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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said this week that the city will sue the Trump administration if it instructs federal immigration enforcement agents to detain Denver residents at schools, churches, hospitals, and other “sensitive locations.”

“If individuals are scared to go to the hospital if they’re sick or scared to take their children to school, it can have devastating impacts on the entire community,” a mayoral spokesperson wrote in response to questions from Chalkbeat about a Wednesday press release from Johnston’s office called “ICYMI: Denver’s Commonsense Approach to Trump Mass Deportation Plan.”

“If President Trump instructs ICE to begin going into the sensitive locations, Denver is prepared to take the administration to court and do everything within our legal authority to keep them safe,” the mayoral spokesperson wrote.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced Tuesday that they had rescinded a decades-old policy that treated schools and child care centers, among other institutions, as sensitive locations where immigration enforcement should generally not take place. Instead, the department is instructing immigration agents to use “common sense.”

Asked whether the city would sue proactively to prevent raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, at schools or whether its legal action would be in response to an incident, Johnston’s office said that “[s]hould the Trump Administration take any action in Denver we believe is unlawful, we will respond with legal challenges.”

Denver Public Schools has issued its own guidance to schools on what to do if ICE agents show up. The guidance says school staff should at first deny the agents entry and place the school on a secure perimeter, which means no one is allowed in or out.

School staff should then ask the agents for their identification and whether they have a warrant or court order, the guidance says, and then call the school district’s lawyers. Federal agents would only be allowed inside if they had a proper warrant.

“Although staff are expected to operate in accordance with these policies, staff will not physically impede, interfere with or obstruct a government official in performing their duties," said a letter that Superintendent Alex Marrero send to district staff Friday.

If students’ parents are detained in the community by immigration enforcement while their children are at school, educators will have to help decide where those children should go once the school day is over and who should be allowed to pick them up.

DPS is advising families to update their children’s emergency contact information in the district’s data portal to include someone who is not a parent or guardian. Parents should designate a trusted adult to care for their child if they’re not able to do so, the district’s guidance to families says. It encourages parents to discuss that plan with their children.

The Johnston administration said it is “preparing for the heartbreaking risk of children being separated from their parents.” The city is working on a plan to take custody of any children whose parents are detained or deported and placing the children with relatives or in foster care.

A spokesperson wrote that Denver will ensure children can visit with their parents “whenever legally possible” and work with immigration attorneys to navigate the legal process. The city will also notify consulates to begin “working across borders to identify a compassionate solution.”

This story has been updated to reflect clarified guidance from Denver Public Schools.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Michigan schools, families grapple with new Trump immigration policies

2025-01-24T12:00:00+00:00

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With President Donald Trump’s changes to immigration policy, many immigrant parents in Michigan fear it is no longer safe to send their children to school and are preparing emergency plans for who will care for their children if they are detained.

“A lot of people lost hope,” said Samantha Magdaleno, executive director of One Michigan, a youth-led immigrant rights organization. “They feel nobody wants to protect them.”

With uncertainty about how the new policies and directives for mass deportations will play out, schools and educators across the state are grappling with what their legal and ethical obligations will be if immigration agents come into their buildings.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration ended the decades-old practice of treating schools and child care centers, along with churches and hospitals, as “sensitive” or “protected” locations.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced that they had reversed the latest version of the policy, which was issued by the Biden administration in 2021. That policy added places where children gather, like after-school programs and playgrounds, to the “protected” areas.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a statement from the department read.

The change means undocumented parents and students may be detained by federal immigration officers during school pick-ups and drop-offs.

Julie Powers, executive director of Immigration Law & Justice Michigan, said no one knows how the new policy will be enforced yet.

“Our biggest concern is that there may be attempts by immigration staff to enter schools and even go into private places like bathrooms and attempt to remove children,” she said.

The order will likely be challenged in court and it may take months for a legal resolution, Powers added.

Federal immigration agents can already conduct warrantless stops in Michigan within 100 miles of the U.S. border to Canada.

The potential impacts of Trump’s new immigration policies could upend education for thousands of Michigan students.

The Migration Policy Institute estimates in 2019 there were around 91,000 undocumented immigrants living in the state. Nearly 4,000 undocumented Michiganders were between the ages 3 and 17 and enrolled in school. There were around 29,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan who have at least one child under 18 with U.S. citizenship.

There were 4,430 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program in Michigan in September, according to the MPI. The organization estimates there were nearly 12,000 people in the state eligible for the program in 2023.

The program gives temporary protection to undocumented people who came to the U.S. as minors.

State Superintendent Michael Rice said in an email he is “deeply concerned” the change in immigration enforcement will negatively impact school attendance, and by extension, student achievement.

“Chronic absenteeism has become a serious problem nationally during and after the pandemic,” he said. “Michigan has made progress in improving school attendance and chronic absenteeism, but there is much room for further improvement.”

During the 2023-24 school year, 29.5% of Michigan students were chronically absent — meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year. The number is still significantly higher than it was in the last pre-pandemic school year, when 19.7% of students were chronically absent.

How are schools responding?

A December report detailed the Trump administration’s plans to axe the “protected” sites policy. Since then, schools and educators began preparing.

The Michigan Department of Education on Jan. 16 sent a memo to school district leaders providing guidance on their legal responsibility to provide public education to students regardless of their immigration status.

“All students have a right to a free public education regardless of their citizenship, immigration status, race or national origin,” the memo read. “As educators, we have a responsibility to protect that right.”

The memo cited the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe, which said public schools cannot deny an education to undocumented students, and the Michigan Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race or national origin.

It also cited the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, which limits public access to student records.

“A district should consult with counsel on the requirements to access student records, such as a valid court order or subpoena in compliance with FERPA or other laws and regulations,” the memo read.

The MDE sent updated guidance to superintendents Thursday addressing the change in the “protected” locations policy.

“This action could cast a shadow on students’ right to a free public education under Plyler,” the memo read.

The state recommended districts establish internal processes to follow if immigration enforcement approaches staff for access to students or their records.

“School staff, like students, should be able to focus on teaching and learning and not have to navigate thorny legal issues that could harm children’s right and ability to access a free public education,” the memo reads.

The correspondence also addressed Trump’s executive order calling for an end to birthright citizenship, noting it would not retroactively impact children already born in the U.S. (A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the order.)

Local school districts in the state have not shared much information about how they plan to respond.

At a recent board meeting, Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said most community immigration advocates advised “it’s best to wait and see rather than to say something that would place us with a larger Bull’s-eye on this possible new administration.”

DPSCD already has a policy in place that bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Border Patrol agents from entering its schools.

Rick Joseph, a teacher leader at DPSCD’s Harms Elementary School, which serves as a site for the district’s newcomer program to support students who recently arrived in the U.S., said the guidance makes it clear the district is committed to protecting students.

But he said there’s still uncertainty about how Trump’s policies will affect students and families.

“No one knows the extent to which ICE will be present around sensitive areas,” he said. “We don’t know the ways in which each local ICE office is going to interpret and enforce the federal guidance.”

In Southwest Detroit, which is home to many immigrant families, educators and parents participated in a “know your rights” training on Jan. 15, said Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero.

“Our schools are on the frontline of support and protections for our residents,” said Santiago-Romero. “People think of our government as the frontline. But at these times, it’s flipped. It’s residents, teachers, organizations who need to be educated about our rights and how to protect them.”

Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, CEO of Freedom House Detroit, a nonprofit that supports asylum seekers and refugees, said every school district should update internal policies around how it interacts with federal immigration enforcement.

For example, she said internal policies should only require school staff to allow ICE agents into schools if they have warrants signed by judges.

In Colorado, one charter operator said if agents show up with a valid judicial warrant, it would clear school hallways and keep kids in their classrooms until the agents left.

There will likely be legal clashes over the extent to which schools can block immigration officials from entering school grounds.

Kelli Dobner, chief growth officer of faith-based statewide nonprofit Samaritas, said schools should have open communication with families and build community plans for any scenario.

Advocates are also asking districts to consider offering virtual or hybrid learning again to accommodate undocumented students or kids from mixed-immigration status families.

How should families prepare?

Many immigrant families are now afraid that sending their kids to school could mean they will be separated from them, said Veronica Thronson, clinical professor of law at Michigan State University and director of the college’s Immigration Law Clinic.

“People are having to make these very tough decisions about what they will do now,” she said. “Will they leave together as a family or leave their kids behind?”

Thronson said her clinic is advising parents to update emergency contact information at their children’s schools to someone they trust who has citizenship.

Other parents are setting up powers of attorney with other family members so someone can pick up their kids from school if they are detained or deported.

In the past, some families set up guardianships for older siblings to watch over younger children.

The political rhetoric around immigration also hurts students and families in the country with legal status, said Orozco-Vasquez.

As was the case historically, many immigrants fear racial profiling could lead to their unlawful detention in mass raids. Authorized immigrants and U.S. citizens are being advised to always carry their documentation with them at all times.

Magdaleno said her organization is advising parents to get “kids to school however you can.”

“You don’t want to face truancy charges either,” she said. “You want to avoid anything that can get you flagged to get immigration involved.”

The advocate said parents should also have frank conversations with their children about how the changes in policy could impact their families.

It will also be essential for both parents and children to know their rights when it comes to interacting with immigration officials, advocates say.

With fast-changing policies and potential legal challenges looming, families will need to keep up with the news from reputable sources to know where the law stands, said Thronson.

Micah Walker contributed to this report.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

Micah Walker is a reporter with BridgeDetroit.

Under Trump, immigration arrests at school could be a step too far for some Tennessee conservatives

2025-01-24T10:00:00+00:00

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State Sen. Todd Gardenhire is a conservative Tennessee Republican who credits his anti-abortion stance and support of gun rights for his recent reelection to a fourth term.

In recent years, he’s fended off attempts to tighten the state’s lax gun laws, pushed for a state law to curb “implicit bias” training for educators, and supported a border crackdown to keep people from illegally crossing into the United States.

But when it comes to the children of people who came to the country illegally, the Chattanooga Republican is a bit of an outlier, even as many in his party are cheering President Donald Trump’s aggressive push against illegal immigration.

Since taking office in 2012, Gardenhire has sponsored several bills to try to give all Tennessee students access to in-state college tuition, regardless of their immigration status. A supporter of private school vouchers, he voted “no” on Gov. Bill Lee’s limited 2019 voucher plan because he didn’t like how it excluded undocumented students from participating.

This year, he’s sponsoring a bill to exempt school-based officers from a new state law that requires law enforcement agencies to alert federal immigration authorities if they discover people are in the United States illegally.

“When you look at the Old Testament, it’s clear: Scriptures say you don’t punish children for what their parents did,” Gardenhire said.

“We don’t need to involve our school resource officers in any enforcement policy that makes children afraid to go to school,” he added. “School should be a safe place to learn and be educated.”

Tennessee State Sen. Todd Gardenhire listens during a meeting at Chattanooga City Hall. The Chattanooga Republican, now in his fourth term in office, represents most of the city and three surrounding rural counties.

Gardenhire is among some Republicans who believe that the schoolhouse door is a step too far for any measures aimed at mass deportation.

It’s an issue that could divide the GOP over whether to shield school communities or go all out on immigration enforcement, as Trump’s administration takes steps to deliver on his campaign promises.

Hours after the new president took office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security rescinded a 30-year policy preventing immigration agents from making arrests in or near “sensitive” areas like schools, churches, and hospitals. Instead, an agency memo instructs its agents to use “common sense” in carrying out their duties.

Depending on how it plays out, the change could affect every school in America — and shift public opinion on Trump’s immigration agenda.

“This isn’t just about immigrant families,” said Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition.

“It will affect students who are worried about their classmates and friends, teachers who are worried about their students, and citizens who are worried about their neighbors,” she said.

Her organization believes that enforcing immigration laws by making arrests in or near schools and children would be traumatic and distracting for all students and teachers.

“I think there will be immense pushback from the public, and it could be a step too far for conservative Republicans, too,” said Sherman Luna.

Nationally, an estimated 4.4 million U.S.-born children have at least one parent who is not in the country legally, and an estimated 733,000 school-age kids are undocumented themselves. In Tennessee, an estimated 12,000 school-age kids are undocumented.

While most Americans say they support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, many are uncomfortable with using harsh measures to accomplish that goal, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll this month. For instance, most don’t favor expedited removals that separate families, or deportation for immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children, the poll says.

Local and state officials are navigating the new politics of immigration

The Trump administration’s quick moves on immigration have both the public and policymakers trying to understand the complexities of mass deportation. The new president’s policies appear to be aimed at all people who are in the country illegally, not just those who commit crimes while in the U.S.

This week, the Justice Department ordered U.S. attorneys to prosecute local officials who refuse to help the Trump’s administration carry out the president’s immigration agenda.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has called the legislature into a special session on Jan. 27 to take up immigration enforcement and other issues, including his statewide private school voucher proposal. This week, the Republican governor and GOP leaders unveiled a package of bills that, among other things, would appoint a state-level immigration enforcement officer and make it a crime for public officials to resist new federal and state immigration policies.

Advocates for immigrant families hope that conservative elected officials like Gardenhire will continue to support them on education matters in a state where Republicans hold firm control on government at most levels.

The 76-year-old Gardenhire — sometimes gruff, sometimes poetic — has become an unlikely ally of one of Tennessee’s most historically underserved student groups. His district includes most of urban Chattanooga, but also the rural counties of Bledsoe, Marion, and Sequatchie.

Gardenhire and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson listen during a Senate Finance Committee meeting on Feb. 15, 2022, in Nashville.

