Elkridge Schools Offer Help for Homeless Students

Elkridge and Columbia are the two areas in Howard County with the highest populations of homeless students, according to Craig Cummings, Ed.D., homeless education liaison for the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS).

Since the beginning of the 2011–2012 school year, HCPSS has enrolled 472 homeless students, said Cummings, speaking before the Howard County School Health Council on March 8.

An additional 65 children are homeless but not eligible for school (e.g., 1-year-olds), he added.

At this time last year, the count was 492, said Cummings, speaking with Elkridge Patch after a presentation to the council.

"We enroll new homeless kids almost every day," said Cummings.

The bulk of the homeless students are concentrated in Wilde Lake, Oakland Mills and Elkridge, said Cummings, closely followed by Long Reach.

“Elkridge is one of those areas that nobody really thinks about as having a lot of homeless students and families," said Cummings. "But they really have more than you think."

Last year, he said that of the 20 case managers he oversees, the one with the largest case load of homeless students in HCPSS was handling , , and . That particular pupil personnel worker (PPW) had 42 homeless students.

Elkridge Landing had one of the highest concentrations of homeless students in the school system last year, with 13 enrolled, according to HCPSS.

"When people think about where are our homeless families, they tend to think about them being congregated more in the center of the city," said Cummings. "You could argue that Columbia is a city. It's barely a city, but it is....

"I don't think [in] Elkridge, which is a much more suburban community, that people would automatically think a more suburban community would have a large number of homeless students and families," said Cummings. "But in fact, both last year and this year, that community has proven to have one of the largest groupings of homeless students."

What constitutes homelessness to HCPSS is also not what people may expect, according to Cummings.

“Most of our students are not living in cars or shelters or tents; they are living doubled up with someone, whether it’s a relative or friend,” said Cummings.

According to Policy 9300, which the Howard County Board of Education passed in June 2011, a homeless student is one “who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence, whether or not the temporary housing is located in Howard County.”

The policy calls for various supports for homeless students in accordance with a federal guideline called the McKinney-Vento Act that establishes the expectations for school systems in handling this population.

The June 2011 policy approved by the Howard County school board states, among many other measures, that HCPSS will make accommodations to transport students who may have been enrolled in its schools and become homeless.

"There's a lot of misunderstanding about that," said Cummings. "They have the right to stay in the school they were attending when they became homeless...or they can also choose to go to school in the district where they're staying temporarily. They don't have an open menu to pick any school they want."

Currently, the county covers the cost of transportation for homeless students to its schools from Baltimore City as well as Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, said Cummings.

The policy also states that each student will work with a PPW, receive free meals and be permitted to participate in extracurricular activities, among other provisions.

One "special consideration" that Cummings noted is that homeless students "may require consideration and accommodations when circumstances beyond their control impact their school performance and engagement."

For example, a teacher may assign a PowerPoint presentation as homework.

"How if a kid is homeless...are they supposed to do that?" said Cummings, who said this is where a "special consideration" would be granted.

"You've got to come up with another way. Either you have to extend the deadline...or give them a different assignment that doesn’t depend on their use of a computer," said Cummings. "We encourage schools to be cognizant of that. It is a challenge, but it's one that we take on regularly."

HCPSS will have another count of its homeless population at the end of the year. It tabulates how many students who were homeless showed up to enroll once. It didn't necessarily mean they continued showing up, said Cummings.

Due to "the very transient nature of homelessness," said Cummings, the number "changes all the time."