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District family navigators report 130 McKinney-Vento students, expanded behavioral-health and transportation supports
Summary
Family navigators told the board the district identified 130 McKinney-Vento (homeless) students in 2024–25, served 374 unique students August–March, expanded behavioral-health referrals and rolled out translation devices to improve communication with families.
Port Angeles School District family navigators Alicia Scofield and Summer Cooper reported to the board April 24 on services for students experiencing housing instability, foster care and other barriers to attendance and participation.
"In the 2024-25 school year, we have 130 students that are identified as McKinney Vento," Summer Cooper said, noting that figure is down from 150 the previous year and up from 122 in 2022–23. She added that 21 of those students are unaccompanied (not living with a parent or guardian).
Cooper described the navigators’ roles: McKinney-Vento liaison services, foster-care advocacy, truancy and attendance support, CARES team involvement, rides for families to school and meetings, and connection to community resources. She said the district partners with DSHS and community providers to help unaccompanied youth obtain IDs, birth certificates and other documentation required for services.
The navigators provided usage and referral figures for August–March: they reported serving 374 individual students (about 10% of district enrollment) and noted an increase from 308 unique students the prior year. The mobile mental-health clinic and downtown behavioral-health clinic received referrals: Cooper reported 35 unique patients who made appointments that were not prior patients, 45 new patients referred to intake, and a total of 241 appointments during the period.
The navigators also described transportation support (rides to school, CARES meetings, court and events) and heavy field mileage on district vans: on one recent day they logged more than 40 miles and sometimes up to 60 miles in a single day to reach families. Truancy work, including serving petitions and court attendance, has increased.
To reduce language barriers, the team purchased pocket translation devices that support roughly 84 languages and can translate two-way speech and photos of documents. "When you think about removing barriers, this is going to be huge," Cooper said, explaining the devices will help communicate with bilingual families and those whose first language is an indigenous dialect.
Board members praised the navigators’ work and said the program has received outside attention; one director said similar programs around the state had contacted Port Angeles for information. Board members discussed the potential to expand navigator coverage if funding allowed.
The navigators acknowledged support from central staff (Rhonda, Troy and Carol) and community partners including the Port Angeles Education Foundation and the Boys & Girls Club.
