Part of the student services offered by the Armona Union Elementary School District are the McKinney-Vento and Foster Youth programs. Students who do not have a permanent residence and are living in hotels, cars, shelters, etc. are identified as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Act. Students are identified as Foster Youth when they move often or change foster care placements more than once during a school year.
The goal of these programs is to offer homeless and foster youth students the same educational rights and opportunities as other students to assist them in succeeding at school. AUESD is dedicated to provide educational stability, equal access to public education, and academic success to these two populations of students by providing the following services students identified as McKinney-Vento or Foster Youth:
- The right to stay at the same school for the duration of homelessness or foster youth status.
- Immediate enrollment in any AUESD school.
- Automatic eligibility for the free and reduced meal program.
- McKinney-Vento students also receive school bus transportation to and from their school of origin within AUESD even if they move out of the district’s area during the school year.