Michael Rotundo, 12, is dealing with an issue that's a little mature for his age - homelessness.

He was featured in a CBS news report last May about the growing number of homeless children in the U.S.

Rotundo and his parents had been homeless for 11 months and were living in a room at the Budget Inn until they could save up enough to find a new home.

The number of homeless students in Seminole County has nearly doubled within the last two years, according to data from the Florida Department of Education. The School Board has approved revisions to Policy 5.18, the Homeless Students Policy, to help address the problem.

The policy falls under Title X, Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act. It ensures that homeless students have access to education and receive the same opportunities that other students have.

The current version of the policy in Seminole County was adopted in 2005. But in September, the Department of Education required the Seminole County School Board to make changes to the policy to make it more defined.

One of the revisions to the policy allows children who are experiencing homelessness to be given temporary exemption for 30 school days for all documentation required for enrollment.

Beth Davalos, the Homeless Education Liaison for Seminole County, heads the Seminole Families in Transition program. She said this change was made to remove barriers for children who want to enroll in school. It is often difficult for homeless families to get the necessary paperwork – especially if it’s been lost while having to move from place to place, she said.

Policy 5.18 also ensures that students remain in their “school of origin” – the school in which they were enrolled before becoming homeless. The original policy said that transportation would be provided. This part of the policy was clarified: it now says that transportation will be provided throughout the duration of homelessness or until the end of the school year. It also added that districts must share the responsibility of transportation if a student lives in a different district than the school of origin.

Davalos said that making this extra effort to transport students becomes costly. But, she said, there is no other option.

“The district has to take care of that cost,” Davalos said. “It just has to be put in the budget. We just do it.”

The biggest challenge that Davalos has faced is the increasing number of homeless students every year.

“The harder we work, the more students we find,” she said.

Recently, the number of displaced students has grown, presumably because of the current state of the economy.

According to the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Student Assistance, there were 616 homeless students in the 2006 – 2007 school year. The next year there were 632 students. Last year there were 1,008.

Davalos said that at the beginning of each school year, the count starts at zero. So far this year the Families in Transition program has identified 619 homeless students. She said by tomorrow there will be a higher number.

Lorraine Allen is the Director of Homeless Education for Florida. She said that the Department of Education does not try to predict numbers for following years.

“But I think based on the data, you can probably extrapolate and see what will happen in a few years,” Allen said.

Davalos said another challenge she has faced is that there are only two homeless shelters in Seminole – and neither one is in Winter Springs. Most families in transition find themselves living with friends or in motels, which can be very expensive.

Steve Barnes, who serves as the Vice Chair for the Seminole Soil and Water Conservation District, is a volunteer for Families in Transition. He said he was shocked when he heard that there were over 1,000 homeless students in the county last year.

“I’m a father,” Barnes said. “Just the idea that we have these kids without homes in the richest country in the world – it made me want to do what I can to help.”

Barnes said that Americans tend to have a stereotypical assumption of who homeless people are.

"We assume it's some drunk guy on the side of the road," Barnes said. "You never think about children."

Barnes said that students who do not know where they will be sleeping or where their meal will come from will not be able to focus on school. That’s why staff and volunteers try to help ease the worries of parents by providing transportation, food and sometimes school supplies to students, he said.

Davalos said that the Families in Transition program has recently received an increasing amount of attention. She said homelessness is a “hot topic.”

“People are interested now because it's happening to their neighbors,” Davalos said. “People are losing jobs and seeing how homelessness can happen to them. These are people who have always had a stable job, who have been working at the same company for many years.”

She said that she hopes the program will become stronger.

“I certainly can't stop homelessness,” Davalos said. “But I’d like to increase awareness of the law and of the program and to see the number of homeless children decrease. I’d like to put myself out of business.”

Posted at at 21:35 on Wednesday 2 December 2009 by Posted by Bianca | 0 comments   | Filed under:

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Education Assistance Act, otherwise known as Title X Part C of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, ensures that homeless children and youth have access to public education. Students between ages of 5 and 21 have the right to attend school, even if they:


  • Lack fixed, regular, and adequate night time residence
  • Share housing (due to loss or hardship)
  • Live in hotels, motels, trailer homes, campgrounds, emergency or transitional shelters, or are abandoned in hospitals
  • Are awaiting foster care placement
  • Have a primary night time residence not designed or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation
  • Live in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, bus or train stations, or similar settings
  • Are an unaccompanied youth (youth not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian)
  • Are migratory children who qualify as homeless because of their living situation








Families in Transition featured on CBS News:




Watch CBS News Videos Online



For more information about homeless education:



National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
National Center for Homeless Education at SERVE
NCHE Publications and Products
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

Posted at at 21:33 on by Posted by Bianca | 0 comments   | Filed under: