Paige Walters,
Montgomery County Public Schools

Welcome to the Project Hope Virginia podcast, Empowering Voices in Homeless Education and McKinney-Vento. 

Kate Miller: I am Kate Miller, Training and Communication Specialist for Project Hope, the Office of the State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth here in Virginia. As we continue to highlight the work of McKinney-Vento liaisons, community partners and advocates here in Virginia and across the country, I’m thrilled to welcome our guest today, Paige Walters, a McKinney-Vento liaison from Montgomery County Public Schools here in Virginia. And I’m excited to learn more about the amazing work that Paige does to identify and support students facing housing instability, as well as how she and the rest of her team work tirelessly to ensure that those students get the support they need to succeed in school. So Paige, thank you so much for joining us today.

Paige Walters, MCPS: Well, thank you so much for having me.

Kate Miller: And before we jump into our questions, I would like to ask you if you could talk a little bit about how long you’ve been in your role as a McKinney-Vento liaison, the approximate number of students that you support, and then if you could describe the demographic and community makeup of Montgomery County.

Paige Walters, MCPS: Sure, so although I’ve been with the division for 20 years, I’m just finishing up my second year as the McKinney-Vento liaison. And I have served about, each of the two years that I’ve been here, we’ve served about 190 students experiencing homelessness, but we are a division of just under 10,000 students. We make up four different communities, and although we’re a rural district, I would say, the demographics among our communities are very different. We have two very rural communities within Montgomery County Public Schools and then two that are not quite so rural, one being Blacksburg which is home to Virginia Tech and so it has a very different demographic than our other communities.

Kate Miller: So that being said, and I know you said you have about 190 students that you support. I feel like that might be a bit of a surprise to people who are listening from your area. But could you talk about some of the most significant challenges that you see those students facing apart from homelessness itself as you support them?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Well, I, you know, see it as the students, but also as the families in general are struggling with. Many struggle with transportation. We have obviously a really good transportation bus system through two of our, you know, communities that aren’t quite so rural, but really no transportation in the two areas that are very rural. Our housing market, as in most places, is just extremely high right now. High wait lists for low income housing. We’re lacking shelters in our areas. So that all kind of covers the, you know, homelessness part. And I think that we struggle sometimes with some of the community resources that are available to these students and to these families, because our definition of homelessness within education is so different than the definition of homelessness within the community. So the majority of my families are doubled up or in hotels and that doesn’t qualify them for some of the supports that they’re able to get through the community.

Kate Miller: Talking about the challenges that those students are facing due to their housing instability, could you describe some of the challenges within school, within the classroom, that you see them coming in with because of the lack of stability they’ve had outside of school?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Sure. So I think most of the students that are coming in throughout the school day, school obviously is not the priority for many of them because they’re just trying to survive. They don’t get good night’s sleep because they’re doubled up with lots of people or lots of people within a hotel room, that kind of thing. They come in hungry at times. We obviously like all Virginia schools when someone qualifies for McKinney-Vento, they get free lunch and breakfast here, but that doesn’t always mean that they’ve had dinner, or they’ve had good nutrition before they get here. So a lot of them have experienced a lot of trauma, whether the trauma is just being homeless in itself or whether it be living with people who may have some mental illness or substance abuse. You know, even when you’re living doubled up with somebody that, maybe it’s even a family member that you’re close to, when you’re in that close quarters with someone for that long, there tend to be conflicts and things within the people that are all living there and so that can sometimes they can bring that to school as well. I think they’re not able to participate in some of the activities that we see other kids participate in, either financially or transportation wise or families just don’t have the resources themselves, you know, even mentally to be able to provide for some of the things that they need in order to be in those programs and those activities that are taking place outside of school.

Kate Miller: Thanks, that’s really helpful to hear that kind of bigger picture of the way that these students aren’t, you know, they’re facing homelessness, but they’re facing so many other obstacles as well as a result of that lack of stability. I know you talked about the differences in the definition of homelessness between HUD and McKinney-Vento, the education definition of homeless, and that kind of prevents some of these students being able to access certain services. 