“Sen. Gardenhire is incredibly principled, and he represents an interesting district where the immigrant student population is growing,” said Sherman Luna.

Ten years ago, when she was a policy director for the state’s oldest coalition for immigrant rights, Sherman Luna worked with Gardenhire on the in-state tuition bill. It passed in the Senate but came up just short of the votes needed in the House.

“He’s got a big heart for immigrant families,” said Sherman Luna. “He understands not only the humanity of these children and families, but also that the success of Hamilton County depends on our ability to educate students so they can graduate and become successful contributors to their communities.”

The Tennessee Sheriffs' Association supports Gardenhire’s proposal to exempt school resource officers from the new law requiring law enforcement agencies to help federal authorities identify, detain, and deport people who are in the country illegally.

“The goal of a school resource officer is to keep schools safe and to build trusting relationships with students and faculty,” said Jeff Bledsoe, the association’s executive director. “Children shouldn’t be afraid of their SROs.”

As for Gardenhire, he’s studying how the new politics of immigration might affect his bill — while also reflecting deeply on his religious, moral, and economic principles.

Labeled a RINO — or Republican in name only — by far-right conservative groups, he describes himself as an old-school Reagan Republican, a “fixer” with an independent streak. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, in reappointing Gardenhire this month to chair the Senate’s powerful judiciary committee, called him a “strong conservative who understands the need for a tough-on-crime approach.”

“People can differ with me on these matters, and I respect that,” Gardenhire said regarding his advocacy for the children of immigrants at risk of deportation.

“I just feel called to work to educate as many children as possible, no matter who they are and what their backgrounds are, and to protect them,” Gardenhire said. “On Judgment Day, all of us will have to answer to somebody on how we treated the little children.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Districts share plans in case immigration officials show up at schools

2025-01-22T00:45:31+00:00

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As reports spread Tuesday that schools are no longer off-limits for immigration enforcement action, school leaders in the Denver metro area had just shared plans for how to respond if immigration agents show up at schools.

DSST, the local charter school network with schools in Denver and Aurora, shared its plan with families last week.

Over the last several weeks, the Denver and Aurora school districts have been sharing information with and training staff on how to respond.

“We’re trying to create an inclusive community,” said Danielle Felder, chief external affairs officer for the DSST network. “We wanted to offer as much reassurance as we can.”

The districts and charter network’s protocols for what to do are similar.

Building leaders are to gather information from agents including asking for a warrant before calling the district’s legal or security teams, or both.

Aurora and Denver’s plans suggest that ICE should wait outside the school. Or, “if it appears the officer is being cooperative, you can ask them to wait in an appropriate area of the front office,” Aurora’s guidance states.

If ICE has a valid judicial warrant, DSST’s plan states that the school hallways will be cleared and the building will be placed on hold, meaning everyone will stay in classrooms until ICE has left the building. Parents of any affected students will be contacted immediately.

“We will not encourage mixed status families or undocumented relatives to come to the school or otherwise interfere,” the plan says.

DSST’s and Denver’s plans remind staff that parents should be encouraged to update their emergency contact information and suggest that emergency contacts include one person who is not an immediate family member.

The school communications to staff and families include resource lists and links to other community organizations, including “Know your rights” booklets and information on how to create a family preparedness plan.

The communications to school leaders from Denver, Aurora, and DSST reiterate that schools cannot and should not be asking about a student or family’s immigration status. Aurora asks staff not to make guesses about which families need resources, either.

Denver’s communication also asks schools to encourage families to opt out of the school’s directory by filling out a form. According to the DPS statement, government agencies can ask for a school’s directory without a warrant or other legal justification.

Felder said that DSST also wanted its plan to reassure its staff, which includes Dreamers and people in the country on visas.

Unlike during the first Trump administration, Felder said school leaders feel more prepared this time.

After Trump took office in 2017, the Aurora school board voted on a resolution that May. Community organizations worked with parents and students to write it and asked the board to adopt it.

That resolution included a request that the district translate a February 2017 memo that outlined how to respond if ICE agents showed up at a school or requested information. The current memo dated Dec. 5, 2024 is an updated version of the 2017 guidance.

The 2017 resolution also asked the district to ensure there is a protocol for supporting students if a parent or caregiver does not show up to pick them up from school for whatever reason and calls on the district to make sure that family contact information is updated every year.

The resolution was meant as a declaration of support for the diverse community in Aurora.

In the current school year, more than 86% of Aurora district students identify as students of color, up from 82% cited in the 2017 resolution, and the district serves more than 40% students learning English as a new language, up from 36% in 2017.

Aurora has been cited as a possible target for early immigration enforcement because of national media attention on crime tied to Venezuelan gang members.

This year, the Aurora school board has been silent. Neither the Denver or Aurora school board has voted on any new resolutions in support of immigrant students or other marginalized students who may have concerns about policy changes during the new presidential administration.

A session at the Colorado Association of School Boards last month prompted school leaders to also think about how they may prepare to serve students and families if a large immigration raid is conducted in the community. Schools have shared little about plans for those scenarios.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Immigration arrests at schools loom after Trump changes longstanding policy

2025-01-21T20:04:44+00:00

What teachers want Donald Trump to know about their schools and their jobs

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The Trump administration has cleared the way for immigration arrests at or near schools, ending a decades-old approach.

Republican and Democratic administrations alike have treated schools and child care centers, along with churches and hospitals, as “sensitive” or “protected” locations where immigration enforcement should only take place when there is an immediate danger to the public.

But U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials announced Tuesday afternoon that they had rescinded the latest version of the policy, which was issued in 2021 by the Biden administration. The news was first reported early Tuesday by Fox News.

A copy of the Homeland Security memo was not immediately available for review.

But in a statement, a Homeland Security spokesperson said that Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a directive on Monday that rescinded the sensitive locations policy. The spokesperson said the action would help federal authorities enforce immigration law and catch criminals who entered the country illegally. Immigration agents will be asked to use “common sense” in enforcing the law.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the statement read.

Since Trump’s reelection, observers anticipated the end of treating certain locations as “sensitive” with respect to immigration enforcement. News reports surfaced in mid-December that the incoming Trump administration was planning to get rid of the policy. Since then, schools have been bracing for the possibility of immigration agents showing up at their doors.

Even before this policy existed, large-scale immigration raids weren’t conducted at schools. But Trump’s policy change paves the way for immigration agents to detain parents during dropoff or pickup, as has happened occasionally in the past.

Immigrant rights advocates worry that could lead to more absenteeism among children with immigrant parents, who may now fear being stopped by immigration agents while driving or walking their kids to school. That happened during the first Trump administration. Advocates also worry about the potential for routine interactions with school police to reveal a student or family’s immigration status, and lead to their deportation.

Some school districts have issued explicit instructions to educators and parents about how school staff should handle an immigration agent’s presence on campus. Some districts have also said they will not permit a federal agent on school premises without a judicial warrant, and that staff will be instructed to call the school system’s lawyer if these agents do show up.

Some of the nation’s largest districts, including Los Angeles and Chicago, have re-upped or expanded existing policies meant to protect immigrant students and families. New York City is scheduled to vote on a resolution this week that would reaffirm a policy preventing school safety agents from collaborating with federal immigration authorities in most cases.

Others, including several Texas school districts near the U.S.-Mexico border, are taking a “wait and see” approach to avoid causing confusion or fear among families. At the same time, immigrant rights advocates say it’s helpful to inform families of their rights and show them how to make a plan in case a parent is detained.

The end of treating schools as sensitive locations is just one of many executive actions on immigration that the new Trump administration has taken since taking office on Monday.

Trump also signed an executive order that seeks to end the automatic right to citizenship for any child born in the U.S. On Tuesday, 18 states announced they were suing to block the policy change.

This story has been updated to include confirmation and comments from the Department of Homeland Security about the policy change.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Trump executive orders on immigrants, transgender rights could echo in American schools

2025-01-21T03:10:26+00:00

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As President Donald Trump took office for a second time, he almost immediately used his executive power to roll back rights for transgender people and immigrants — actions likely to reverberate in American schools.

Trump’s 29-minute inaugural address described a nation in decline, where “the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.” He said his administration would reverse course and declared: “The golden age of America begins right now.”

That description of a faltering America extended to the nation’s schools.

“We have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them,” Trump said. “All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly.”

Trump has pledged to rapidly reshape the federal government using executive orders. At a post-inauguration rally at the Capital One Arena, Trump signed nine executive orders — the first rescinding dozens of Biden-era executive orders that protected LGBTQ Americans and promoted opportunity for people of color. Trump tossed the pens he used to sign the orders to his cheering supporters before leaving the arena for the White House.

Back at the Oval Office, he signed additional orders changing the meaning of birthright citizenship to exclude the children of undocumented women, defining sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification,” suspending enforcement of the TikTok ban, and pardoning his supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump signed a total of 41 executive orders Monday evening.

The impact of those executive orders will depend in part on how the federal government enforces them and in part on how state and local leaders and advocates respond. Executive orders must have some basis in law, and past orders have been challenged successfully in court. Vague orders can prove difficult to enforce.

Trump used his inaugural address to say the federal government would recognize just two genders, male and female, as defined by a person’s biological sex assigned at birth. An executive order issued later Monday was titled, “Defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government.” It defines sex as describing unchanging physical characteristics and states that federal documents cannot use gender as a synonym for sex.

Under the order, laws that extend protections on the basis of sex cannot be interpreted in ways that include transgender people, and federal agencies must remove all documents that “promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology.” Civil rights law will be interpreted to “ensure the freedom to express the binary nature of sex.”

The order also withholds federal funding from programs that recognize the existence of transgender people. It’s not clear how broadly such an order would be applied and how it might affect schools that respect transgender and non-binary students’ gender identities or use inclusive curriculums.

Trump made opposition to transgender rights and inclusion in public life a centerpiece of his campaign, alongside anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The move to define sex in ways hostile to transgender rights comes just after a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX rules, which had made protections for transgender students more explicit. Changing the federal definition of sex could make it harder for transgender students to defend their rights or pursue civil rights complaints.

Trump also wants to end birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and repeatedly found by the courts to apply to all people born in the United States, with the exception of children born to foreign diplomats, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

Trump did not mention this plan in his inaugural address, but one of the executive orders he signed Monday evening declares that the children born to undocumented mothers and to mothers with certain temporary immigration status will not be considered citizens of the United States unless their father is a citizen or legal resident. The order also directs officials to not issue documents such as passports or Social Security numbers to those children, starting 30 days from the time of the order.

This order is almost certain to be challenged in court.

Such an executive order would not, on its own, prevent children with immigrant parents and those who are themselves undocumented from attending public school. The 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe requires schools to educate all students in their communities, regardless of immigration status.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank closely tied to Trump, has called on states to challenge that decision. Earlier this month, Oklahoma ordered schools to start collecting information on the immigration status of families with children enrolled in public school, but a number of school districts immediately said they would not comply.

Executive orders touch on federal workforce, free speech, immigration

The first executive orders Trump signed rescinded 78 presidential actions by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, prevented issuing new federal regulations, and froze all federal hiring, with exceptions for the military, “until full control of the government is achieved.”

U.S. President Donald Trump concludes his inaugural address after being sworn in at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. Trump pledged to use executive authority to take drastic actions to stop immigration at the southern border and roll back transgender rights.

Among the Biden executive orders rescinded in Trump’s first official act Monday were orders guaranteeing LGBTQ students the right to an educational environment free of discrimination and an initiative to help colleges and universities that serve a large share of Hispanic students make better use of existing federal programs. The executive order also directs the heads of all federal agencies to root out programs that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.

He also ordered the federal workforce to work full time in the office, starting immediately, a move that could prove disruptive for employees who need to make changes to child care or elder care; withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords, and ordered the restoration of free speech.

The free speech executive order appears aimed at stopping federal efforts to get social media companies to combat misinformation. It bars the use of federal resources to facilitate restrictions on speech. Conservatives have argued that federal protections for transgender students limit the free speech rights of teachers and classmates who don’t accept those students’ identities.

It was not immediately clear what implications the free speech order would have in a country divided over removing books from public school libraries and appropriate limits to on-campus protests.

In his inaugural address, Trump said he would declare a national emergency at the southern border and reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy that prevents asylum seekers from entering the United States to have their claims heard. Within minutes of the speech, migrants who had pending appointments at the border got messages that those appointments had been canceled.

Many executive orders are expected to facilitate enhanced immigration enforcement. Around the country, schools are sharing messages of support with families who could be caught up in enforcement actions and encouraging parents to make sure their children’s emergency contacts are up to date in case caregivers are detained. Some school systems are also clarifying how they will respond if immigration agents seek entrance to their buildings, with many saying they will consult their attorneys and only allow agents with signed judicial warrants to enter their schools.

Current policy limits immigration enforcement near schools, but media reports in December suggested Trump may rescind the “sensitive locations” policy.

Many teachers won’t teach the inauguration. That’s a loss for students, this ‘civics nerd’ says.

The president also promised to “end the chronic disease epidemic and keep our children safe, healthy and disease-free.”

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to withhold funds from schools that require students to be vaccinated, something that it’s not clear he has the authority to do. His nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is a noted vaccine skeptic who tried to block the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine at the height of the pandemic.

Trump also redesignated career employees in “policy-influencing positions” as political appointees, who are easier to hire and fire at the president’s discretion. This move could have major implications for the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. In the first Trump administration, the president and his allies contended that career bureaucrats who make up the core of the federal workforce undermined many of their initiatives.

Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Un superintendente vio como una redada de inmigración “desgarradora” alteró sus escuelas y comunidades. Este es su consejo.

