports would be provided. So so we do try to look for opportunities in the Cosa process and in other scenarios that we become aware of. If we feel like a family has been displaced, and maybe the Cosa process is not the appropriate
avenue. Okay. So if you know, again, as the board, right, we see this as well. And it's a little tricky because by the time it comes to us, our our role is different, right? We're not the mckinney-vento screeners. We're not working in M.C.P.S. But if there are instances where we think that
might be because again, you guys see tons of cases too, right? It happens. Right? Is there a mechanism to say, hey, maybe we overlooked something here because that process can take a long time to to get to us. And as you mentioned, Steve,
I think you said, you know, when you're changing homes and school, there's this double trauma. And we really want to try to avoid that. Right? Minimize the disruptions. And so and perhaps there's not an answer to be had here today. But I do think it's something worth looking at that perhaps we need to be a little more
attentive to our screening in Thokoza. And then somehow between the board and M.C.P.S. figure out a way to find a way to maybe send some back for a screening. And you had mentioned that at a minimum, we allow students to finish the
year through the process. So that does give us some time if we have, you know, if we can unearth things that are related to housing instability that may not have been a part of the original request. Thank you. Laura. In that vein, housing
instability can be a huge issue. And I think Mckinney-vento would might be appropriate for some of these kids. So for instance, if you see an address change within a certain amount
of time, does that trigger anything for us to look at that family to see if they could qualify? Because again, this is kind of hidden a lot. And I think especially in our
district. So is there any triggers. So it doesn't necessarily trigger anything in our office because by then the students are enrolled at the school level. So we are part of our building capacity at the school level. And educating
staff on Mckinney-vento is so that they, when they are seeing changes in address, frequent changes in address the counselors, the record keepers and the people are on the ground at the schools also supporting families. Those would be some triggers for or
some flags for the P.W. and the other school staff to start asking some of those questions, because I think if we were more cognizant about that and had something in the process, then we might catch some of these
before they even have to do the Cosa right. And then it would help the not only the family and the child, but us as a school system, because to have these mobility rates be so high actually is really disruptive
to the system as a whole. And so I think that it would behoove us to look at processes, because that is actually we can't expect to get a result unless we actually build it
into our work. And I'll if there's other questions, I have a question about transportation as well. I'll go ahead and ask it. So we you talked about the new taxi I think program, but
also you mentioned about a bus following a kid around. And do we have busses picking up one kid, and how often do you think that happens? I would definitely have to get some
data from the transportation office to really answer that question. But to Steve's earlier point about making sure that students are staying in their school of origin. But if they do have to move that we are giving them the
transportation they need to come to their school of origin. And we do have students that are being bussed in from surrounding counties and other areas. And that's part of also the conversation we have and the best interest meeting how, you know, if you're talking about a seven year old versus a
17 year old, if a student is on the bus for an hour, hour and a half, we start looking at the best interest in each of those scenarios. Okay, so the reason I'm asking is not because I don't think we sometimes need to do that. The reason I'm asking is because I've been
looking into the change in state law, where you can now use vans and and by the way, vans are come in hybrid models, so we can use less energy as well and not have to worry
about plugging in. So there's a lot of opportunities there. And I'm not sure if we're taking advantage of those opportunities. So I'd love to open up that discussion with transportation so we could, in the end, save money, save time and be environmentally
conscious. Yeah we would love that. Okay, great. I have about three questions. I'm going to start with number one. And maybe Margarita you can help me with this one. And this is my concern about the students at Korea for the longest time the
students at Korea. I don't know how it is now, but at least when I was running for office and even when I was my first year into into being on the board of education, the kids that were not considered, even though they were doing exactly what we're saying on this
policy, they was. Surf couching. They were homeless, but they were not being part of the Mckinney-vento. Are they part of that now? So you'll be happy to know that I've been working very closely with Andrew Wilson and Tanya over at Korea. We are
intentionally, intentionally now identifying students as Mckinney-vento. We've started just this year, and my specialists are talking to students there because you're right, the students tend to be the older students that are
probably couch surfing or their housing is not as stable. So we are working very closely with the program now. Delighted to hear that, because I thought we were really we were literally missing these kids as part of and giving them the supports
that they needed. Okay, so happy to hear that. Question number two. There's a lot of work that goes on with the Department of HHS, especially when it comes to placing where they're going to be in a shelter. How do we work?
