Includes updates and/or revisions
These are among the groups providing Web-based information or coordination to help schools, students, and educators affected by Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita.
American Council on Education/National Association of College and University Business Officers
www.campusrelief.org
Provides a list of colleges and universities in the Gulf region affected by the hurricanes and their current operational status. Also has a list of institutions offering temporary enrollment for students who had been enrolled at colleges affected by the hurricanes.
American Federation of Teachers
www.aft.org
Has set up a member-to-member locator site, in partnership with United Teachers of New Orleans, where UTNO members can provide current contact information and locate colleagues from the New Orleans public schools. Union has also started a relief fund for educators who were forced to evacuate their communities because of the hurricanes.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
www.ascd.org
Plans to sponsor a cadre of qualified ASCD members who wish to volunteer their time to meet the educational, health, and emotional needs of displaced students and the schools supporting them. Says it will commit $250,000 annually to the effort, and will add more money to aid the program through a special fundraising initiative.
Education Commission of the States
www.ecs.org
Tracking what states and federal agencies are doing to help students, teachers, schools, colleges, and universities affected by the hurricanes. Provides links to information and resources from state and federal agencies.
HurricaneHousing.org (A Project of MoveOn.org)
www.hurricanehousing.org
Serves as a clearinghouse for evacuees to find free temporary housing and for people to offer free housing to displaced people. People using the site can note that they would prefer to offer housing to educators or school support personnel.
National Association for College Admission Counseling
www.nacac.com
Monitoring the effects that the hurricanes are likely to have on high school students’ postsecondary educational opportunities. Has established an online message board for people to alert NACAC to problems for Gulf Coast students who are planning to go to college or those from outside the region who were considering attending colleges affected by the hurricanes.
National Association of Independent Schools
www.nais.org
Serving as a clearinghouse to enroll private school students displaced by the hurricanes in other private schools.
National Association of School Psychologists
www.nasponline.org
Offers guidance on how to help displaced students feel comfortable at their new schools and provides tips for dealing with children experiencing emotional trauma.
National Association of State Boards of Education
www.nasbe.org
Has collected state policies about teacher licensure and reciprocity that may be helpful to schools accepting teachers and students from Hurricane-affected areas. The site also contains a compilation of state responses to the needs of evacuated students.
National Catholic Educational Association
www.ncea.org
Overseeing a fundraising effort to raise $1 from every Catholic school student in the country to be used for the educational needs of Catholic schoolchildren who had to leave their communities because of the hurricanes.
National Center for Homeless Education
www.serve.org/nche
Provides resources related to schools’ enrollment of student evacuees, federal policies on providing meals to those schoolchildren, and psychological help for such children.
National Council of Education Providers
www.educationproviders.org
Has established a Children’s Emergency School Hotline, (800) 291-7809, to direct families to schools in surrounding states that can immediately enroll their children. The group, which advocates school choice, also plans to set up an online charter school to serve evacuees wherever they are, once those students have access to computers and the Internet.
National Education Association
www.nea.org
Union is overseeing a fundraising effort to raise $1 million that will go directly to students, teachers, and other school employees affected by the hurricanes. Also has set up an online service to help displaced teachers find jobs.
U.S. Department of Education
www.ed.gov/katrina
Site is designed to help provide supplies to schools serving students displaced by the hurricanes. Schools can request aid or offer to provide help to schools that need it.
VSKOOL
www.vskool.org
A consortium of online learning organizations, virtual schools, education institutions, companies, nonprofit groups, and foundations working to provide online classes and tutoring for displaced K-12 students.
Source: Education Week