2024-12-23T19:20:00+00:00

Chalkbeat Colorado es un noticiero local sin fines de lucro que informa sobre las escuelas públicas en Denver y otros distritos. Suscríbete a nuestro boletín gratis por email en español para recibir lo último en noticias sobre educación dos veces al mes.

Faltaban apenas dos semanas para el final del semestre y el comienzo de las vacaciones en 2006, cuando el superintendente Steve Joel recibió una llamada telefónica del jefe de la policía local. Que agentes federales de inmigración estaban haciendo redadas en su comunidad.

En ese momento, Joel supo que habría estudiantes que no tendrían a sus padres para ir a casa ese día. Para las 8:30 de la mañana, “estábamos en una desesperación absoluta”, recordó Joel.

Joel recuerda que el día de la redada se sintió como las 24 horas más largas de su carrera, y le preocupa que líderes escolares en Colorado pasen por una situación similar muy pronto.

Joel compartió esta experiencia en la reciente conferencia de la Asociación de Consejos Escolares de Colorado en Colorado Springs.

Docenas de funcionarios en educación asistieron a la sesión para escuchar a Joel hablar acerca de qué esperar y cómo los distritos escolares pueden prepararse para las posibles deportaciones masivas que se avecinan y que el presidente electo Donald Trump ha prometido, y que podrían separar a los niños de sus padres, y crear una serie de problemas para las escuelas.

La semana pasada, NBC informó que la administración entrante de Trump tiene planes de eliminar la habitual práctica de no realizar controles de inmigración en las escuelas, hospitales e iglesias. Un poderoso grupo conservador vinculado a Trump también ha compartido un proyecto para apelar una decisión de la Corte Suprema que protege el derecho de los niños indocumentados de asistir a las escuelas públicas.

La redada de inmigración en 2006 tuvo lugar en una planta procesadora de alimentos cuando Joel era superintendente del distrito escolar de Grand Island en Nebraska. Joel compartió que alrededor de 1.400 de los 10.000 estudiantes del distrito escolar tenían padres que trabajaban en la planta. Algunos de esos padres tenían estatus legal, pero sin pruebas, algunos fueron detenidos y arrestados de todos modos.

“Estén preparados”, insistió Joel a los funcionarios en educación. “Su comunidad, sus padres, sus líderes, su estado, se lo agradecerán”.

Hasta ahora, la mayoría de los líderes escolares de Colorado han guardado silencio sobre los posibles planes que puedan estar redactando para lidiar con las deportaciones masivas que afectarían a sus comunidades.

Líderes en la escuelas Adams 14 están realizando seminarios para que las familias “conozcan sus derechos” y están capacitando al personal de las oficinas en la escuelas para que dirijan a las autoridades federales a los equipos legales del distrito o los directores de seguridad.

A continuación, se incluyen algunos de los consejos que Joel aprendió en base a su experiencia:

Tenga un mensaje listo para las familias

A medida que las familias en nuestra comunidad se enteraron de las redadas de inmigración, el distrito escolar comenzó a recibir llamadas sin parar, dijo Joel.

Los familiares llamaban para preguntar qué debían hacer.

“Fue desgarrador”, dijo Joel. También se refirió a que los líderes escolares deberían tener respuestas listas para compartir con las familias.

Para alrededor del mediodía, su distrito escolar había creado un plan para establecer un centro de acogida en una de las escuelas del distrito para cualquier niño cuyos padres habían sido detenidos y necesitaban un lugar donde quedarse. El distrito realizó una conferencia de prensa para informar a la comunidad sobre el plan y dónde podían acudir las personas para reunirse con los estudiantes afectados.

Joel también compartió que cuando se corrió la voz, los estudiantes de secundaria salieron de sus clases, y fueron a las escuelas primarias a buscar a sus hermanos y luego a esconderse.

“No estábamos preparados para eso”, dijo Joel.

Como parte de su mensaje ese día, Joel se enfocó en asegurarle a la comunidad de que las escuelas eran un lugar seguro para ellos. El distrito de aproximadamente 10.000 estudiantes se redujo por 2.500. Algunos regresaron lentamente en las semanas posteriores a la redada, pero alrededor de 500 estudiantes nunca más regresaron.

Una cosa de las que dijo y que se arrepintió en decir, fue decir que las autoridades de inmigración no podrían ingresar a la propiedad escolar. En ese momento, él se sintió motivado a detenerlos él mismo si fuera necesario.

Poco después de que se emitiera ese comunicado, recibió una llamada del líder de la operación de control de inmigración.

Recuerda Joel diciéndole “Quiero que sepa que está equivocado…que si queremos entrar en sus escuelas, podemos hacerlo ya que tenemos la jurisdicción. Pero le prometo que no lo haremos.”

Los funcionarios en educación no tienen una respuesta clara si las escuelas tienen la autoridad para impedir que los funcionarios de inmigración entren en las escuelas hoy en día.

Joe Salazar, un abogado de Adams 14 que asistió a la charla de Joel, le dijo al grupo que, en su opinión — basado en un dictamen de una corte estatal este verano — las órdenes de inmigración no se consideran órdenes judiciales en Colorado y que las escuelas tienen derecho a impedir el acceso a los funcionarios.

En respuesta a los reportes de que Trump permitiría la implementación de la ley de inmigración en las escuelas, las Escuelas Públicas de Denver publicaron una declaración en la que señalan que, según la política actual del distrito, “no se permitirán actividades de control de las leyes federales de inmigración en nuestras escuelas, en las rutas de transporte, en las propiedades del DPS o durante las actividades escolares”.

DPS dijo que está comprometido a proporcionar entornos escolares seguros para todos los estudiantes, independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Pero el distrito también recomienda a las familias a tener actualizada su información de contacto de emergencia e identificar quién está autorizado para recoger a sus hijos si los padres no pueden hacerlo.

Tener una forma de verificar quiénes son las personas autorizadas

Cuando el distrito se estaba preparando para reunir a los estudiantes con familiares que pudieran acogerlos, Joel dijo que fue necesario implementar una forma de verificar que las personas que decían ser familiares realmente lo fueran.

Comentó que hicieron que estudiantes y sus maestros confirmaran la relación que tenían con el miembro de la familia a los que fueron entregados.

Además, en una veintena de casos maestros se ofrecieron como voluntarios para acoger a un estudiante que no tenía un pariente confirmado con quien quedarse una o dos noches. Pero, el distrito trató de limitar esos casos debido a las preocupaciones del equipo legal del distrito sobre las responsabilidades.

Tener una lista de estudiantes que podrían verse afectados

Joel sugirió que los distritos escolares creen una lista de estudiantes que podrían verse afectados en el caso de redadas masivas de inmigración.

Pero hacerlo no es necesariamente sencillo. Alex Marrero, superintendente de las Escuelas Públicas de Denver, le preguntó a Joel cómo deberían hacerlo los distritos, dado que no recopilan información sobre inmigración de los estudiantes o las familias. (El Departamento de Educación de los EE. UU. ha dicho que las escuelas no pueden recopilar información sobre el estatus migratorio de los estudiantes y las familias para impedirles servicios, ya que por ley deben servir a los alumnos independientemente de su situación de inmigración. Joel no sugirió recopilar esta información.)

Joel respondió que su distrito recogió información sobre los empleadores de los padres. Así que la mañana de la redada, el distrito pudo identificar rápidamente a los estudiantes cuyos padres trabajaban en el lugar de trabajo que había sido afectado. No todos los familiares de los estudiantes eran indocumentados o estaban detenidos, pero esta herramienta le dio al distrito una posible lista de estudiantes afectados.

Joel sugirió a los distritos en pensar en los empleadores más grandes de su comunidad y que emplean a inmigrantes. Incluso podrían abrir una línea de comunicación con esos empleadores antes de cualquier posible redada.

Un portavoz del distrito de Denver dijo que DPS tampoco recopila información sobre el lugar de trabajo de los padres.

Si las escuelas de Grand Island no hubieran tenido eso, Joel dijo que probablemente habría pedido al personal escolar que identificara a los estudiantes que podrían haber sido afectados.

Tener una forma de recaudar dinero para los estudiantes

Sabiendo que el distrito podría necesitar ayudar a albergar, transportar o alimentar a algunos estudiantes, Joel dijo que su distrito decidió recaudar dinero y alienta a los distritos a tener un sistema preparado para recibir donaciones.

“Los fondos llegaron como nunca hubiera esperado”, dijo Joel.

Joel recuerda que uno de los primeros cheques que recibió vino de una fuente inesperada.

Joel tenía un vecino que era un amigo que estaba muy involucrado en el Partido Republicano local. Cada vez que los impuestos a la propiedad del hombre subían en cualquier cantidad, interrogaba a Joel sobre si ese dinero se destinaba a la educación de niños indocumentados, dijo Joel.

Pero la mañana de la redada, el hombre se presentó en la oficina de Joel con un “gran cheque”.

“Yo también soy padre y odio lo que esto les está haciendo a las familias”, recordó Joel lo que dijo el hombre.

El dinero que recaudó el distrito ayudó a los estudiantes y las familias durante semanas.

Joel dijo que unos días después de la redada, un director lo llamó para pedirle ayuda para hablar con una estudiante.

La estudiante era una joven que estaba embarazada y estaba a dos semanas de graduarse. Sus padres habían sido detenidos y cuando la niña se enteró de dónde estaban, estaba ansiosa por reunirse con ellos.

El director le suplicaba que se quedara en la escuela y terminara su diploma primero.

Finalmente, Joel y el director lograron convencer a la niña de que se quedara, con la promesa de ayudarle a quedarse en el apartamento donde vivía con sus padres. El distrito pagó la comida, los servicios públicos y otras facturas hasta el final del semestre para que la niña pudiera obtener su diploma.

Al hacer visitas domiciliarias en busca de niños en los días posteriores a la redada, el personal escolar muchas veces encontró a niños hablando a través de una ventana para decir que tenían instrucciones de no abrir la puerta. Por lo tanto, los directores y los trabajadores sociales llevaron a esas familias comida, tareas escolares y otras necesidades, ya que estaban tratando de recuperar su confianza y lograr que regresaran a las escuelas.

Trabaje con grupos comunitarios, líderes religiosos y otros

Joel también resaltó que los distritos escolares deben pedir ayuda a otros líderes de la comunidad. El día de la redada convocó a una reunión con líderes comunitarios y a pesar del poco tiempo de aviso, dijo que en una hora tuvo una gran participación.

“Hubo mucho miedo y bastante rabia”, dijo. “Estaban dolidos, enfadados. Nada de eso iba realmente dirigido a nosotros, pero así se sentía”.

Ayudaría si los distritos escolares comienzan a tener conversaciones con esas organizaciones y esos líderes en anticipación de cualquier redada.

Entre otros consejos, que Joel dio a los líderes escolares fue que los distritos deben estar preparados de que el día de una redada será un día conmovedor para el personal de las escuelas y que no todos los funcionarios del personal podrán ayudar a los estudiantes y las familias. También dijo que habrán amenazas de personas que no están de acuerdo con el enfoque del distrito escolar para ayudar a las familias.

Dijo que lo más importante es recordar que hay que centrarse en los niños y defenderlos.

“La posición que adoptamos fue” “Si no puedes defender a los niños, ¿qué estás haciendo en el consejo escolar?”, dijo Joel.

Traducido por Rocky Mountain Language Co-op

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre los distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Music brings learning and hope to Bronx school with dozens of new migrant students

2024-12-19T20:47:13+00:00

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Eleven-year-old Shayla had never taken music classes before she emigrated from the Dominican Republic this year and enrolled at P.S. 103 Hector Fontanez in the Bronx.

The fifth grader is still hesitant to speak in English, which she said she’s learning “little by little.”

But when it comes to music, she has a different tune.

Shayla, who plays trombone in the school band, stood in front of a packed auditorium on Tuesday with her classmates to sing the song “For Good” from the musical Wicked during the school’s annual holiday concert.

“It’s incredible,” she said in Spanish about the school’s music program. “It teaches us how to have a future.” Singing in English is easier than speaking it, she added, “because singing you can repeat the words 100 times.”

After two shelters opened near the school, dozens of newly arrived immigrants, like Shayla, began enrolling at P.S. 103, at the northern edge of the Bronx, Principal Farid Reyes said. They’re part of a larger influx of an estimated 48,000 migrant students who have enrolled in city schools since summer 2022.

Schools across New York City have scrambled to accommodate the newcomers by hiring bilingual teachers and shoring up academic and language supports. P.S. 103 has leaned in part on its unusually robust music program as a source of learning, confidence, and hope for its new arrivals.

“Music has been that support system where the children that you would less expect to shine like stars have done it,” said Reyes, who immigrated to the U.S. at age 20 from Colombia.

“Music in our countries is mostly for well-to-do kids and families,” he added. “Parents [are] so happy and emotional to see the children learning something that we didn’t have the chance to learn.”

Every year, the holiday concert provides a chance for students and staff to showcase their work, and for parents to see their kids under the spotlight. This year’s performance featured wiggly elementary schoolers singing lesser-known holiday tunes about hot chocolate and hip-hop reindeer, along with an English-Spanish lullaby and classics like “My Favorite Things.”

This year’s show took on extra meaning as the school’s immigrant families grapple with fears over how long they’ll be able to remain in the school and in the country because of President-elect Donald Trump’s promised “mass deportation,” Reyes said.

“Having the opportunity to bring this moment of happiness … of seeing their children succeeding in doing something that gives them a sense of hope … for me, that’s very important,” Reyes said.

