Melissa, the 3rd grader kicked out of a Crest Hill school because she failed to meet a residency requirement, was back in school Monday, enrolled as a homeless pupil.
But school officials say an Illinois law designed to protect the uninterrupted education of homeless children might not be specific enough to ensure that Melissa, an A student, stays there.
Chaney-Monge School District 88 Supt. August Tomac said Monday it is up to the school board to decide what happens next. Tomac was to present the case to the school board in closed session Monday night. He said he did not expect immediate action.
For the time being, he said, Melissa’s enrollment is secure.
“We’re not going to put this child out,” he said. If the board protests, Melissa would remain in Chaney-Monge School until a resolution is reached.
Melissa, which is not the girl’s real name, had been out of school since Oct. 24. She was re-enrolled Monday morning after a meeting between Tomac, her mother and Diane Nilan, president of the Illinois Coalition to End Homelessness.
This fall, there have been disputes–eventually resolved–involving schools and homeless families in Romeoville, Crest Hill, Riverside, Carol Stream and Oswego.
At the core of the controversy, researchers say, is ignorance of the state Education for Homeless Children Act, or differing opinions about how the law defines homelessness.
When the act was passed in 1994, it was hailed as a progressive measure and the only law of its kind in the nation.
But a new study by the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reveals that 68 percent of educators surveyed in Illinois were unaware of provisions in the law that prohibit placing barriers to the immediate enrollment of homeless children.
“There is either an unawareness of the law and its requirement that the children must be immediately enrolled in school, or they have a poor system of identifying homeless children in our schools,” said David R. Dupper, one of the survey’s authors.
Tomac complained that the act conflicts with residency rules and regulations.
“There are ways to prove residency and non-residency,” he said. “However, how do you prove homelessness?”
The law describes a homeless person as “an individual who lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime place of abode.”
Tomac said the school board has four options: It could accept Melissa’s homeless status; reject it and drop her from enrollment; enroll her as a non-resident and charge tuition of $3,800 a year; or pass the ball to the Regional Board of Education. In that case, Regional Supt. Richard Duran would call a hearing of the parties within five school days.
Duran said Monday he thought the issue was resolved Thursday. According to Duran, Melissa’s mother agreed to draft and sign a document stating Melissa lives in the district with her paternal grandmother.
“This was a residency issue in the first place,” Tomac said.
Melissa’s mother rejected the offer, fearing it could ignite custody issues.
The mother, a single parent of five, lost the lease on the family’s Will County home. She and the children have been living with friends and family members, not all of whom reside in the school district.
Each year, parents who have children enrolled in District 88 schools must provide proof of residency.
