LEXINGTON, Kentucky (WKYT) – A Fayette County Public Schools program is assisting students experiencing homelessness.
The McKinney-Vento program in Fayette County tracks and supports homeless students. Program staff are noticing an increase in the number of homeless students from previous school years.
Last school year, the McKinney-Vento program identified nearly 1,100 students who had to leave school, up from about 900 the year before and just under 700 the year before that.
56% of last year’s displaced students are attending primary school.
Program Manager TC Johnson says she is already receiving requests for assistance for the upcoming school year and says the district is following the same path as last year regarding displaced students.
According to Johnson, rising rents and an increase in disasters such as house fires are to blame.
“It’s all the same trend as last year, because by September we already had 300 students identified. The question is how do we identify our students with the limited number of emergency shelters,” Johnson said.
In the Video aboveWKYT photojournalist Darnell Crenshaw shows us a photography project a group of students undertook over the summer to express what it’s like to be displaced and go to school.
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