Music wasn’t always such a central feature of P.S. 103. When Reyes arrived as principal 16 years ago, the school had no dedicated music teachers, relying on academic teachers to provide extra music instruction. That’s not unusual in New York City, where the majority of public schools have no music teacher.

But Reyes was determined to change that, and he got help from Education Through Music, a nonprofit that recruits and helps place and supervise music teachers in city public schools in the hopes that schools will eventually hire them full time. P.S. 103 now has three music teachers for its roughly 800 students, allowing every student to get music instruction and for the school to support both a choir and band.

Antoine Dolberry, music teacher at P.S. 103, center, poses for a portrait with students Shayla, left, and Joseph, right after the annual holiday concert on Tues., Dec. 17, 2024 in Bronx, New York.

Antoine Dolberry started teaching at P.S. 103 eight years ago with Education Through Music. He was officially hired several years later and has led the music program ever since, bringing students to perform at Rockefeller Center and in an annual winter concert sponsored by YouTube.

“It’s evolved tremendously since I’ve been here,” Dolberry said. “[We’re] changing the atmosphere of the building through music.”

Dolberry said he’s taken particular joy in watching many of the school’s newcomers flourish in music class – and seeing their language acquisition take off.

“Learning how to play beat and rhythm and match tone, learning about treble clef and learning about the different letters on the staff, all of that stuff plays a part in how they learn the language,” he said. “Learning songs and lyrics plays a part in how they remember things.”

Music has also provided an opportunity for newcomers to teach their classmates and teachers about their culture and language. Dolberry made sure to include several songs with Spanish lyrics on the holiday concert set list, giving native Spanish speakers a chance to shine and correct their classmates’ pronunciation.

While teaching the lyrics to “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music, Dolberry realized he had to explain the meaning of schnitzel and strudels – opening up an opportunity for kids to talk about their own favorite foods from their home countries.

“To see them smiling every day, to see them wanting to learn the music, trying their hardest to learn the English so they can fit in,” he said, “is not only important for the teachers, but it’s also encouraging.”

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org

Potential for immigration arrests at schools under Trump spurs push to shield families

2024-12-18T22:05:03+00:00

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For three decades, federal policy has limited immigration arrests at or near schools, treating the places where children learn as “sensitive” or “protected” areas.

But President-elect Donald Trump likely will rescind that policy soon after his return to the White House, according to recent reporting from NBC News.

That could open the door for immigration agents to more frequently stop parents as they drop their kids off at school, or for interactions with school police to lead to students and their parents being detained.

Educators and advocates for immigrant children worry that would create an environment of fear that could deter families from bringing their children to school or participating in school events. That could, in turn, interrupt kids’ learning and make it harder for educators to build trusting relationships with immigrant families.

“The implications would be enormous,” said Patricia Gándara, an education professor at UCLA who’s researched how immigration enforcement affects children and schools. When families know that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has “the authority to move in on the school, it starts rumors. And you don’t even have to have this happen for it to spread throughout the community that the ICE are around the school, don’t take your kid to school.”

An estimated 4.4 million U.S.-born children have at least one undocumented parent, and an estimated 733,000 school aged-kids are undocumented themselves. Other students may have authorization to live in the United States but hold temporary immigration statuses that Trump has threatened to revoke. Researchers estimate that half a million school-age children have arrived in the U.S. just in the last two years.

Federal law generally overrides state and local statutes, and immigration agents have broad authority to detain people they suspect of being in the country illegally. Nonetheless, several large school districts already have reupped or expanded policies they crafted during the first Trump administration to reassure students and parents. And lawmakers in California — where 1 in 5 children are part of a family with at least one undocumented member — have put forward bills that seek to protect immigrant students.

Viridiana Carrizales, the CEO of ImmSchools, a nonprofit that’s training school leaders and educators on how they can support immigrant students as Trump takes office, said she’s been advising school districts that even if the sensitive locations policy ends, students still have certain rights.

“It doesn’t mean that we’re going to have an immigration official come, and if they ask for a student’s record, that doesn’t mean that the school has to comply,” Carrizales said. “I want to make sure our families don’t feel like they can’t even go out of their homes. Because that’s not a way to live.”

But those efforts aren’t the same as guarantees of safety at or near schools.

In 2020, immigration agents arrested Verónica del Carmen Lara Márquez shortly after she dropped off her 4-year-old daughter at a Philadelphia elementary school. The arrest stemmed from a court order for failing to appear at immigration hearings out of state. She was detained at a bus stop but released shortly after on humanitarian grounds — Lara Márquez was three months pregnant at the time.

Advocates: Schools need clear policies, training on immigration

Federal officials have limited arrests and investigations on school grounds since at least the early 1990s. Under President Barack Obama the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a memo in 2011 that limited immigration enforcement at or near “sensitive locations,” which included schools, daycares, colleges, school events, and bus stops with children waiting at them.

The policy was expanded to additional “protected areas” under President Joe Biden in 2021. That included any places where children gather, such as playgrounds, recreation centers, and after-school programs.

Even so, agents can and have conducted enforcement near schools. Generally, immigration officials need to get permission from a supervisor before making an arrest or conducting an interview near a school, though there are exceptions for matters of national security or threats to public safety.

Trump left the sensitive locations policy intact during his first term, but won re-election with a series of hardline immigration proposals, including a plan for mass deportations. Project 2025, a policy playbook drafted by several former and incoming Trump White House officials, called for rescinding any memos that identify “sensitive zones” where immigration enforcement should be limited.

The Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

With that likely change on the horizon, Carrizales said now is a good time for schools to make sure they have clear policies outlining how school staff and school police interact, or don’t, with federal immigration officials. School staff should know, for example, if they’re supposed to ask for a warrant or judicial order, or if they should immediately direct any inquiries to the district’s superintendent and legal counsel.

All school staff — from the front office clerks to school principals — should be trained on the policy. It also should be translated and shared with families.

Schools can also check to see if commonly used forms, such as applications for free or reduced-price school meals, ask for information that conveys immigration status, like a Social Security Number. (Schools generally aren’t supposed to ask families about their immigration status because it can scare undocumented families and violate their children’s right to a public education, as laid out in Plyler v Doe, a landmark Supreme Court ruling.)

Families are likely to be on high alert. Carrizales said she’s even heard from families worried about their child being enrolled in a dual language program, because they fear that information could signal they’re from an immigrant family.

Schools may consider changing their forms, or making it clear to families that immigration information isn’t required, Carrizales said.

Some states and school districts are trying to add additional layers of protection.

California’s schools superintendent, Tony Thurmond, for example, is backing two pieces of legislation that would limit immigration enforcement near schools in that state.

The first would prohibit immigration officers from entering school buildings without a valid ID, a court order, a statement of purpose, and approval from the school district’s superintendent. Even if they met those requirements, agents couldn’t enter while kids were present. The second bill, introduced earlier this week, would prohibit local police from cooperating with immigration officials within one mile of a school, in an attempt to make families feel safe dropping off and picking up their children.

Chicago’s school board passed a resolution last month doubling down on a commitment to protect immigrant students, including blocking immigration officials from entering schools or interacting with school staff without a criminal warrant. The Los Angeles school board passed a similar resolution about training district staff on how they’d respond if a federal official tried to enter a school campus.

New York City, meanwhile, reissued its longstanding policy that prevents non-city law enforcement from going into school buildings except in specific cases, and is training principals and school safety agents about the protocols.

Still, it’s likely the Trump administration or others will try to challenge so-called “sanctuary” policies like these. Already, advisers to the incoming president are looking to withhold federal funds and other resources from Democrat-led cities if they refuse to participate in deporting undocumented immigrants, the Washington Post reported last month. Where exactly a school district’s power starts and a federal immigration official’s authority ends is unclear.

“There is wide and longstanding latitude for states to shape educational policy, and that includes things like what it takes to create a safe and welcoming school environment,” said Nicholas Espíritu, a deputy director at the National Immigration Law Center. “There are at times a gray zone about when that federal power can supersede or preempt the state power, but states do, in fact, have wide latitude to establish policies about school safety.”

Case in point: A Nebraska school superintendent who weathered an immigration raid in his community in 2006 recently said his biggest regret was telling families that immigration officials wouldn’t be allowed on school property.

He later got a call from an immigration official telling him: “I want you to know you’re wrong, we have jurisdiction. If we want to go into your schools we can.”

Minor offenses can prompt immigration arrests

Even with a sensitive locations policy in place, there were high-profile cases of parents who were stopped on their way to or from their child’s school during the first Trump administration.

In 2017, for example, immigration agents arrested Romulo Avelica-Gonzalez a few minutes after he dropped off his 12-year-old daughter at a Los Angeles middle school. His other daughter, then 13, recorded a video of the encounter while sobbing. Two misdemeanor convictions prompted the stop: a decade-old DUI and another for receiving a stolen vehicle registration sticker.

The father was released after six months in detention, but the arrest spread fear throughout his community.

Living under the threat of deportation has had ripple effects. During Trump’s first term, some immigrant parents in Florida’s Broward County started walking their kids to school instead of driving, in order to avoid committing traffic infractions leading to interactions with police. Others sent their kids to school with immigration paperwork tucked in their backpacks.

In New York City, schools that serve new immigrant students had to coax in parents who were afraid to attend parent-teacher conferences and open-school nights.

To quell those fears, schools can work with community-based organizations or local immigrant rights groups to host know-your-rights workshops so parents know what to do if they’re stopped on their way to or from their child’s school.

“We’re reminding our families that: Yes, they may be limited, but we still have rights, and it’s important for us to know what those rights are,” said Carrizales, who used to be undocumented herself. “One of the biggest things is if anybody comes and asks you what your immigration status is, for our families not to respond and not to sign anything.”

There’s also concerns that routine interactions with police could lead immigrant students and families to get caught up in deportation proceedings.

In 2007, a ninth grader in Arizona’s Tucson Unified School District was deported with his family after school officials found a small amount of marijuana in his backpack. The school called local police, who notified the Border Patrol of the family’s immigration status. Immigration agents showed up at the boy’s high school and took him and his family into custody.

School officials later said police should have waited to call immigration agents until the family was off campus because their arrival sparked rumors of an immigration raid at the school.

Andrew Hairston, who directs the education justice project at the nonprofit Texas Appleseed, worries cases like this could become more common if Trump rescinds the sensitive locations policy. In Texas, for example, public schools are required to have an armed officer on campus during school hours.

“My great fear is that with this police state that exists on school campuses, young people are often deprived of their inherent dignity just to go to school and do their best to learn,” Hairston said. “Then when you add this rhetoric on, that ICE might come in and enforce immigration laws, then you really just have this environment of trepidation.”

Carrizales, of ImmSchools, says school districts that have their own police departments should have clear protocols for how school police would interact with an immigration agent and communicate those with families.

If the sensitive places policy goes away, that doesn’t mean “district police get to become immigration agents or get to operate with immigration officials,” she said. “It’s really important for districts to make that very clear for families.”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org

Colorado school leaders worried about immigration raids hear from one who experienced it

2024-12-17T20:29:32+00:00

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It was just two weeks from the end of the semester and the start of holiday break in 2006, when Superintendent Steve Joel got a phone call from the police chief. Federal immigration agents were raiding his community.

Immediately, Joel said he knew there would be students who would not have parents to go home to that day. By 8:30 a.m., “we were in absolute despair,” Joel recalled.

Joel now looks back on the day of the raid as the longest 24 hours of his career, and worries school leaders in Colorado will face a similar situation soon.

Joel shared his memories of that experience at the recent Colorado Association of School Boards conference in Colorado Springs.

Dozens of education officials attended the session to hear from Joel about what to expect and how they might prepare for the possible upcoming mass deportations promised by President-elect Donald Trump that could split kids from parents and create a host of problems for schools.

Last week, NBC reported the incoming Trump administration has plans to remove the long-standing practice of not conducting immigration enforcement at schools, hospitals, and churches. An influential conservative group with ties to Trump has also shared a blueprint to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that protects undocumented children’s right to go to public schools.

The 2006 immigration raid took place at a food processing plant when Joel was superintendent of Nebraska’s Grand Island school district. About 1,400 of the school district’s 10,000 students had parents working at the plant, he said. Some of those parents had legal status, but without proof on them, some were detained and rounded up anyway.

“Be prepared,” he urged school officials. “Your community, your parents, your leaders, your state, they’ll appreciate you for it.”

So far, most Colorado school leaders have been quiet about any possible plans they may be drafting to deal with mass deportations affecting their community.

Adams 14 school leaders are holding “know your rights” seminars for families, and training front office staff to direct federal authorities to the district’s legal team or director of security.

Here’s some of the advice Joel had based on his experience:

Have a message ready for families

As families in the community learned about the immigration raids, the school district began fielding nonstop calls, Joel said.

Relatives were calling, asking what they should do.

“It was gut wrenching,” he said. Joel said school leaders should have responses ready to share with families.

By around midday his district had created a plan to set up a triage at one of the district’s schools for any children whose parents had been detained and needed a place to stay. The district held a press conference to let the community know the plan and where people could come to reunite with affected students.

Joel also said that as word got out, they saw high school students walk out of class, go to the elementary schools to pick up their siblings, and then go into hiding.

“We weren’t quite ready for that,” Joel said.

As part of his message that day, Joel said he was attempting to assure the community that schools were safe. The district of about 10,000 students was down by 2,500 students the next day. Some slowly returned in the weeks following the raid, but about 500 students didn’t come back.

He said one thing he regretted was saying that immigration authorities would not be allowed on school property. In that moment, he was motivated to stop them himself if needed, he said.

Soon after that comment aired, he received a call from the leader of the immigration enforcement operation.

