School Help for Students Without Stable Housing at Brandywine Heights

Students count as homeless if they lack a fixed, regular and nighttime residence. That includes students sharing the housing of other people because of loss of housing or economic hardship; living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds because there is no adequate alternative; living in an emergency, transitional or domestic violence shelter; abandoned in hospitals; living in public or private places not designed for or ordinarily used as regular sleeping accommodations; living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, transportation stations or similar settings; migratory children living in those conditions; runaway children; children abandoned or forced out of their homes by parents, guardians or caretakers; and school age unwed mothers in houses for unwed mothers who have no other living accommodations.

Unaccompanied youth are included. That means any child who is "not in the physical custody of a parent or guardian," including youth who have run away from home, been thrown out, been abandoned by parents or guardians, or separated from their parents for any other reason.

What the McKinney-Vento Act requires:

• Homeless students who move have the right to remain in their school of origin, meaning the school the student attended when permanently housed or was last enrolled in, including preschools, if that is in the student's best interest.
• If changing schools is in the student's best interest, the student must be enrolled immediately in the new school, even without the records normally required for enrollment.
• Transportation must be provided to and from the school of origin at the request of a parent, guardian, or, for an unaccompanied youth, the local liaison.
• Students must have access to all programs and services they are eligible for, including special education services, preschool, school nutrition programs, language assistance for English learners, career and technical education, gifted and talented programs, magnet schools, charter schools, summer learning, online learning, and before and after-school care.
• Unaccompanied youth must be enrolled immediately without proof of guardianship.
• Parents, guardians and unaccompanied youth have the right to dispute an eligibility, school selection or enrollment decision.

For questions about homelessness, contact the district's Homeless Liaison, Dr. Mandi Kercher, Director of Pupil Services, at 610-682-5181. The page prints her email address two ways, showing manker@bhasd.org in the text while the email link on that same text goes to renree@bhasd.org, so calling is the surer way to reach her. The district office is at 200 W. Weis St., Topton, Pennsylvania 19562, and the general district number is 610-682-5100.

The page does not give office hours, and it does not say what happens after you make contact or what to bring. It does not state any cost.

The page also links to community help, including dialing 211 to find help, Family Promise of Berks County, the Berks County Coalition to End Homelessness and a Pennsylvania homeless shelter directory, along with a BHASD Resource Guide, a BHASD ECYEH Family Handbook and an educational rights poster.

Source: bhasd.org/page/homelessness, read September 18, 2026.

The details

In Brandywine Heights Area School District’s words

The Brandywine Heights Area School District believes that that homeless youth should have access to free and appropriate public education and wishes to limit the barriers that homeless students may face. Our goal is to have the educational process continue as uninterrupted as possible while children are in homeless situations.

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