The Bangor School Department has 24 students who are registered as homeless as of Wednesday, a sharp drop from the nearly 80 who were considered homeless last year.
Bangor’s 24 homeless students are spread across the department’s schools, but Bangor High School and James F. Doughty Middle School have the greatest number, according to Kristi Lord, Fourteenth Street School principal and the department’s McKinney-Vento liaison.
None of Bangor’s McKinney-Vento students are unsheltered, meaning they’re not living in a tent. Every student is either living in a shelter, in transitional housing or staying with a loved one.
While the idea of two dozen students in Bangor without housing may be startling, it’s an improvement from the end of the last academic year when Bangor had 79 homeless students, and from the 48 homeless students at the beginning of the academic year, Lord said. The drop from 48 to 24 is tied to students either moving to another school department or finding permanent housing.
A student is considered homeless if they meet the definition under the federal McKinney-Vento Assistance Act, which specifies that they lack “fixed, adequate and regular housing,” Lord said.
When the school department registers a homeless student as a McKinney-Vento student, it allows department social workers to supply the student with items such as free clothing, food, toiletries, transportation, school supplies and even athletic equipment.
While many of those supplies are donated to schools, the department also receives funding from the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act to support students in need.
Students remain registered as a McKinney-Vento student and have access to resources as long as they’re enrolled in a Bangor school, even if they turn 18, Lord said. If students graduate, move to another school department or gain permanent housing, they’re removed from Bangor’s count.