Kate Miller: So I think that leads kind of into my next question of as a liaison from the position you’re in. Can you talk about the barriers that you face in not just identifying these students, but connecting them to supports when they need them?

Paige Walters, MCPS: I think over the past couple years, I’ve really seen our schools and especially our front office staff get much better at identifying these students and watching for some of the signs, as well as just paying attention to what they’re writing on their housing questionnaires and things like that and making sure they’re getting that information to me, but unfortunately I do feel like we still rely heavily on self-reporting. You know, someone writing down that they’re doubled up, that kind of thing. Whereas I think there’s a lot of families out there that maybe we’re missing that haven’t self-reported. I also think that we sometimes miss some of the unaccompanied homeless youth. And I think that is because even though I do a lot of trainings, I’m not sure that everyone completely understands that even when a student chooses to leave home or a parent has said, well, they can come back anytime they want, then sometimes people within the schools don’t see that as a McKinney-Vento, a possible McKinney-Vento referral. And so I think we miss a lot of unaccompanied homeless youth that are living with friends and other relatives, especially in the high schools.

Kate Miller: That’s really helpful to hear too. Just that definition of homelessness for our older youth is so important to make everybody in the schools aware that even if their parents are saying they can come home, maybe it’s not a safe situation for them to do so.

Kate Miller: So what have you found in navigating those barriers? What systems have you found to be most effective in overcoming them for identifying and supporting students?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Well, obviously our housing questionnaire that we do when anyone enrolls has been a huge piece of identifying. It not only asks if they’re doubled up, but it also goes into more specifics about: are you living in a hotel? Are you doubled up with a family member? And is it because of economic hardship? That kind of thing. I think over the years we have made our housing questionnaire something that makes it easier to identify. I also think that having a strong partnership with your front office staff and counselors and being available to them, being at their meetings, doing some really detailed training with them has really been key for us in making those identifications. I’ve seen even a difference between the first year I was here and the second year I was here that people are feeling more comfortable to call me and say, hey, I think this happened and would you check in on this student.

Kate Miller: That’s great. Speaking of working with different school division partners for training and things like that, can you talk about some of the common misconceptions that you’ve encountered about students experiencing homelessness, whether it’s within your schools or in the broader community?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Honestly, I think the biggest misconception is that we don’t have any students experiencing homelessness. I myself, even being in the division for 20 years, was actually shocked a little bit when I came into this position and saw how many students we do have in that position. I was not aware of that. And we had a news article in our paper done last summer that talked about students within the division that were experiencing homelessness and some of the things that we we had going on for them and I was shocked at the number of people from the community that got in touch with me that had absolutely no idea that we had students in the school system that we’re experiencing this. So I think for the community, a lot of people still look at homelessness as that stereotypical picture of somebody on the side of the road with a sign or living under a tent or under a bridge, that kind of thing. I don’t think that they think about homelessness in the ways that we see families experience it here in the school system. And I think to some level it’s the same within the schools. I think they are more aware because they live it everyday, that we have students that are struggling, but I think even, I would say, staff within the school system has been surprised at how many we do have.

Kate Miller: Right. Well, that connects really well, I think, to our next question for you, which is, I know you do a lot of work with awareness among your staff. So I was wondering if you could talk about the approach that you do take to raise awareness among school staff and administrators as well as community partners, so that they get that better understanding of not just the fact that there are students facing homelessness, but the different barriers that they’re facing.