“He said, ‘I want you to know you’re wrong, we have jurisdiction. If we want to go into your schools we can. But I promise you, we won’t,’” Joel recalled.

Education officials don’t have a clear answer to the question of whether schools have the authority to stop immigration officials from entering schools today.

Joe Salazar, an attorney for Adams 14 who attended Joel’s talk, told the group that in his view — based on a state court ruling from this summer — immigration warrants aren’t considered warrants in Colorado and that schools do have the right to turn officials away.

In response to reports that Trump would permit immigration enforcement in schools, Denver Public Schools published a statement noting that according to current district policy, “federal immigration law enforcement activities would not be permitted at our schools, on transportation routes, on DPS property, or during school activities.”

DPS said it is committed to providing safe learning environments for all students regardless of their immigration status.

But the district also is encouraging families to have their emergency contact information updated and to identify who is authorized to pick up their children if parents can’t.

Have a way to verify who people are

When the district was preparing to reunite students with relatives who could take them in, Joel said security reminded him that they needed a way to verify that the people claiming to be relatives really were.

He said they had students and teachers confirm the relation to the family member they were released to.

In about a dozen cases, Joel said, teachers who had volunteered took in a student who did not have a confirmed relative to stay with for a night or two. But, he said, the district tried to limit those cases because of the district legal team’s concerns about liabilities.

Have a list of students who might be affected

Joel suggested that school districts create a list of students who could be affected in the case of mass immigration raids.

But doing so isn’t necessarily straightforward. Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, asked Joel how districts should do that, given that they don’t collect immigration information about students or families. (The U.S. Department of Education has said schools may not collect information about students’ and families’ immigration status in order to deny them services, because by law they have to serve students regardless of their status. Joel did not suggest collecting that.)

Joel responded that his district did collect information about parent employers. So on the morning of the raid, the district was able to quickly identify students who had parents working at the worksite that had been impacted. Not all students’ families were undocumented or detained, but it gave the district a list of students to check in with.

Joel suggested districts can think about the larger employers in their community who might employ immigrant parents. They can even open a line of communication with those employers ahead of any possible raids.

A spokesperson for the Denver district said that DPS doesn’t collect information about parents’ place of employment either.

If Grand Island schools had lacked that, Joel said he would have probably asked staff to identify the students they thought were impacted.

Have a way to raise money for students

Knowing the district may need to help house, transport, or feed some children, Joel said his district decided to raise money, and he encourages districts to have a system prepared to take in donations.

“The funds flowed in like I would have never expected,” Joel said.

Joel recalls that one of the first checks he received came from an unexpected source.

Joel had a neighbor who was a friend who was heavily involved in the local Republican Party, Joel said. Every time the man’s property taxes went up by any amount, he grilled Joel about whether that money was going to educating undocumented children, Joel said.

But on the morning of the raid, the man showed up to Joel’s office with a “big check.”

“‘I’m a daddy too and I hate what this is doing to families,’” Joel recalled the man telling him.

The money the district collected helped students and families for weeks.

Joel said that a few days after the raid, a principal called him for help to talk to a student.

The student was a young girl who was pregnant and was two weeks away from graduating. Both of her parents had been detained, and once the girl found out where her parents were, she was anxious to join them.

The principal was pleading with her to stay in school and finish her diploma first.

Finally, Joel and the principal were able to talk the girl into staying, with the promise of helping her stay in the apartment she had been sharing with her parents. The district paid for food, utilities, and other bills through the end of the semester so the girl could get her diploma.

When doing home visits looking for children in the days after the raid, school staff sometimes found children speaking through a window to say they were under instructions not to open the door. So, principals and social workers also brought those families food, school work, or other necessities as they were trying to earn back their trust and get them back in schools.

Work with community groups, faith leaders, and others

Joel also emphasized that school districts should call on other leaders in the community to help. On the day of the raid, when he reached out to groups, he called a meeting. Despite the short notice, he said within an hour he had a great turnout.

“There’s going to be a lot of fear and quite a bit of anger,” he said. “They were hurting, mad.

None of it was really directed at us, but it sure felt that way.”

It can help if school districts start having conversations with those organizations and leaders before any raids.

Among other pieces of advice, Joel told school leaders that they should be prepared for a day of a raid to be an emotional day for staff, and to know that not all staff will be able to handle working on helping students and families. There will also be threats from people who don’t agree with the school district’s approach to helping families, he said.

He said the biggest thing is remembering to keep it about the children and advocating for them.

“If you can’t advocate for kids, what are you doing on the board?” Joel said. “That’s sort of the position we took.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Las universidades de Colorado planean brindar apoyo a los estudiantes inmigrantes después de la elección de Trump

2024-12-16T23:27:10+00:00

Los líderes de las universidades públicas de Colorado dicen que están más preparados ahora para apoyar a los estudiantes inmigrantes en sus campus de lo que estaban durante el primer mandato del presidente electo Donald Trump.

Los administradores de las universidades dijeron que muchas de ellas seguirán un plan similar al que crearon en 2016, y que han mantenido desde entonces. Pero el próximo mandato de Trump –con sus llamados a deportaciones masivas– trae consigo una nueva necesidad para las universidades y los colegios de Colorado de recordarles a los estudiantes inmigrantes indocumentados que no solo son bienvenidos en sus campuses, sino que los apoyarán para ayudarlos a hacer realidad sus sueños.

También los administradores de las universidades señalaron que eso es especialmente cierto cuando escuchan que más estudiantes indocumentados se sienten agotados por la constante amenaza de deportaciones.

“A pesar de que existe mucho apoyo para esta población, siento que definitivamente tenemos que hacer más”, dijo Rodolfo Vargas, director del Centro Cultural César Chávez de la Universidad del Norte de Colorado. “Y en eso estamos trabajando ahora mismo”.

Las universidades y los colegios públicos de Colorado educan anualmente a un grupo diverso de estudiantes que incluye estudiantes internacionales y migrantes. Los estudiantes inmigrantes puede que tengan protección legal para permanecer en el país, o no tener documentación alguna, o pueden que estén aquí legalmente pero preocupados por los miembros de sus familias indocumentados. Aproximadamente 156.000 inmigrantes indocumentados viven en el estado.

En los últimos cuatro años, en Colorado un promedio de 2.300 estudiantes indocumentados al año han solicitado la Solicitud de Ayuda Financiera Estatal. Esta solicitud es muy parecida a la Solicitud Gratuita de Ayuda Federal para Estudiantes (FASFA), y tiene como objetivo ayudar a los estudiantes indocumentados a calificar para obtener dinero para pagar la matrícula y hacer realidad sus sueños de ir a la universidad. Los estudiantes también pueden calificar para la matrícula estatal a través del programa ASSET de Colorado.

Colorado restringe la mayoría de las formas de cooperación con las autoridades federales de inmigración cuando se trata de deportaciones, sin embargo mucho puede depender del condado o de las ciudades en las que vivan los residentes.

Vargas también se refirió a que los estudiantes están en constante temor de que las leyes puedan cambiar, como por ejemplo que el gobierno federal ponga fin al programa de Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA). En Colorado, alrededor de 12.000 personas tienen DACA, o protecciones para inmigrantes que fueron traídos a los Еstados Unidos cuando eran niños y viven en los Estados Unidos sin la documentación adecuada.

Las prioridades de Trump son muy similares a las de 2016, cuando sus llamados a las deportaciones motivaron a los funcionarios de la Universidad Estatal Metropolitana de Denver a aumentar los recursos para los estudiantes indocumentados, dijo Gregor Mieder, director de servicios para inmigrantes de MSU Denver.

En 2016, los funcionarios de MSU Denver organizaron seminarios con abogados de inmigración para que los estudiantes pudieran entender lo que significaría para ellos la administración Trump, y también trajeron personal de apoyo para navegar por ciertos formularios legales y DACA, e incluso trajeron organizaciones comunitarias para ayudar.

“Se movilizó un apoyo comunitario que fue realmente solidario y maravilloso de ver”, dijo Mieder. “Creo que eso también informa un poco sobre cómo estamos pensando ahora sobre esta próxima administración”.

Las universidades y los líderes universitarios dijeron que las leyes en torno a las deportaciones son una cuestión de política federal.

Pero ellos están dedicados a hacer que los estudiantes se sientan bienvenidos como en MSU Denver y Northern Colorado.

Una portavoz de la Universidad de Colorado en Boulder dijo en una declaración que los estudiantes y académicos internacionales y no ciudadanos enriquecen el campus y la comunidad, y los líderes de la escuela continuarán apoyando su empleo y matriculación, independientemente de quién esté en el cargo.

“Los estudiantes indocumentados pertenecen a CU Boulder y su éxito es una prioridad”, dice la declaración.

La escuela seguirá brindando recursos como La Clínica de Defensa de Inmigración de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Colorado, que brinda servicios directos a estudiantes, personal y miembros de la comunidad. La escuela también tiene un UndocuNetwork (un repertorio de recursos en línea), que incluye formas de ponerse en contacto con profesores y personal de todo el campus para abordar las preocupaciones de los estudiantes indocumentados y ponerse en contacto con los servicios de apoyo.

Del mismo modo, el director de la Oficina Ejecutiva de Equidad de la Universidad Estatal Adams, Florencio Urías Aranda III, dijo en una declaración que la escuela se compromete a ofrecer una comunidad segura y acogedora a estudiantes de todas procedencias.

“Nuestro compromiso y prioridad máxima es ayudar a los estudiantes a prosperar y a construir su propio futuro, ofreciéndoles servicios de apoyo y recursos adecuados, especialmente a los más vulnerables y menos representados” dijo Urías Aranda III.

Ni MSU Denver o la Northern Colorado University vieron un descenso significativo en el número de estudiantes indocumentados que se matricularon en sus campuses durante el primer mandato de Trump, dijeron los funcionarios.

Vargas también se refirió a que a los estudiantes les resulta más difícil terminar sus estudios porque pueden verse en la necesidad de trabajar para mantener a sus familias o sentirse agotados por la constante amenaza de deportación o cambios en las leyes. Muchos deben hacer frente a un estrés y una presión constantes que para la mayoría sería demasiado.

Sin embargo, una y otra vez los estudiantes siguen adelante. Mieder y Vargas comentan que ellos están constantemente recordando a los estudiantes cuán poderosa puede ser la educación para sus vidas.

Los estudiantes quieren devolver algo a sus comunidades, dijo Mieder. Y la educación es una de las cosas que ningún político puede quitarles.

Depende de los administradores de la universidad hacer que los estudiantes se sientan cómodos, y Mieder dijo que la escuela seguirá encontrando nuevas formas de abordar los problemas a medida que surjan. Los estudiantes hacen el resto con su dedicación y resiliencia.

“En general, los estudiantes aquí en MSU Denver superan casi cualquier cosa, con mucho esfuerzo y dedicación”, dijo Mieder. “Es verdaderamente asombroso ver eso”.

Traducido por Rocky Mountain Language Co-op

Jason Gonzales es un reportero que cubre la educación superior y la legislatura de Colorado. Chalkbeat Colorado se asocia con Open Campus para cubrir la educación superior. Comunícate con Jason por correo electrónico enviando un mensaje a jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora adoptan un plan de estudios para aprender inglés en high school

2024-12-13T01:31:50+00:00

En Aurora, los estudiantes de high school que están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma pasan 45 minutos al día en una clase especialmente diseñada para ayudarlos con sus habilidades en el lenguaje.

Pero sus maestros habían tenido que diseñar ellos mismos las lecciones, las cuales son clave para ayudar a los estudiantes a entender el resto de sus clases con compañeros cuya lengua materna es el inglés.

Después de un programa piloto que empezó el año escolar pasado, las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora están pidiéndole al consejo escolar que apruebe este mes un plan de estudios para esas clases.

Casi el 40 por ciento de los casi 40,000 estudiantes en las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora están aprendiendo inglés.

Alice Wilcox, una de las consultoras de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa que trabajan con maestros líderes en el desarrollo del idioma inglés, dijo que los maestros han estado pidiendo un plan de estudios. “Querían tiempo para enfocarse en estrategias de enseñanza”, Wilcox dijo. “Toma mucho esfuerzo examinar los estándares, crear evaluaciones, y luego crear unidades. Esto levanta la carga de los maestros”.

Alrededor del estado, estudiantes de high school en Colorado tuvieron grandes reducciones en pruebas estatales tomadas en la primavera de 2024, pero los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés tuvieron disminuciones desproporcionadamente grandes.

Por ejemplo, el porcentaje de estudiantes de 9º grado en o por encima del estándar de preparación universitaria para matemáticas en el estado disminuyó al 40 por ciento, en comparación con el 47 por ciento en 2023. El estado modificó temporalmente los requisitos de graduación para responder a resultados más bajos en todos los niveles de high school.

En Aurora, el distrito señaló los datos específicos a su distrito que demuestran brechas en crecimiento entre los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés y los estudiantes que no están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma. Los estudiantes de 10º grado en Aurora y que están aprendiendo inglés obtuvieron una calificación promedio en lectura de 320 en la prueba PSAT, una reducción en comparación con 358 en 2022. Mientras tanto, los estudiantes de 10º grado que ya hablan inglés obtuvieron una calificación promedio en lectura de 442 este años, un aumento en comparación con 435 en 2022.

Otros datos de Aurora muestran que los estudiantes de high school que están tomando la prueba ACCESS, la cual evalúa el dominio del inglés de todos los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés, han demostrado una reducción en sus resultados de crecimiento. Los estudiantes multilingües también tienen menos probabilidad de estar en camino a graduarse.

