Baltimore County school administrators have agreed to do more to help homeless students get to class in a tentative settlement of a federal class-action lawsuit, officials said.
The agreement could end a two-year suit filed by four homeless students and their parents who claimed Baltimore County school officials violated federal regulations that require help in school transportation and enrollment for homeless students. The statute requires the school system to allow homeless students to chose between the school they attended before they became homeless or transferring to another school ? and provide transportation.
“It gives homeless students an opportunity not to bounce around schools as they bounce from shelter to shelter or one family to anther,” said Sally Dworak-Fisher, an attorney with the Public Justice Center, a Baltimore advocacy group. “It protects homeless students? rights to continuity.”
The agreement, tentatively approved last week by District Court Judge Catherine Blake, requires the county to work harder to identify homeless students, provide a choice in schools and start transportation within four days. The school system can provide a school bus, pay for public transportation or a taxi, or give the parent gas money, according to the settlement notice.
Baltimore County?s homeless student population has increased by about 200 per year since 2003 and now hovers at about 1,200, said school spokeswoman Kara Calder.
Transporting homeless students is not a problem unique to Baltimore County, said Calder, who added the system was pleased the lawsuit didn?t require a trial.
“I think that?s an indication that everyone is willing to work together to do what we need to do under the law, and certainly on behalf of children,” Calder said.
The federal court is hosting a public hearing June 13 to determine if the settlement is sufficient.
