Homelessness and Cloquet Public Schools
This week's speaker was, Robbi Mondati who is the CHS Asst. Principal and ISD #94 Familiesin Transition Liaison. Her program was titled "Homelessness and Cloquet Public Schools".
All districts are required to have a homeless liaison stemming from the "McKinney-Vento Act" of 2001. The definition of homeless is sometimes misunderstood and for the purposes of the Act in the schools, it means anyone who lives in shared housing (doubling up), in a motel/hotel or campground, living in a shelter, spending nights in a public/private place not for sleeping accommodations or living in a car/park/substandard housing. Point-In-Time surveys are conducted to monitor the level of homeless students throughout the state. In 2012-13 Cloquet had 41 homeless students (8 of which still retain the designation today), in 2013-14 we had 63 (of which 25 are still designated). For 2014-15, so far, we have 31 students going into the next year. A big increase. The program provides free lunch and breakfast for these students and can offer transportation (for children which are outside the area due to adverse conditions). There are also some new initiatives underway, one such is Jacks' Community Closet which would be located at Garfield School and provide clothing, hygiene products and supplies for K-12 students. Robbi also made a copy of her presentation available to the club if anyone would like further information.