Paige Walters, MCPS: Sure. So I think my biggest goal has just been to get myself out there and get myself in front of as many groups as I can get myself in front of. So I typically each year try to train. Obviously we put our video in front of all staff that explains what McKinney-Vento is, but then I try to go into individual group meetings when it comes to our principals, our assistant principals, counselors, administrative assistants and registrars, school nurses, bus drivers. I try to get in front of all those people and do a training specific to them. I’m also one of my goals this year was to get in front of more community agencies. And so I reached out to, you know, our NRVCS, our mental health people that come into our schools and work and national counseling group and I’m going to be speaking with them. I’m going to be speaking with the Department of Social Services and I’m also going to be speaking with our Virginia Preschool Initiative group and talking with them. I try to get out into the community and do any kind of just informal talks about what we do and what I could use within the school system for their support. But I really think it’s just getting yourself out there. I’ve seen a lot of different boards and I’ve asked to speak at those meetings as well just to give everyone an idea of what I do and help them understand how they can refer people from the situations and the organizations that they’re in, if they see families in their part of the world that come in, school-aged children.

Kate Miller: That’s really wonderful. Can you talk about beyond getting those students enrolled once they’ve been identified, some of the programming that you and your team do throughout the school year to make sure that once they are in school they’re getting those supports that they need to stay there and to succeed while they’re there?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Sure. So my team is me. We do not have, I do this job myself. Unfortunately, we have not in the past had social workers or anything like that. So I rely a lot on the school counselors to some degree, but I also put on a lot of these things either through student services or just myself. We do have a back to school bash in the summer, typically a week or two before school starts, where I invite McKinney-Vento families to come. They receive backpacks. They’re able to shop for a backpack. Everything’s free, obviously, but we’d like for them to pick it out, pick out school supplies, hygiene items. We have tried to be able to provide Walmart store cards for them to get some new school clothes and things that they might need. We have a place where they can do an intake with me if they haven’t met me yet. We have tables with Head Start and our preschool programs where they can fill out those registrations. This year we’re going to have haircuts that they can access if they want to, as well as there’s a lot of community people there, our shelters, our community health centers, New River Community Action, which is sort of the intake for all of our housing, legal aid–I tried to think of like anything I can think of that they might need to access. And so they’re able to do that over the summer. When a student comes onto my caseload, they receive some resources from me. Typically it’s a store card to get some school clothes, some hygiene items. I try to keep air mattresses, pillows and sheets on hand. A lot of them are living in really tight spaces with a lot of people. So a lot of them are looking for things like sleeping bags or air mattresses. So I’m able to give them things like that. We also do a senior dinner for our seniors that are graduating and we’re able to provide dinner for them. I have been able in the past, hopefully the funding will still continue, I’ll still be able to find the funding. They each get a Chromebook when they graduate to help them with, you know, what they need for college, what they need for applying for jobs, all of that kind of stuff. And we try to make sure that all of our unaccompanied homeless youth have a cell phone or some way to get in touch with the school and for us to get in touch with them. Because sometimes they disappear for days and we’re not sure where they are. And we would just want to make sure that we can always keep in touch with them. And so I always like to make sure that they have a cell phone that I can text them and just always kind of know where they are. So those are some of the things that we do outside of just our normal work.

Kate Miller: Right. That’s really amazing to hear about all of the different touch points that you’ve thought of to make sure that those students feel supported, like things that many of us might otherwise take for granted. Those of us who aren’t facing housing instability like, you know, making sure they get a fresh haircut and they don’t just get a free backpack, but they get to pick that backpack out and pick that first day of school outfit out themselves and making sure that students feel celebrated and supported when they’re graduating. So just kudos to you for all of that extra time and effort that you’re putting into making sure that they not only get to school, but they feel supported throughout. 

Kate Miller: Just thinking about this summer, sometimes we have some turnover in liaison positions. We get new liaisons during the summer. And having stepped into this role not so long ago yourself, what would be some of that advice that you would share with a new liaison stepping into this really significant position?

