Policy 5230 – Out-of-Home Care

Kenosha Unified School District is committed to its responsibility to provide a high-quality education to all students and committed to using all available resources, including local and federal funds, to support district schools that serve students in out-of-home care. In doing so, the Board is committed to meeting its obligations under Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 in connection with the Fostering Connections Act of 2008 and the Uninterrupted Scholars Act of 2013 requiring Local Educational Agencies and county and tribal welfare agencies to collaborate in implementing the educational stability provisions contained within ESSA.

1. Maintaining Educational Stability

Students placed in out-of-home care face numerous barriers to achieve educational success. They often experience unscheduled school changes and can lose several months of academic progress with each school change. The educational instability is further associated with reduced attendance rates, decreased graduation rates, and increased rates of out of school suspension and expulsion. The District and the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will agree to establish a point of contact and enter an agreement to facilitate consultation regarding best

interest determination, transportation, funding and enrollment. Therefore, The District and DCFS will continuously collaborate to ensure that children placed in out-of-home care experience continuity and stability in their educational placement.

2. Maintaining Enrollment in School of Origin-Best Interest Determination

The District will maintain each student in their school of origin for the duration of the out-of- home care placement, unless it is determined by the DCFS after collaboration with the District that remaining in the school of origin is not in the student’s best interest. “School of origin” is defined as the school in which the student is enrolled at the time out-of-home placement is made.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of factors for consideration of “best interest” determination:

  • Preferences of the student, the parent/legal guardian, and any education decision-maker.
  • Safety of the
  • Educational needs and strengths (specialized language services, individual education plans (IEP), talented and gifted programming).
  • Anticipated length of placement and the student’s permanency
  • Number of schools the student has attended over the past few years and how transfers have impacted the
  • Continuity in the student’s ethnic, cultural, and linguistic
  • Student’s attachment to the school, including meaningful relationships with staff and peers.
  • Whether the timing of the transfer would coincide with a logical juncture, such as the end of the school semester or school
  • The school(s) the student’s sibling(s)
  • The length of the commute would impact the
  • Student’s performance in school of

The cost of transportation may not be a factor in determining best interest.

3.  Immediate Enrollment

Upon the decision that a student in an out-of-home placement be enrolled in a KUSD school, The District will immediately enroll the student even if the student is unable to produce records typically required for enrollment. The District will also immediately contact the prior school to obtain relevant pupil records.

4.  Transportation

The District and DCFS will collaborate to ensure transportation from out-of-home placement to the school of origin or new school based on the student’s best interest is provided, arranged and funded.

LEGAL REF.:

CROSS REF.:

AFFIRMED: December 10, 2024