Líderes del distrito dijeron que los datos muestran que sus estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés necesitan más apoyo en high school. Aurora empezó a adoptar materiales de un plan de estudios para clases de desarrollo del idioma inglés en 2019, empezando en el nivel primario, y en 2020 adoptó materiales para escuelas de educación media.

En esas escuelas primarias y de educación media, los estudiantes dominan el inglés por encima del promedio, y en las escuelas primarias, sus aptitudes siguen aumentando.

Líderes del distrito dijeron que esperan que, al proporcionarles a los maestros de high school un plan de estudios, eso ayude a que los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés mejoren su adquisición del idioma y tengan más éxito en otras clases y pruebas.

El distrito empezó un programa piloto el año pasado para evaluar materiales de high school, pero lo extendió a este año para reunir más datos. Este otoño, las siete high schools integrales del distrito aceptaron participar y probar los materiales.

Al consejo le están pidiendo que apruebe los materiales de Vista Higher Learning para high school. Los materiales incluyen un programa llamado Get Ready! (“¡Prepárate!”) para estudiantes recién llegados que están empezando a aprender el idioma, y Engage (“Participa”), otra serie de materiales para estudiantes más avanzados.

El distrito encuestó a los maestros y estudiantes que probaron los materiales durante los últimos meses. Según datos del distrito, el 85 por ciento de los 746 estudiantes que respondieron dijeron que los materiales los apoyaron en sus otras clases.

Los materiales para estudiantes recién llegados recibieron el respaldo del 91 por ciento de los maestros, mientras que el 67 por ciento de los maestros estuvieron a favor de adoptar el plan de estudios Engage.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que a algunos maestros les preocupa que los materiales de Engage sean demasiado avanzados y obliguen a los estudiantes a dar un gran salto en su transición de las lecciones para recién llegados. Pero los líderes también dijeron que la editorial estaba trabajando con el distrito para realizar algunas modificaciones y diseñar cursos de capacitación para que los maestros apoyen a los estudiantes en esa transición.

Missy Winternitz, otra de las consultoras de high school en el distrito, dijo que a los maestros les gustó que los materiales del plan de estudios incluyan contenido que corresponda con otras materias que los estudiantes están aprendiendo. También ayudó a los maestros para que planearan y colaboraran entre ellos.

Y los líderes dijeron que, al visitar los salones de clase durante el programa piloto, notaron que los estudiantes estaban participando y practicando sus habilidades de escritura, las cuales a veces se ignoran como parte del aprendizaje de un idioma, dijeron. Prácticas para hablar, escuchar y leer también están incorporadas.

El plan de estudios para recién llegados empieza con un lenguaje inicial que los estudiantes necesitan enseguida, e incluye un montón de práctica para hablar.

Conforme los maestros siguen recibiendo grandes cantidades de estudiantes recién llegados al país, Renna Martinez, una consultora de recién llegados en el distrito, dijo que los maestros que estaban probando los materiales encontraron que son útiles hasta cuando los estudiantes empiezan a medio año escolar.

“No importa cuándo entre un estudiante durante este año, el plan de estudios realmente proporciona un buen punto de entrada para iniciar o continuar su adquisición del inglés”, Martinez dijo.

Los líderes del distrito dijeron que también es importante que los estudiantes se sientan apreciados y representados en el plan de estudios. Más del 56 por ciento de los estudiantes que respondieron a la encuesta dijeron que las lecciones incluyeron experiencias de su cultura.

“Queremos que nuestros estudiantes se sientan realmente orgullosos de ser bilingües y de tener un origen abundante y diverso”, dijo Annalee McBee, la directora de educación cultural y lingüísticamente diversa en el distrito. “Estamos en una mejor situación en este mundo porque tenemos una forma diversa de pensar”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

In Aurora high schools, students learning English as a new language might get new materials

2024-12-11T19:24:21+00:00

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In Aurora, high school students who are learning English as a new language spend 45 minutes per day in a class specifically designed to help them improve their language skills.

But their teachers have been on their own to design the lessons that are key to helping students understand the rest of their classes with native English speakers.

After a pilot program that began last school year, Aurora Public Schools is asking the school board to approve a curriculum this month for those classes.

Almost 40% of the almost 40,000 students in Aurora Public Schools are English learners.

Alice Wilcox, one of the culturally and linguistically diverse education consultants who work with English language development teacher leaders, said teachers had been requesting a curriculum. “They wanted time to focus on instructional strategies,” Wilcox said. “It takes a lot of effort to look at the standards, create assessments and then create units. This takes the lift off of teachers.”

Statewide, Colorado high school students saw large decreases in scores from state tests taken in the spring of 2024, but students learning English had disproportionately larger decreases.

For instance, the percentage of ninth graders at or above the state’s college readiness benchmark in math fell to 40% from 47% in 2023. The state temporarily adjusted graduation requirements to account for the lower scores across high school levels.

In Aurora, the district pointed to their district-specific data showing widening gaps for English learners compared to students not learning English as a new language. Tenth graders in Aurora who are English learners had an average reading score of 320 on the PSAT test, down from 358 in 2022, while 10th graders who aren’t English learners had an average reading score of 442 this year, up from 435 in 2022.

Other Aurora data shows that high school students taking the ACCESS test, which measures English proficiency for all English learners, have shown declining growth scores. Multilingual learners are also less likely to be on track to graduate.

District leaders said the data show their English learners need more support at the high school level. Aurora started adopting curriculum materials for English language development classes in 2019, starting at the elementary level, and in 2020 adopted materials for middle schools.

In those elementary and middle schools, growth in English proficiency is above average, and at the elementary schools, proficiency is still increasing.

District leaders said they expect that providing curriculum for high school teachers should help English learners improve their language acquisition and be more successful in other classes and on tests.

The district started a pilot last year to evaluate high school materials but extended it this year to gather more data. This fall, all seven of the district’s comprehensive high schools opted in and tried the materials.

The board is being asked to approve the materials for high school from Vista Higher Learning. The materials include a program called Get Ready! for newcomers who are just starting to learn the language, and Engage, another set of materials for students who are farther along.

The district surveyed the teachers and students who tested the materials for the last few months. According to district data, 85% of 746 students who responded said the materials supported them in their other classes.

The materials for newcomers had support from 91% of teachers, while 67% of teachers were in favor of adopting the Engage curriculum.

District leaders said some teachers worried that the Engage materials were too advanced and required a big jump for students transitioning from the newcomer lessons. But leaders also said the publisher was working with the district on making some adjustments and designing training for teachers to support students in making those jumps.

Missy Winternitz, another of the district’s high school consultants, said teachers liked that the curriculum materials include content that applies to other subjects students are learning. It also helped teachers plan and collaborate with each other.

And leaders said they noticed when visiting classrooms during the pilot that students were engaged and practicing writing skills, which they said sometimes are overlooked as part of learning a language. Speaking, listening, and reading practice are also incorporated.

The curriculum for newcomers starts off with introductory language that students need right away and includes a lot of speaking practice.

As teachers continue to see large numbers of new-to-country students, Renna Martinez, a district newcomer consultant, said that teachers piloting the materials found them to be helpful even when students start mid-year.

“No matter when a student enters within this year, the curriculum really provides a good entry point to start or continue their English acquisition,” Martinez said.

District leaders said it’s also important that students feel valued and represented in the curriculum. More than 56% of the students who responded to the survey said the lessons included experiences from their culture.

“We want our students to feel really proud about being bilingual and having a rich diverse background,” said Annalee McBee, the district’s director of culturally and linguistically diverse education. “We’re a better place in this world because we have diverse thinking.”

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Aurora elementary and middle school students using new English language development curriculum made above average growth in English proficiency. A previous version of the story said their English proficiency was above average.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

NYC eases up on 60-day eviction notices for migrant families with school-age children

2024-11-18T22:46:54+00:00

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Some migrant families will get a reprieve from a widely criticized policy that evicted them from New York City shelters every 60 days, often disrupting their children’s schooling.

Migrants living in city shelters have been required to reapply for beds every two months, sometimes necessitating moves far from their initial shelter placements. But officials announced Monday that families with children in grades K-6 will only be required to move once — after their first 60 days in a city shelter.

After that, families will be able to stay in the same shelter, though they will still have to reapply, a City Hall spokesperson said.

The decision to tweak the 60-day policy comes as the influx of migrants has slowed, leading the city to close some emergency shelters. City officials argued that tweaking the 60-day policy would save money on school buses required to ferry students from new shelter placements to their original schools, though they did not provide specific estimates.

“The new policies we’re implementing today will build on our successes, save taxpayers millions, and help even more migrants take their next steps towards fulfilling their American Dream,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

City officials also vowed to set up a centralized mail center for migrants to help them keep track of essential paperwork even as their addresses may change.

Advocates have long criticized city officials for forcing migrants to bounce from shelter to shelter, disruptions that are especially difficult for families. Although students in temporary housing have a legal right to stay in their initial school, families often face a difficult dilemma: enroll at a campus closer to their new shelter, potentially upending their child’s education, or brave longer commutes on public transit or the city’s notoriously unreliable yellow bus system.

It’s unclear how many families will be affected by the tweak to the 60-day policy. Nearly 14,000 migrant families have been given 60-day notices through Nov. 10, according to figures from Comptroller Brad Lander’s office. About 42% of them are still in the shelter system. City officials did not say how many families in the shelter system have children in grades K-6.

Multiple advocacy groups applauded the change to the 60-day policy while arguing it does not go far enough.

“Allowing certain families to stay in their same shelter placement is a step in the right direction, but the city should end the 60-day limit for families and youth altogether,” said Jennifer Pringle, director of the Learners in Temporary Housing Project at Advocates for Children.

The new policy will continue to create unnecessary disruptions for families who will still be required to move after their first two months in a city shelter, Pringle said. Most students living in shelters are chronically absent from school, and she believes getting rid of the 60-day rule could help boost attendance.

Christine Quinn, the CEO of a supportive housing provider for families called WIN, also urged the city to do away with the 60-day policy. The approach leaves “countless families in a perpetual state of limbo, creating unnecessary instability while inflicting lasting trauma,” she said in a statement.

“We urge the City to go further and end these cruel and senseless shelter stay limits and administrative transfers once and for all,” Quinn said.

The City Council’s immigration committee is scheduled to hold an oversight hearing on the 60-day policy on Tuesday.

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Trump’s deportation plan could separate millions of families, leaving schools to pick up the pieces

2024-11-15T21:02:12+00:00

Editor’s Note: This story was reported and published before the presidential election. It has been updated to reflect that Donald Trump won a second term.

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When immigration agents raided chicken processing plants in central Mississippi in 2019, they arrested nearly 700 undocumented workers — many of them parents of children enrolled in local schools.

Teens got frantic texts to leave class and find their younger siblings. Unfamiliar faces whose names weren’t on the pick-up list showed up to take children home. School staff scrambled to make sure no child went home to an empty house, while the owner of a local gym threw together a temporary shelter for kids with nowhere else to go.

In the Scott County School District, a quarter of the district’s Latino students, around 150 children, were absent from school the next day. When dozens of kids continued to miss school, staff packed onto school buses and went door to door with food, trying to reassure families that it was safe for their children to return. Academics were on hold for weeks, said Tony McGee, the district’s superintendent at the time.

“We went into kind of a Mom and Dad mode and just cared for kids,” McGee said. While some children bounced back quickly, others were shaken for months. “You could tell there was still some worry on kids’ hearts.”

After workplace raids in Mississippi, some school-age children whose parents were arrested were taken to a local gym that served as an emergency shelter.

Massive workplace raids have occurred in the past, with enforcement also targeting employers in an effort to deter unauthorized immigration. If President-elect Donald Trump enacts the hardline immigration policies he campaigned on, what happened in Mississippi could become a much more common occurrence affecting millions of children and their schools.

Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, tapping every resource at his disposal from local police to the National Guard and the military. Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have repeatedly refused to answer questions about whether they would deport the parents of U.S. citizen children.

But any such plan inevitably would sweep up parents of school-age children, leaving educators with the responsibility of providing food, clothing, counseling, and more to affected students. Educators who have been through it before say schools that serve immigrant communities should prepare now. It’s estimated some 4.4 million U.S.-born children have at least one undocumented parent.

On top of that, it’s unclear if Trump would seek to undermine the “sanctuary school” policies that some districts enacted during his last presidency in an attempt to protect immigrant students and their families on school grounds.

Trump has shown willingness to target immigrant children

Trump frequently aims his rhetoric and policy proposals at the children of immigrants.

Last year, he said he would seek to end automatic citizenship rights for children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents, and he has defended his policy that separated immigrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. He has not ruled out deporting women and children as part of his mass deportation plan.

“We’re gonna look at it very closely,” he said in an interview earlier this fall, even as he acknowledged that images of families being loaded on buses would make it “a lot harder.”

Both Trump and Vance have characterized immigrant children as being burdens on schools who are overcrowding classrooms and taxing teachers with their language needs. Top aides to Trump tried for months during his first administration to give states the power to block undocumented children from attending public school, Bloomberg News reported, and an influential conservative think tank is seeking to revive that idea if Trump wins a second term.

RELATED: Think tank with ties to Trump lays out plan to deny free education to undocumented students

Immigrant rights advocates worry that Trump would seek to end a decades-old federal policy that has treated schools as “sensitive” or “protected” areas where immigration agents are not supposed to surveil families or make arrests, except in extraordinary circumstances, so as not to deter children from going to school.

“Enforcement actions undertaken in these locations have a ripple effect,” said Heidi Altman, the director of federal advocacy at the National Immigration Law Center. “It’s very frightening for communities when we think about the possibility of a Trump administration, both in terms of enforcement at and near protected areas, like schools, but also the impact on schools and access to education.”

