Resources for States Affected by the Recent Hurricanes

• IDRA Newsletter • January 2006 •

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

https://med.nyu.edu/child-adolescent-psychiatry/

Hurricane Help for Schools, U.S. Department of Education

Web page connects schools and organizations willing to help.

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 LSRhelp@sea.state.tx.us

Louisiana Policies

The Louisiana Department of Education has published all the memorandums of understandings, rulings, policies, etc., regarding displaced students and families online.

Louisiana Unemployment

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

Louisiana TOPS Scholarships

Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Program

http://new.dhh.louisiana.gov/index.cfm/page/222

Louisiana Medicaid

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

Other Sources for Helping Children and Adolescents After a Disaster

Comments and questions may be directed via e-mail at feedback@idra.org.

[©2006, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the January 2006 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. 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.]

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