Below is a listing of resources to help you work toward creating schools and classrooms where children feel they belong and will achieve.

Helping Children Cope with Hurricane Katrina
Please consider each of these general thoughts with an understanding that the levels of devastation for children will vary greatly, from one to the next, depending on what occurred for each of them during the hurricane. Also, some children may have had their greatest exposure through television and living fairly close to, but not in, the actual path of the storm. Some who live far away will have had family members in the midst of the storm. These are general guidelines and thoughts – amend as you see fit.
Developed by the Crisis Management Institute, www.cmionline.org.
http://www.cmionline.org/shop/images/cmi_cope_hurricane.pdf

Tips for Parents
This two-page guide gives suggestions for how best to support a child as he or she enters new schools at this challenging time.
Developed by the Crisis Management Institute, www.cmionline.org.
http://www.cmionline.org/shop/images/cmihk_tips_for_parents.pdf

Tips for Administrators
This two-page guide gives suggestions for how best to support your administrators as we help displaced students enter schools in our communities.
Developed by the Crisis Management Institute, www.cmionline.org.
http://www.cmionline.org/shop/images/cmi_tips_for_administrators.pdf

Tips for Counselors
This two-page guide gives suggestions for how best to support your staff as we help displaced students enter schools in our communities. Developed by the Crisis Management Institute, www.cmionline.org.
http://www.cmionline.org/shop/images/cmi_hk_tips_for_Counsel.pdf

Tips for Teachers
This two-page guide gives suggestions for how best to support your teachers as we help displaced students enter schools in our communities.
Developed by the Crisis Management Institute, www.cmionline.org.
http://www.cmionline.org/shop/images/cmihk_tips_for_teachers.pdf

Texas Homeless Education Office
THEO provides services to students who are in homeless and highly mobile situations. The U.S. Department of Education and the Texas Commissioner of Education have indicated that students who have been displaced by the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region are to be considered homeless. THEO is operated by the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
http://www.utdanacenter.org/theo/index.php

Caring for Kids after Trauma and Death: A Guide for Parents and Professionals
http://www.aboutourkids.org/aboutour/articles/crisis_guide02.pdf

Hurricane Help for Schools, U.S. Department of Education
Web page connects schools and organizations willing to help.
http://hurricanehelpforschools.gov/index.html

Letter to Chief State School Officers on whether the U.S. Department of Education will waive NCLB accountability provisions regarding assessments and adequate yearly progress for areas impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (Sep 29).
http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/secletter/050929.html

Request Student Records
Make requests to the Texas Education Agency at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or from links at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/taa/acct091605a1.doc.

Louisiana Policies
The Louisiana Department of Education has published all the memorandums of understandings, rulings, policies, etc., regarding displaced students and families online. http://www.louisianaschools.net

Louisiana Unemployment
Louisiana teachers can file for unemployment online with the Department of Labor. http://www.laworks.net

Louisiana TOPS Scholarships
http://www.osfa.state.la.us

Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Program
http://www.lachip.org

Louisiana Medicaid
http://www.Medicaid.dhh.louisiana.gov

Other Sources for Helping Children and Adolescents After a Disaster

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
www.aacap.org

Child Study Center, New York University
http://www.aboutourkids.org/

National Association of School Psychologists
www.nasponline.org/

Connect for Kids
www.connectforkids.org

National Center for PTSD
www.ncptsd.va.gov

[©2006, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Every effort has been made to maintain the content in its original form. However, accompanying charts and graphs may not be provided here. To receive a copy of the original article by mail or fax, please fill out our information request and feedback form. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]