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions sent in October about whether he would seek to carry out immigration enforcement activities at or near schools as part of his mass deportation plan. But Project 2025, a policy playbook written by several former Trump White House officials, calls for rescinding any memos that identify “sensitive zones” where immigration action should be limited.

And even when immigration enforcement happens off campus, it can still have far-reaching effects on children and schools.

Kheri Martinez was just 13 when her mother was swept up in the 2019 Mississippi raids. She was one of around 1,000 children whose parents were arrested that day. A family friend picked Martinez up early from school, and she later learned from her dad — who was working out of state on a construction job — that her mother had been detained.

The seventh grader bottled up her own fears and told her two little sisters, who were a toddler and early elementary schooler at the time, that their mom was working overtime. For dinner, they ate pizza dropped off by worried family friends. That night, Martinez climbed into her parents’ bed with her sisters, hoping the blankets that smelled like their mom would comfort her.

“Even though I don’t know if Mom is going to come home today,” she told herself, “at least I’d have something closer to me, I’ll feel like she’s here.”

Her mom came home crying at 4 in the morning — immigration officials had released some parents of small children on humanitarian grounds while their cases proceeded — and Martinez finally felt like she could breathe.

At school the next day, there were whispers that the school would be targeted for violence and that the government was going to come back and take kids away. It felt like everyone at school was “on alert.”

“The Hispanic kids, we were just kind of out of it,” Martinez said. “We weren’t us for a little bit.”

Immigration raids take heavy emotional toll on kids

What Martinez experienced is not uncommon among children whose parents have been caught up in immigration raids. Multiple studies have documented the sweeping psychological, emotional, and financial toll that such operations have on children and their families.

A local pastor and other volunteers gathered food and donated items to distribute to families affected by the immigration raids in Mississippi in 2019.

Researchers from the nonprofit Center for Law and Social Policy found that the Mississippi raids were especially traumatic for the children whose schools were located within sight of a poultry plant. Many saw their parents handcuffed and shoved into white vans on their way home from school, prompting screams and uncontrollable crying.

Children “continued to suffer emotionally” for weeks and months, the research team wrote, and even kids who’d been reunited with their parents showed signs of post-traumatic stress and separation anxiety. Some kindergartners started wetting the bed again, and toddlers regressed in their speech. It was common for kids to come home from school, drop their backpacks, and spend the rest of the day sleeping. Older kids often took on more housework, child care, and paying jobs so they could contribute to their households.

Similarly, researchers for The Urban Institute documented how earlier immigration raids in three states affected some 500 children whose parents were arrested.

Those children were most likely to experience emotional distress, but fear also spread to children who worried their parents would be “taken” next. Story time often turned to talk of the raids and got emotional, teachers said. Some kids internalized their parents’ disappearance as an abandonment. Some children ate less and lost weight, while others started acting out or had trouble sleeping.

“Some parents said that, months after the raids, their children still cried in the morning when getting dropped off at school or day care, something that they rarely used to do,” the report found. “Children were said to obsess over whether their parents were going to pick them up from school.”

RELATED: Many migrant students need mental health support. Here’s why this program is a go-to for schools.

With breadwinners in detention, many families fell behind on rent. Three-quarters of the parents said they struggled to buy enough food after the raids. Housing instability forced some kids to change schools multiple times. The experience “sapped the attention of some children and affected their academic performance,” researchers found.

For Martinez, it took a year for school to feel normal again. She often felt like she was on edge, “on the lookout” for another raid.

“It hurt me for a while,” Martinez said.

How schools and families can offer support to kids

School leaders say it’s difficult to plan for an immigration raid. Agents usually do not give schools any prior warning. But schools that serve immigrant communities can take certain steps in advance.

“We practice for fire drills and tornado drills, bus evacuations, and sad to say nowadays we practice for active shooters. There’s not many drills for ICE raids,” McGee, the former Scott County superintendent, said. When “families are separated, and you’re responsible for how do these kids get home and who takes care of them, it helps to have a little insight that: Hey, you need to be prepared.”

School staff who’ve experienced raids in their communities say it’s especially important to develop an emergency protocol for how children should be signed out at school if their approved caretaker is not available to pick them up. Identifying a potential temporary shelter for students — whether at a school, a local church, or a community center — is also helpful.

McGee and his team met daily with the principals of schools where many children were affected by the raids to ask how teachers and students were doing. The district also provided materials to help teachers talk about the raids in class and explain to kids who weren’t affected how their classmates may be feeling.

“We didn’t get into the political struggle of why this happened, or why that happened, should it happen, should it not happen?” McGee said. “Our job is to care for kids.”

For Martinez, the care two teachers showed her was especially helpful. They each pulled her aside to talk about what happened, and told her to let them know if she needed more time to complete assignments.

“I was very appreciative of that,” Martinez said. “It made me feel like: ‘Oh, they understood.’”

Her family also came up with a plan for exactly what they would do and where they would go if another immigration raid happened, which helped to ease some of the anxiety. Martinez knows, for example, that if her family has to sell their belongings and move back to Mexico that she would stay in the U.S. to finish her college degree.

Gabriela Uribe Mejia with her daughter, Kheri Martinez. Martinez was just 13 when her mom was detained during a mass immigration raid in Mississippi in 2019.

“You’re going to carry something that is not yours, but we don’t have any option,” Gabriela Uribe Mejia said she told her daughter. “She said: ‘Don’t worry, I understand, I know what to do.’ But she’s a young girl.”

Still, immigrant rights advocates worry about the long-term effects on children and families.

Lorena Quiroz, who directs the Mississippi-based Immigrant Alliance for Justice and Equity, was among the community organizers who went door to door asking families if they needed food, legal assistance, or other support in the wake of the Mississippi raids.

Quiroz knows affected families who were torn apart by drinking and fighting, and teens who dropped out of school. Mothers still feel ashamed of the weeks they spent wearing an ankle monitor, visible for everyone to see under their traditional Maya skirts. Adults still tear up when they drive past the poultry plants.

People talk about it “like it’s yesterday,” Quiroz said. “Imagine that happening everywhere.”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

El plan de deportación de Trump podría separar a millones de familias y dejar a las escuelas la responsabilidad de reparar el daño

2024-10-29T23:23:59+00:00

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Durante las redadas de 2019 en plantas de procesamiento de pollo en el centro de Mississippi, agentes de inmigración arrestaron a casi 700 trabajadores indocumentados, muchos de ellos padres de niños que asistían a escuelas locales.

Los adolescentes recibieron mensajes de texto, en los que se les indicaba que dejaran la clase con urgencia y que buscaran a sus hermanos menores. Personas cuyos nombres no figuraban en la lista de recogida se presentaron para llevar a los niños a casa. El personal escolar se apresuró a asegurarse de que ningún niño regresara a un hogar vacío, mientras que el dueño de un gimnasio local improvisó un refugio temporal para los niños que no tenían a dónde ir.

En el Distrito Escolar del Condado de Scott, un 25% de los estudiantes latinos, cerca de 150 niños, faltaron a la escuela al día siguiente. Cuando docenas de niños continuaron ausentes, el personal se subió a los autobuses escolares y fue de puerta en puerta con comida, tratando de convencer a las familias de que era seguro que sus hijos regresaran. Las actividades académicas se retrasaron, afirmó Tony McGee, el superintendente del distrito en aquel momento. Los alumnos no podían concentrarse en sus clases, tanto profesores como alumnos estuvieron distraídos durante semanas.

“Adoptamos una actitud de ‘mamá y papá’ y nos enfocamos en cuidar a los niños”, dijo McGee. Si bien algunos se recuperaron rápidamente, otros estuvieron afectados durante meses. “Era evidente que aún había preocupación en sus corazones”.

En el pasado, se han llevado a cabo redadas masivas en lugares de trabajo, enfocándose también en los empleadores como medida para desalentar la inmigración no autorizada. Si el expresidente Donald Trump gana un segundo mandato y aplica sus estrictas políticas migratorias, lo sucedido en Mississippi podría repetirse con mayor frecuencia, impactando a millones de niños y sus escuelas.

Si Trump gana la reelección, ha asegurado que llevará a cabo la mayor operación de deportación en la historia de los Estados Unidos, utilizando todos los recursos a su alcance, desde la policía local hasta la Guardia Nacional y las fuerzas armadas. Tanto Trump y su compañero de fórmula, el senador de Ohio J.D. Vance, han rechazado repetidamente responder acerca de si deportarían a los padres de niños ciudadanos estadounidenses.

Sin embargo, cualquier plan de este tipo inevitablemente afectaría a padres de niños en edad escolar, dejando a los educadores con la responsabilidad de proporcionar alimentos, ropa, asesoramiento y otros apoyos. Aquellos educadores que ya han pasado por situaciones similares aconsejan que las escuelas que sirven a comunidades de inmigrantes deben comenzar a prepararse. Ya que, se estima que alrededor de 4.4 millones de niños nacidos en EE. UU. tienen al menos un padre sin documentos.

Además, no está claro si Trump intentaría debilitar las políticas de ‘escuelas santuario’ que algunos distritos implementaron durante su anterior presidencia para proteger a los estudiantes inmigrantes y sus familias en el recinto escolar.

Las políticas de Trump apuntan a los niños inmigrantes

Trump frecuentemente señala a los niños inmigrantes en sus discursos y propuestas políticas.

El año pasado, dijo que buscaría poner fin al derecho a la ciudadanía automática para los niños nacidos en EE.UU. de padres indocumentados y defendió su política de separar a los niños inmigrantes de sus familias en la frontera entre EE.UU. y México. No ha descartado deportar a mujeres y niños como parte de su plan de deportación masiva.

“Lo vamos a analizar muy de cerca”, dijo en una entrevista el mes pasado, aunque reconoció que las imágenes de las familias que eran llevadas a los autobuses “complicaría mucho la situación”.

Tanto Trump como Vance han caracterizado a los niños inmigrantes como una carga para las escuelas, señalando que sobrecargan las aulas y complican la labor de los maestros con sus necesidades lingüísticas. Durante su primer mandato, los asesores más cercanos a Trump intentaron, sin éxito, otorgar a los estados el poder de impedir que los niños indocumentados asistieran a escuelas públicas, tal como reportó Bloomberg News. Un influyente think tank conservador está buscando reactivar esta propuesta en caso de que Trump gane un segundo mandato.

MÁS: Cómo una nueva coalición defiende los derechos educativos de niños indocumentados

Los defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes temen que Trump busque poner fin a una política federal que ha existido durante décadas y que considera a las escuelas como zonas ‘seguras’ o ‘protegidas’. En esas áreas, se supone que los agentes de inmigración no pueden vigilar o arrestar a las familias, excepto en circunstancias extraordinarias, para evitar que los niños se sientan desalentados a asistir a la escuela.

“Las acciones de ejecución realizadas en estas localidades tienen un efecto dominó”, comentó Heidi Altman, directora de defensa federal en el Centro Nacional de Leyes de Inmigración. “Es muy alarmante para las comunidades imaginar la posibilidad de una administración de Trump, tanto por la aplicación de la ley en áreas protegidas y en sus alrededores, como las escuelas, pero también por el impacto en las instituciones educativas y al acceso a la educación”.

Después de las redadas en Mississippi, algunos niños cuyos padres fueron detenidos se quedaron en un gimnasio local que sirvió como refugio temporal.

La campaña de Trump no respondió a preguntas sobre si el expresidente intentaría llevar a cabo actividades de aplicación de la ley migratoria en las escuelas o en sus alrededores como parte de su plan de deportación masiva. Sin embargo, el Proyecto 2025, un manual de políticas redactado por varios exfuncionarios de la Casa Blanca de Trump, propone anular cualquier documento que identifique ‘zonas protegidas’ donde la acción migratoria debería ser restringida.

Incluso cuando la aplicación de la ley de inmigración se lleva a cabo fuera del recinto escolar, puede tener efectos significativos en los niños y las escuelas.

Kheri Martínez tenía apenas 13 años cuando su madre fue detenida en las redadas de Mississippi en 2019. Ese día, ella fue una más de los casi 1000 niños cuyos padres fueron arrestados. Una amiga de la familia la recogió antes de tiempo de la escuela, y más tarde su padre —que estaba viajando por un trabajo de construcción— le informó que su madre había sido detenida.

La estudiante de séptimo grado reprimió sus propios miedos y les dijo a sus dos hermanitas que su mamá estaba trabajando horas extra. Para cenar, compartieron una pizza que llevaron amigos de la familia que estaban preocupados por lo que había ocurrido. Esa noche, Martínez se metió en la cama de sus padres con sus hermanitas, deseando que las cobijas que olían a su mamá le brindaran consuelo.

“Aunque no estoy segura de que mamá regrese hoy”, se dijo, “al menos tendré algo cercano que me recordará de ella, y se sentirá como si realmente estuviera aquí”.

Su mamá regresó a casa llorando a las 4 de la mañana. Los funcionarios de inmigración habían dejado en libertad a algunos padres de niños pequeños por motivos humanitarios, mientras se procesaban sus casos. En ese instante, Martínez sintió que podía volver a respirar.

Al día siguiente en la escuela, surgieron rumores de que se planeaba un ataque violento contra la institución y que el gobierno regresaría para llevarse a los niños. Todos parecían estar “en alerta”.

“Los niños hispanos, estábamos un poco desconcertados”, expresó Martínez. “En aquel momento, sentíamos que no éramos nosotros mismos”.