Paige Walters, MCPS: Probably my biggest piece of advice would be that you can’t save everyone and you really have to set some boundaries for your own mental health, so that you don’t burn out quickly. Because I think it’s very easy to just take on all the sadness that you see and want to help and save everyone. I think I fell into that a little bit my first year and took a lot home with me, had my phone on 24/7, was constantly worried about, you know, families, which I think is great and normal, but I think it’s really important to go into it setting some clear boundaries so that you can be your best self for these families. Otherwise, you know, your mental health starts to, you start to struggle with that and then you’re not your best self. I also think to definitely give yourself two years, I think two years to get acclimated to this position. I’m going into year three and I feel like I’m just now really understanding what the position is and putting all the pieces of the puzzle together and understanding how it all relates. And I mean, I understood pieces or I had checklists of things that I needed to do, but now I feel like I’m finally beginning to see the bigger picture of it all. And so I think being, you know, giving yourself some grace that there’s a lot of pieces to this position. And especially if you’re trying to do it alone or you’re trying to do it while you have several, you’re wearing several other hats within a school division, you can only do what you can do. And I spent honestly, most of the first two years just going by this quote that said, “it feels scary because it’s unfamiliar, not because you’re incapable.” And I kept telling myself that, because there were times I was like, I have no idea what I’m doing. And I just kept saying, it’s just because you’re unfamiliar and it is. I think by this year, I’m now beginning to really understand what’s happening and feeling much more capable.

Kate Miller: That’s a great quote, I think for anybody in a new position, but especially for new liaisons and just remembering to take care of themselves. Because if you’re not taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of other people. Yeah, those are all really good pieces of advice. For my last question or request, would you be willing to share a success story that keeps you motivated in your work?

Paige Walters, MCPS: I think I was sort of thinking about that the other day and I definitely think I have a really special place in my heart for the seniors, and when they graduate that feels very successful to me. We had a senior last year that graduated, went on for a full scholarship and has done great. He’s been in touch with me. He’s in leadership roles there. He’s doing so well. We had such a, you know, I spent so much time with him in that last little bit trying to get him to the finish line. But I think beyond students, one thing I’ve been really proud of, this past year that I felt like has been a really big success that I think others other liaisons need to hear, is that I’ve been able to advocate for this position with, you know, our leadership to the point where, you know, in the past, this position has been funded through a McKinney-Vento, our grant through McKinney-Vento federal funds at 90 % of the position. And I was able to advocate through data and through, you know, weekly meetings with the Superintendent to show that this, to ask and show why it was needed that they take on my salary through the school board budget and which would leave much more money for us to spend actually on the students. And so that finally got passed where as of July 1st the school division is going to be taking on my salary. They’ve made the position full time, which I think is really important. I think it’s hard to be gone during the summer when so much of the work you know for the beginning of the year, it needs to start there. And on top of that, I was able to advocate for a social worker that’s going to be coming in at the end of July working in student services part-time for me and part-time for non McKinney-Vento students. But I just think that those are all big wins. So I really, for those liaisons out there who are struggling with trying to do this themselves or wearing too many hats, it’s worth having a conversation with your leadership to let them know how important this role is.

Kate Miller: That’s wonderful to hear. I didn’t realize that your role had been taken on full time by the division and that just speaks to your ability to not just support students, but to advocate for them and to advocate for your program as well. And now more than ever, all of us have to work on advocating for this program and just demonstrating how important it is and what an impact that it’s having. That’s really amazing to hear.

I want to thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Again, it’s so clear from everything that you’ve shared, the tremendous impact that you’re having on students in Montgomery County. And I just, I thank you for that. And to our listeners who would like to learn more about the work of all of our liaisons across Virginia, or to find out who your local liaison is, you can go to www.projecthopevirginia.org. If you found today’s conversation meaningful, please share it with someone who might be inspired and consider subscribing so that you don’t miss an episode.

Paige Walters, MCPS: And I just want to say thank you for having me, thank you for letting me share a small piece of what Montgomery County Public Schools is doing. And although I am a one person team, I couldn’t do it without the entire division in the community that really backs me up and supports me. So I’m grateful to have a village around me for sure.