A student enrolled in a virtual academy (and withdrew from the local school) last year. Then the student lost housing. I understand the virtual school is the school of origin. However, this school year, the student is withdrawing from the virtual academy and re-enrolling in in-person school. The student continues to be eligible under McKinney-Vento. However, when the student became homeless last year, the student moved to a different local attendance area. Now that the student is re-enrolling in in-person school, the student wants to return to the school they were attending before entering the virtual academy. Does the student have the right to re-enroll in the school they attended before enrolling in the virtual academy or are they required to enroll in the local attendance area school?

A: School of origin “means the school that a child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled, including a preschool.” 42 USC 11432(g)(3)(I)(i). In this situation, the school the child attended when permanently housed was the virtual academy, since the student lost housing after enrolling there. The virtual academy also is the school in which the child was last enrolled. Since the student was already enrolled in and attending the virtual academy when they lost housing, it is the school the student last enrolled and attended when permanently housed. The student would only have rights to the virtual academy as a school of origin in this scenario. The in-person school last attended would not meet the definition of school of origin.

However, if the previous in-person school had been the school that the student attended when last permanently housed and the virtual academy was the school in which the student was last enrolled, it would have been possible for the student to have two schools of origin. In this case, a best interest determination would need to be made.

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