Because I know families that live in Germantown. And then there are placed in a shelter in downtown Silver Spring. How are we working with the Department of HHS in a way that we can see eye to eye? Because for them, it's like first, you
know, whatever, whatever, whatever hotel room is available first, that is where they go. They really don't take. So and I'm seeing your team, which, by the way, can the ladies who are part of this team, can you stand up? I just
I need to give you a shout out for the work, honestly. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart. You guys are angels because you're doing this. I mean, I think Heidi is the only one who does this full time, but you're doing this on top of
your other duties. I don't know what your ladies do, but whatever you do, I know it's a lot. And. But is there a way to. To better coordinate? Because
honestly, if we were to coordinate a little bit better where a lot of these kids and some of your colleagues are nodding yes where they will go, you know, where they live, because we're already disrupting their lives tremendously. Right? So when
you have a family and then I see families from Silver Spring, because I get to serve them with the nonprofit that I run up County. And I'm like, why are you up here when you live in Takoma Park? This is where they put us, right? So you're really so so we're not throwing
anybody under the bus. I think this is something that with communication and goodwill, we could we could work on this. Do you want to answer that quickly? Because I'm looking at Steve to see if he's had any conversations with DHHS. We
haven't been as intentional about collaborating on that aspect. I mean, we know that when families have to move to shelters, I'm sure it's a capacity issue and we're supporting with transportation and all the services they need. But I completely hear you about coordinating with them so that
they are placed closer to where they live, so that they stay in their community. Yeah. Can we please, Steve, do that? Can we reach out to our partners at HHS and I? And because I know they want to do what's in the best interest of the child, because really, this is about
the child, right? In my opinion, right. This is about as adults, you know, we can handle a lot. But when you take children out of they have no control, right? When you take them out of their comfort, the only thing that they're probably that is kind
of something that is there is their school, is their friends, is their teachers. Right. So when you remove them from the only thing that is kind of a solid thing, the whole world gets, you know, gets shaken. So
if we can please reach out, you know, and set up, I'd be happy to help with whatever you need to, you know, whoever you need to talk to, I'll be happy to, to to make that happen. But I just think it would be really great to, to do the work as partners in order to avoid as
much, you know, less anguish that we can for for our children, our youth. And then my other question to you is sorry, I just had. You have one
full time person. Who does the management, the case management, along with the other four. Right. Actually, she's not full time, she's TPT, so she can only do 30 hours a week. You're killing me. You're killing me.
No, I wish I was okay, but it's not case management, per se. She really helps us with the data monitoring. She's the one that helps. Heidi helps us update the demographics. She enters all the information in synergy, manages transportation
and the meal, the meal plans. So she does a lot of the supports that we need. And then the rest of us, of course, do the PD and do the building capacity and all that, because we're talking about 2200
students last year. How is that possible? With the help of our people and our counselors? You know, you're right. There's absolutely no way a team of five can do all of that. So we have to lean very heavily on our schools and building the
capacity as schools with our PD, our, our, our counselors are also on the ground helping us. But yeah, we would it would be great to have more dedicated staff. And one of the issues, one of the concerns that I have is the training that goes into
our schools. I personally last summer had a very came across a case where this child literally was homeless, and he told a few adults that he was going to be
homeless. And the parents moved back and he stayed behind. And if it wasn't for the fact that he came to get food at the nonprofit that I that I serve, I was able to call the principal, and the principal had no idea the the, the
training that we do not only has to be done with the schools, but it has to be done with the wellness centers, because these are the places where many of our young people develop
trustworthy relationships. But if you know there are partners, but we need to make them our partners. Totally. So when it comes to mckinney-vento children and youth, we need to train them exactly what to do
step by step, who to call, what to do. The follow up. Because then you have young people like this young man who was literally living on the streets of Germantown for the whole summer. And, and and that's
just one example that I know personally that I can give you. And it was when we got to the bottom of it, it was it was kind of a lack of training and thinking that the other person will take care of it. Well, he told somebody in the school, right. And then, well, he told
somebody at the wellness center and it was and nobody did anything. So I would just hope that whatever, whoever our partners are, that we also do, you know, the same training and some of them have to go with
HHS, I guess. Right. So I really would like to for us to have a really robust conversation with our partners at HHS, with all our partners, you know, the wellness centers linkages, all those folks who touch our children in some way
or form, but who have the trust and who probably these folks are going to be the ones who are going to hear first. With that being said, I'm not happy to see that your funding for mental health has diminished by
almost 90,000 when our numbers are going up, so that math is not working. Yesterday, I was with your wonderful leader, Doctor Cage, at an event where the state gave the county $9.3
