May 2025

2025-2026 Annual Training Options for Local Homeless Liaisons

As required annually by 704 KAR 7:090, each district’s homeless liaison must receive Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) approved training. Beginning in August 2025 and for the 2025-2026 school year, liaisons will have three opportunities to engage in the professional learning approved by KDE.

While it is recommended that homeless liaisons engage in all three options listed below, KDE is aware that your schedules and/or budgets may not allow participation in all the opportunities. KDE strongly recommends your participation and engagement in Option 1 (attending a regional meeting). 

All liaisons, even those unable to attend a regional meeting, are asked to complete the Homeless Liaison Professional Learning Registration form before May 30. Please use the registration form to request necessary accommodations for professional learning events.

• Option #1: Regional Meeting (Preferred and Strongly Recommended):

KDE will be hosting five regional trainings focused on best practices in homeless education. These trainings will be held from September through October 2025 and they will benefit district staff who are responsible for providing support to students experiencing homelessness.

All regional training sessions are scheduled to take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. local time. Four EILA credit hours will be awarded for attending a regional meeting. If a liaison is unable to attend the session closest to their district, they may register for another session on the day when they are available.

• Bowling Green Area: Sept. 8 at the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (230 Technology Way, Bowling Green)
• Paducah Area: Sept. 9 at the Paducah Head Start Preschool (2200 Washington St., Paducah)
• Central Kentucky: Sept. 30 at the Kentucky Department of Education (300 Sower Blvd., 1st Floor, Frankfort)
• Northern Kentucky: Oct. 21 at the Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services (5516 East Alexandria Pike, Cold Springs)  
• Eastern Kentucky: Oct. 28 at the Kentucky Educational Development Corporation (904 Rose Road, Ashland)

• Option #2 Online Book Study: Homeless liaisons may participate in a series of four digital book study meetings hosted by KDE in the fall of 2025. Liaisons who do not have a copy of "Serving Students Who Are Homeless: A Resource Guide for Schools, Districts, and Educational Leaders" (by Hallett and Skrla) must notify Zach Stumbo by email as soon as possible to make arrangements for getting a copy of the book. Future communications from KDE will include additional specifics and dates for the digital book study meetings.
• Option #3 NAEHCY Conference: Homeless liaisons may attend the 2025 National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas, on Nov. 1-4. You also can engage in the conference through a virtual setting. Information regarding the conference agenda, fees, travel and lodging information can be found on the 2025 NAEHCY Annual Conference website. If liaisons participate in the conference experience to fulfill their annual training requirement, certificates of participation must be emailed to Jennifer White upon the conclusion of the conference.

2025 Persistence to Graduation Summit Registration Information

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) Division of Student Success is hosting the 2025 Persistence to Graduation Summit at the Hilton in downtown Lexington on June 12-13. This year’s theme will be “Elevating Student Voice.”

Superintendents, district-level personnel, school administrators, school counselors, educators, family resource and youth services center coordinators, school mental health and social service professionals, and community partners from across Kentucky will convene to share information and best practices to support students who may experience challenges to reaching graduation. Engaging and interactive sessions will be led by facilitators from across the state and will include: 

• Student Transition and Re-engagement Strategies; 
• Alternative Education Programming; 
• Well-Rounded Educational Opportunities; 
• Safe and Supportive Learning Environments; and 
• Effective Use of Education Technology. 

These sessions are designed to be more engaging than the typical “sit and get” format of most conferences. They are structured to encourage dialogue and exchanges that leverage the expertise of the session participants as well as the session leaders. Facilitators will engage with participants throughout the session and help cultivate an interactive experience, mirroring the type of interactions that take place in highly engaging classrooms. Participants will have prior access to any materials submitted by facilitators.

Attending this summit is voluntary and it will not fulfill annual training requirements for local homeless liaisons. Registration for the summit is available at no cost to participants through Title IV, Part A funding, but registration is limited to the first 300.

For more information, contact Lalah Brewer.

Data Spotlight: Best Practices for PII and Data Resources

State Homeless Coordinator Zach Stumbo recently presented during the Homeless Data Standards and Reporting End of Year Session. Those who missed the presentation may review a recorded copy online. Those choosing to watch the recorded training session are encouraged to follow along with the Data Standard Homeless Children and Youth during your viewing

Please share the training session and supportive document with the relevant staff in your schools who work with behavior data collection and reporting.

Personally identifiable information (PII) is information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual’s identity, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual. For consolidated monitoring, this would include the student’s name​ along with anything else that can be linked to that name to identify the student, including, but not limited to:

• Student’s parent/ guardian or other family member names​
• Student or family’s address​
• Personal identifiers, such as social security, student identification number, etc.​
• Other direct identifiers, i.e., student’s date of birth, place of birth and mother’s maiden name​

When KDE reviews documentation for Title I, Part A or McKinney-Vento program compliance during monitoring, PII-level data is typically not required. For example, a spreadsheet with individual student names and assessment scores does not demonstrate program compliance. Documents showing the analysis of that assessment data and how the analysis led to actionable items (meeting minutes, plans for next steps, etc.) helps demonstrate that a school uses assessment data to identify needs and develop a needs-based program.

NAEHCY National Conference 2025 Location and Dates

The 2025 National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) Conference is scheduled Nov. 1-4 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, Texas.

If you have questions about attending the conference, please email Zach Stumbo.

Previous Newsletters

If you have missed a previous issue of the Homeless Children and Youth Newsletter, copies are archived on the KDE Homeless Children and Youth webpage. 

CONTACTS

State Coordinator:
Zach Stumbo, Ph.D.
(502) 564-1473, ext. 4020