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As the Foster Care Education Program team begins planning for the 2023-2024 school year, we want to hear from the foster care liaisons and building points of contact! Those of you working with our students have valuable input and feedback that will help guide our work.
Please take about 10-15 minutes to fill out the survey for us. We greatly appreciate it!
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At our 3.15.23 Foster Care Education Training the question was asked about whether the WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Activities Association) was required to follow the foster care provisions of allowing students to enroll and attend without the required paperwork in sports.
Below is some guidance on caselaw around this.
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As an entity intertwined with public school activities, the WIAA is bound by federal law. Regulation or administration of varsity interscholastic sports activities has been determined by the Washington State Supreme Court to constitute state action, as it is intertwined with federal and state education funding. Darrin v. Gould, 85 Wn.2d 859, 891, 540 P.2d 882 (1975).
The interscholastic sports system controlled and supported by school membership and cooperation necessarily involving the use of public funds is state action ….
Id. Additionally, local education agency is defined as:
(26) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY –
(A) IN GENERAL – The term local educational agency means a … public authority legally constituted within a state for either administrative control or direction of, or perform a service function for, … secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of a state, or for a combination of school districts or counties ….
20 U.S.C. §9101(26)(A). The District Eligibility Committee and the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association fit the federal statutory definition.
You can find the OSPI Bulletin Here:
What is the OSPI Re-envisioning Truancy Project?
Through this project, OSPI will explore, with our partners, equitable truancy policies and practices that will engage and support all youth to access their education. OSPI will do this by engaging with students and families with lived experience of the truancy process, and our education partners who implement the truancy laws. See the complete project description attached.
What is our Goal?
We will be engaging stakeholders to develop policy and funding recommendations for OSPI leadership.
What is our Commitment to Youth and Families?
We will engage youth and families in the following manner:
- Culturally and linguistically appropriate
- Trauma-informed and asset-based
- Youth and families as active participants in making meaning of qualitative data and shaping recommendations
- Youth and families will be compensated for their time
What is the Advisory Network and what is the Commitment?
The first purpose of the network is to keep our critical partners in truancy informed. By signing up, you will receive regular updates on the data collection, sense-making and recommendation development. You will have the opportunity to participate in the following ways:
- Assist with recruiting youth, families, and education partners to participate in listening sessions, interviews and surveys (you could volunteer yourself as well!)
- Review and provide remote feedback on the questions that will be asked
- Share the survey(s) to your networks and colleagues
- Review and provide remote feedback on recommendations
Because the primary form of engagement will be remote, you can give the time and effort that works for you.
If you are interested in signing up, please email jenna.millett@k12.wa.us
You can learn more about the project here:
Make sure you are checking in on your foster care student’s attendance regularly. If you are the Foster Care Liaison or the Building Point of Contact, work together to determine which one of you will take some time every week to go into student attendance records to see how those students are doing attendance wise.
Keep in mind RCW 28A.225.023 - Youth subject to a dependency proceeding—Review of unexpected or excessive absences—Support for youth's schoolwork.
Also, make sure you know who your Truancy Officer is in your school or district so that you can work with them any time issues arise.
Last, remember that building relationships with students is the best indicator of success!
Once a student in foster care is no longer the subject of a dependency proceeding, they no longer qualify for some of the services they are afforded under federal and state law.
One thing they do continue to qualify for is free or reduced meals. Once a free or reduced-price eligibility determination has been made, the student maintains that determination for the whole school year. Please make sure those students who have left foster care during the school year are still receiving those free meals.
While students in foster care may no longer qualify for services such as transportation and fees and fines paid by DCYF, please keep in mind that as these students return home, they will still need to be supported and will continue to need your advocacy for educational stability.
As discussed in the 3.15.2023 Foster Care Education Training, DCYF Social Workers CANNOT sign the IEP as a parent representative. They can attend IEP meetings and provide information and input, but they cannot act in the capacity as a parent.
IDEA defines parent as:
- A biological or adoptive parent of a child;
- A foster parent, unless State law, regulations, or contractual obligations with a State or local entity prohibit a foster parent from acting as a parent;
- A guardian generally authorized to act as the child’s parent, or authorized to make educational decisions for the child (but not the State if the child is a ward of the State);
- An individual acting in the place of a biological or adoptive parent (including a grandparent, stepparent, or other relative) with whom the child lives, or an individual who is legally responsible for the child’s welfare; or
- A surrogate parent who has been appointed in accordance with §300.519 or section 639(a)(5) of the Act.
Federal law specifically prohibits employees of the state education agency, personnel at the child’s school, or employees of any agency involved in the child’s education or care from serving as the child’s surrogate parent.
Please share this information with your school district special education staff.
We hope you all have a happy, healthy, relaxing, and fun spring break!
OSPI Foster Care Education Office 360-725-6505| fostercare@k12.wa.us
Stacey Klim, Foster Care Program Supervisor | stacey.klim@k12.wa.us
Savanna Cavalletto, Foster Care Program Specialist | savanna.cavalletto@k12.wa.us
Kiersten Bradney, Administrative Assistant 3 | kiersten.bradney@k12.wa.us
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