million for mental health. Now that money is going to HHS, but it's supposed to funnel through the schools to different partners like Jessup and and identity and others. I would really like Doctor Cage for us
to explore the some of that funding goes to support our unhoused children and youth, to be able to provide the mental health support and the family mental health support that our
kiddos need again. But this is going to have to be a conversation with our partners at HHS saying, this is, you know, this is you know, what we need to bring them in to do, like a meeting, a joint meeting. We need a joint meeting because there's a lot of crossover that happens. Right? Sorry, I'm
thinking out loud, but I, I just think, you know, 165,000 for 2200 kids. I mean, do the math. It just doesn't add up. It doesn't add up. So as we ask other folks before you, if we
could have. Again, a list of priorities where we can support you. We are, you know, in budgetary times, but but where we can actually support you, Margarita and your wonderful team, because, you know, this
is a dedicated portion of their time. Well, I'm sure they have full time jobs. I don't know, are they teachers? I don't even know. They're specialists in my office. They do enrollment and they do residencies. Yes. Very busy. Yes. You have a
population with a lot of needs because they're newcomers and they're just, you know, starting out. And so bless them all for doing this kind of work. But can we please get if you can get us a list of priorities
to be able to serve this population and also. Not to burn out wonderful human beings like yourselves. Okay. Because we know I know as somebody who worked with, with youth and troubled youth and youth in
need, the spiritual burden is a lot because you take a lot of this with you home. There's no way you cannot just walk away from from children who are hurting, from youth who are hurting you. Take that work home. So if there's anything
that this committee can do to make that situation better and also more adequate to ensure that we are helping these young people the way that they need to be supported. I just think
the world of you guys, of what you're doing. And just for the tuition waiver, I just want to make sure that people understand that those are for in-state tuition, like for for state of Maryland schools, for the university. Yes. Yes. Correct. Yes. So quickly Montgomery College, would that
be considered? Yes. Correct. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to clarify for those for those folks at home that these are opportunities that our young people can take advantage of. And again, thank you for what you do. I see my colleagues. Sorry. Mr. Montoya, would you
like to go and then Miss Stewart? Yes. And it's it's related to all of the things that you just said when it comes to the professional development. I recently was appointed as the Board of Education member on the Montgomery County Domestic
Violence Coordinating Council. And one of the things that I've been trying to talk to folks about is getting professional development into our school staff, not because it's our job to counsel people through these situations or anything like that, but similar to what you
have in terms of identification. It is our job to connect people, right? So providing enough information that we can identify and then connect and help support with resources. And I know you do do some in-school training and I have seen the examples which are fantastic, but I'm just wondering if we might consider
extending that training to. Or perhaps it already is, folks, that I think that I've noticed older students, middle school students, and high school students tend to go to like community school liaisons, security assistance or security assistance. Have great rapport
with a lot of our students, as well as sports and extracurricular activity organizers. Sometimes it's coaches, sometimes it's a staff member that's already at the school. Again, not that they need to know how to be a social worker. You already have a job.
This is just so that you can identify and connect and create a space, I guess, of empathy, so that if a student should come to you because they have a good relationship, that you don't panic and inadvertently do something that might make the student feel like, oh no, I shouldn't have said something. So just to, you know, perhaps
again, expand our scope of professional development and if there's support that we can provide or advocate for so that you can do that, then please definitely do let us know. And I appreciate that. And very quickly just piggyback on that before I forget. Can we add also a bus drivers or transportation folks? I would
really appreciate I really appreciate that. Go ahead, Miss Stewart. So I'm a true believer that our students children should be empowered to also advocate for themselves. And I
hear that after hearing the story Grace told about a student who tried to and yet somehow still fell through the cracks, I think this is kind of low hanging fruit for us, so I
would want to look at school culture. And part of that to me is having posters up. Are you feeling housing insecure? Are you sleeping at different houses? Like, if this is you,
here's who to contact and in multiple languages as well. Something as simple as that. When a kid is feeling like, you know, helpless, just seeing that and saying, oh, there's someone I can call about this
myself. I don't have to hope that the person I told is going to tell the right person. They have a direct way to self-advocate. I think it would be great if we could work on that, and also have those posters in the wellness center
as well. Again, that would help with our school culture, because then everyone else will see that too and say, hey, I have a friend that meets this description. I can tell them, oh, go look, there's help for you. I was also thinking about a student. Students come up
with apps all the time, and I think there was a mental wellness app. Maybe that could be incorporated even. But that's the low hanging fruit in my mind, because then we will have that direct connection.
