BANGOR, Maine — Studies show a lack of stable housing severely hurts a child's ability to get an education.
According to Maine Department of Education, more than 2,000 students were homeless or experienced some kind of housing insecurity last year.
"How can you access your education if you're thinking, 'Where am I going to sleep tonight? I'm hungry. I haven't showered in days," Renee Perron, a social worker for the Bangor School Department, said.
For more than a decade, she has worked with dozens of students who do not have access to basic needs.
"You meet them where they are. They come to school and a lot of kids come to school to get their needs met like food," Perron said.
Many of those students also lack stable housing making support from the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act crucial for addressing their needs.
"We want to be able to offer those students whose housing is less stable than we would like the opportunity for a good education," Cathy Stankard, McKinney-Vento liaison for the Bangor School Department, said.
Her role is to determine whether a student qualifies as homeless under federal guidelines which defines homelessness as lacking a "fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence."
Once a student is identified as homeless, Stankard will work with the social workers and the guidance counselors to figure out support.
Another important part of her role is ensuring students remain in school even if they are temporarily staying outside the district by providing transportation and other necessary support.
"We don't want their lack of housing to drive their education," Stankard said.
That's why leaders in the Bangor School Department and across the state are working with their district's liaisons to identify students are in need.
"We don't want to miss anybody. A lot of kids won't come forth and say anything because they're afraid or they're embarrassed to, and we don't want students to not have their needs met," Kristi Lord, principal at Mary Snow School, said.
Last year, more than 90 students in the Bangor School District received McKinney-Vento support.