Thank you, Mrs. Stewart. No, all wonderful suggestions and I'm sure my team is taking notes. We're going to definitely take this back and build on it. Thank you. I did bring some brochures in different languages so you could see them, but I believe also in building agency amongst
our students. I think it's critical. And we do have posters that we have sent to all the schools and they are posted. But I love the idea of including the wellness centers and making that connection. And I'm also, I didn't mention I'm a commissioner on the Ich, the
Interagency Commission on Homelessness. We meet every month and there's a Youth workgroup subcommittee. And for the first time last year in the spring, we had a virtual resource fair for Mckinney-vento students. We targeted high school first
because it was a little easier for them to sign on, but that was also to share all of these resources and and supports that they have available to them. And we hope to do that more this year. That's great news. And I'm also thinking about other places where kids might
go if they are housing insecure. And libraries would be a big one. And I'm happy to hear that there are posters. Yes. So maybe we can, you know, brainstorm. So thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. But just
quickly just just so we are you know, it is so hard to be able to, to, to say, you know, I don't have a house, especially for our high school kids. I know because with the food distribution, you know, we do
the weekend bags. And at the beginning kids didn't even want to take them. They didn't want people to know. Right. We're in different times now. I have schools where kids are lining up and waiting, so my hope would be to miss Stewart's point. And thank you, by the way, because I think empowering
our youth because they're the future professionals is important. But even our SGA folks, when they have their SGA, you know, meetings and so on to have something about this topic and to take away the stigma,
right. You need help. You need help. Guess what? You need food. You need food. People have been out of work, you know, for for over a month. People who you know, who are two federal employees have not gotten paid. Right. And I have people who
come with their head down saying, I know, can we please take away the stigma? You need help with mental health. We're here. These are the services you need help with food. This is it. You are, you know, having issues with with
permanent housing. We got you. But I would love for us to find a way and the language that we can identify with our young people. So they become the advocates for other young people. And they said, it's okay, it's okay. This will pass
too, but this is what's available. And if we could do that, if we can actually get to our young, you know, our young students, even even from elementary school through high school, it would be incredibly
beneficial to all because then you take away the mental health anguish that comes with it, right? That we see so much in our students where they feel there's no recourse, that there's nobody who understands. So the whole empathy thing, if we can work on that with our
students, I know you are a mighty small team, but hopefully we'll get you more support. But if we can start doing things like that, I think would be a lot better to take away the stigma. Thank you for adding that, because that's what I was trying to get at at school culture. Right. And so
that empathy being built in can make all the difference. Even with my own kids, I've been at schools where it's no big deal, and we're all here to help each other out, and we know these things. And yet here's where you can get food. Here's where you can get hygiene products. And I've been at schools where
it's very hush hush, and we're going to send you with your bag on the back door and it's like, oh my goodness, what are we doing here? So I think that school culture just plays such a huge role in how students feel and whether they feel like they can say, hey, maybe I do fit that and I could use some
help. Absolutely. Well with that. 1201 look at that. I, I want to say, Margaret, thank you so much to you and to your wonderful team. And, Margarita, thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Mr. Neff.
Appreciate you all. Jenkins. Everybody who's you know, I didn't mean to forget. You save the best for last, but I, I really just want to say thank you for the work that you do in making sure that every child in
our district feels welcome and loved and that they feel they belong here. And if we can actually work on that as adults, I think the children take the cues from adults. I think they
learn from us, and I think that we're going to be better off. These are really some tough times. You saw the numbers, the increase, and it's not going down, folks. It's going up. And it's only you know. So we need each and every one of you, including everyone at home,
every adult in this community, to ensure that our children feel loved and safe and that they have the basics of what they need to be able to thrive. That is what we're here for. So thank you all for being here. Thank you. With that. Yeah, I
need a motion. Motion to adjourn the meeting. I second that I know you guys love being
here. Okay. Thank you.