Las redadas de inmigración generan un profundo impacto emocional en los niños

Lo que vivió Martínez es una experiencia común entre los niños cuyos padres han sido detenidos en redadas migratorias. Diversas investigaciones han documentado el considerable impacto psicológico, emocional y financiero que tales operativos generan en los niños y sus familias.

Un estudio realizado por investigadores del Centro de Derecho y Política Social (The Center for Law and Social Policy), una organización sin ánimo de lucro, reveló que las redadas en Mississippi resultaron particularmente traumáticas para los niños que asistían a escuelas cercanas a una planta de procesamiento de pollo. Muchos presenciaron cómo sus padres eran esposados y forzados a entrar en furgones blancos al regresar de la escuela, lo que provocó gritos y llantos incontrolables.

El equipo de investigación señaló que los niños ‘continuaron padeciendo emocionalmente’ durante semanas y meses, y aquellos que se habían reunido con sus padres también mostraron signos de estrés postraumático y ansiedad por separación. Algunos niños de Kínder volvieron a mojar la cama, y los más pequeños retrocedieron en su habilidad para hablar. Era común que los niños regresaran a casa de la escuela, dejaran sus mochilas y durmieran el resto del día. Los adolescentes a menudo asumían un rol más activo en las tareas del hogar, como con el cuidado de niños y realizando trabajos remunerados para contribuir con la economía familiar.

Un pastor local y otros voluntarios recogieron alimentos para distribuirlos a las familias afectadas por las redadas en Mississippi en 2019.

De manera similar, los investigadores del Urban Institute documentaron cómo redadas migratorias realizadas en tres estados afectaron a aproximadamente 500 niños debido a la detención de sus padres.

Los niños cuyos padres resultaron detenidos fueron los más propensos a sufrir angustia emocional, aunque el temor se extendió también a otros pequeños preocupados de que sus propios padres fueran ‘llevados’ después. Según los maestros, la hora de los cuentos se transformaba en un momento de conversación sobre las redadas, con mucha carga emocional. Algunos niños interpretaron la ausencia de sus padres como un abandono, y hubo quienes empezaron a comer menos y bajaron de peso, mientras que otros empezaron a portarse mal o tenían problemas para dormir.

“Algunos padres relataron que, incluso meses después de las redadas, sus hijos seguían llorando por las mañanas al dejarlos en la escuela o guardería, un comportamiento que solía ser poco común”, indicó el informe. “Decían que los niños se obsesionaban con la idea de si sus padres irían a buscarlos a la escuela”.

MÁS: Cómo un distrito escolar apoyó a los estudiantes recién llegados este año

Las detenciones provocaron retrasos en el pago de alquiler en muchas familias, ya que a menudo los detenidos eran el sostén económico principal. Tres de cada cuatro padres señalaron que, tras las redadas, enfrentaron serias dificultades para conseguir suficiente comida. La inestabilidad de viviendas llevó a algunos niños a cambiar de escuela varias veces. Los investigadores descubrieron que estas experiencias “distraen a los niños y afectan su rendimiento académico”.

Para Martínez, pasó un año antes de que la escuela volviera a sentirse normal. A menudo, se sentía al límite, ella estaba ‘en alerta’ ante la posibilidad de otra redada.

“Me dolió durante un tiempo”, confesó Martínez.

Cómo las escuelas y las familias pueden apoyar a los niños

Los líderes escolares sostienen que es complicado prepararse para una redada migratoria, ya que, por lo general, los agentes no notifican a las instituciones con antelación. Sin embargo, las escuelas que apoyan a comunidades inmigrantes pueden implementar medidas preventivas.

“Realizamos simulacros de incendios y tornados, evacuaciones de autobuses y, lamentablemente, en la actualidad también practicamos para situaciones de tiradores activos. Sin embargo, no hay muchos simulacros para redadas de ICE (El Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos)”, dijo McGee, el exsuperintendente del Condado de Scott. “Cuando las familias están divididas y eres responsable de cómo regresan esos niños a casa y quién los cuida, es útil tener una idea, ese: Oye, necesitas estar preparado”.

El personal escolar que ha vivido redadas en sus comunidades sostiene que es fundamental establecer un protocolo de emergencia sobre cómo deben ser entregados los niños en la escuela si su cuidador autorizado no está disponible para recogerlos. También es útil identificar un posible refugio temporal para los estudiantes, ya sea en una escuela, una iglesia local o un centro comunitario.

McGee y su equipo se reunían a diario con los directores de las escuelas donde muchos niños se vieron afectados por las redadas para indagar sobre el bienestar de los maestros y los estudiantes. El distrito también proporcionó recursos para ayudar a los maestros a hablar sobre las redadas en clase, para explicarles la situación a los niños no afectados y ayudarlos a empatizar con los sentimientos de sus compañeros que sí lo fueron.

“No nos involucramos en la controversia política de porqué sucedió esto o aquello”, expresó McGee. “Nuestra responsabilidad es cuidar de los niños”.

Gabriela Uribe Mejía con su hija, Kheri Martínez. Martínez tenía apenas 13 años cuando su madre fue detenida en las redadas de Mississippi en 2019.

Martínez encontró un gran apoyo en la atención que le dieron dos maestros durante ese momento. Cada uno, en diferentes momentos, la apartaron para conversar sobre lo sucedido y le dijeron que si necesitaba más tiempo para terminar sus tareas, solo tenía que comunicarles.

“Eso fue muy valioso para mí”, dijo Martínez. “Me hizo sentir que: “Ah, ellos me comprendían”.

Además, su familia ideó un plan claro sobre qué hacer y a dónde ir en caso de otra redada migratoria, lo que contribuyó a aliviar parte de la ansiedad. Por ejemplo, Martínez sabe que si su familia necesita vender sus cosas y regresar a México, ella se quedaría en los Estados Unidos para completar su carrera universitaria.

“Vas a cargar algo que no te corresponde, pero no hay opción”, le explicó Gabriela Uribe Mejía a su hija. “Ella dice: ‘No te preocupes, yo entiendo, yo sé qué hacer,’ pero es una niña”.

Aun con los esfuerzos realizados, los defensores de los derechos de los inmigrantes no pueden evitar preocuparse por las consecuencias que este proceso dejará en la vida de los niños y sus familias.

Lorena Quiroz, quien lidera la Alianza de Inmigrantes por la Justicia y la Equidad en Mississippi, se unió con otros miembros de la comunidad. Juntos visitaron hogares para preguntar a las familias del vecindario si requerían alimentos, ayuda legal o cualquier otro tipo de asistencia, tras las redadas en el estado.

Quiroz ha sido testigo de familias divididas por el consumo de alcohol y las peleas, así como de adolescentes que decidieron abandonar la escuela. Muchas madres todavía sienten vergüenza por las semanas en las que usaron un grillete en el tobillo, visible bajo sus tradicionales faldas mayas. Los adultos aún se emocionan al pasar cerca de las plantas de procesamiento de pollo, recordando las difíciles experiencias que vivieron y la vulnerabilidad de sus familias ante la amenaza de la deportación.

“La gente habla de lo ocurrido como si hubiera sido ayer”, dijo Quiroz. “Imagina que eso sucediera en todas partes”.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

Kalyn Belsha es una periodista senior especializada en educación, ubicada en Chicago. Puedes comunicarte con ella a través de su correo electrónico: kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Muchos estudiantes inmigrantes encuentran en la escuela un refugio, su único lugar seguro

2024-10-09T20:26:22+00:00

Cuando escuché sobre la decisión del presidente Joe Biden de detener las solicitudes de asilo en la frontera sur, pensé en los jóvenes que he conocido a lo largo de mi carrera. Muchos de ellos son indocumentados o vienen de familias con estatus migratorio mixto. También me vino a la mente cuando se intenta negarles a los estudiantes indocumentados el derecho a una educación pública gratuita, así como los discursos negativos contra los inmigrantes, muy presentes en las campañas del expresidente Donald Trump.

En los últimos 15 años, he trabajado como profesora, entrenadora, y luego como etnógrafa e investigadora en políticas educativas. Mi objetivo ha sido comprender las experiencias de los estudiantes recién llegados en las escuelas y las comunidades. He hablado con cientos de jóvenes inmigrantes, aprendiendo sobre sus luchas diarias, su esperanza y sus intentos de encontrar un lugar donde pertenecer en los Estados Unidos.

Empecé mi carrera enseñando inglés como segundo idioma en escuelas públicas de Nueva York trabajando tanto con estudiantes inmigrantes como con hijos de inmigrantes. En 2009, me mudé a Chicago para enseñar a estudiantes multilingües y comenzar mis estudios de doctorado de Políticas Educativas.

En Chicago, como en muchas otras escuelas públicas, recibíamos docenas de nuevos estudiantes cada semana, muchos de ellos con un nivel limitado de inglés o que habían vivido experiencias traumáticas, como la separación familiar, o que habían pasado tiempo en centros de detención. Recuerdo que una estudiante me contó cómo su familia fue detenida al cruzar a EE. UU. y cómo vivió los tres días que pasaron en prisión. “Mi mamá pasó los días con mucha hambre “, me dijo. “Yo también, pero me acostumbré a comer las manzanas que nos daban.”

Sophia Rodriguez, profesora asociada en la Universidad de Nueva York

Como muchos educadores, me enfoqué en cubrir las necesidades básicas de mis estudiantes. Llevaba comida a la escuela, acompañaba a los niños al supermercado y les enseñaba frases introductorias para que practiquen su inglés. Recuerdo que un estudiante me dijo: “Tú nos das voz y nos sostienes con tus palabras”, en referencia a mis esfuerzos por traducir para ellos. A pesar de los desafíos, logramos crear un hogar en nuestra aula de ESL (el programa de enseñanza del inglés como segunda lengua para estudiantes inmigrantes). Fui testigo de cómo mis estudiantes adoptaron el sentido de pertenencia, incluso cuando sus vidas estaban llenas de violencia, pobreza y dificultades políticas.

Las escuelas son, para muchos estudiantes inmigrantes y sus familias, el único lugar seguro que tienen. Sin embargo, a lo largo de los años, se han hecho esfuerzos para debilitar el derecho a la educación de estos jóvenes.

La sentencia de 1982, Plyler v. Doe, establece que es inconstitucional negarles la educación debido a su estatus migratorio, según ha dictaminado la Corte Suprema de EE. UU. Sin embargo, a lo largo de los años, este fallo ha sido cuestionado y manipulado por estados, políticos y grupos de expertos en intentos de debilitar la red de seguridad que ofrece la educación. Amenazar estas protecciones pone en riesgo a millones de niños.

Con mi transición de profesora a investigadora y una década de investigación, logré distintos niveles de comprensión y una mayor cercanía al tema. A raíz de esto, considero que debemos redirigir el discurso para poner en el centro las experiencias de los jóvenes, en lugar de poner el foco en la supuesta “crisis” migratoria y la “fuga” de recursos.

En un estudio sobre la discriminación racial y el sentido de pertenencia de los jóvenes indocumentados, observé cómo enfrentaban el discurso hostil de la campaña de 2016. Estos jóvenes lidiaban con el racismo, las amenazas físicas, la separación familiar, la deportación de amigos y familiares, la violencia legal y las desigualdades en cuanto al acceso a la educación. Algunos me compartieron que vivían con miedo de que en cualquier momento los agentes de inmigración podrían “llamar a su puerta”. Me explicaron que sentían que la comunidad y los políticos “no saben qué hacer con ellos” y como “les quitan sus derechos”. Mientras reclutan mano de obra indocumentada para “trabajos que los blancos poderosos no quieren hacer”.

Mientras los medios de comunicación y los candidatos presidenciales hablaban de una “crisis” en la frontera que estaba llena de “hombres malos”, yo escuchaba las historias de migración de algunos jóvenes. Los nombres de los estudiantes en este texto han sido cambiados para proteger su privacidad.

Juan, un estudiante de secundaria, me contó que “sentía el peso del mundo sobre sus hombros por el miedo y la incertidumbre que le generaba su estatus migratorio. Aunque cruzar la frontera fue difícil, Juan soñaba con tener “una educación y una vida mejor” en EE.UU.

Otro caso es el de Pablo, quien intentó llegar a Estados Unidos en cuatro ocasiones, de las cuales tres fracasaron. Pablo, un estudiante de high school que formó parte de mi investigación, fue testigo de cómo un hombre “cayó en un agujero” para escapar de la patrulla fronteriza. Durante su travesía, cruzó el Río Grande a pie, presenció la muerte de un hombre y finalmente fue detenido por oficiales de ICE (Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas de Estados Unidos). Describió una escena particularmente traumática de cuando las autoridades lo encontraron: “Solo miré y no hice nada, no importaba... Permanecí sentado hasta que llegaron los agentes de inmigración. Me arrojaron al suelo y me ataron las piernas y las manos. Después llegué a lo que llamamos las ‘hieleras’, donde inmigración tiene celdas que mantienen frías”.

Serena, otra joven con quien interactué durante un estudio de investigación realizado de 2016 a 2021, migró de Brasil a EE. UU. con su madre, viajando en autobús y a pie. Antes de ser liberada, estuvo en un centro de detención sin comida ni agua. Muchos estudiantes me comentaron que compartir sus historias los hacía sentir mejor. Por eso, comparto los casos y conclusiones de mi investigación, de modo que sirvan de herramienta para educar a los responsables de políticas y a los profesionales, y que puedan brindar un mejor apoyo a estos jóvenes.

Los datos de mi investigación de campo indican que niños de tan solo 11 o 12 años están atravesando difíciles travesías migratorias. Al cruzar la frontera, se encuentran con condiciones extremas en los centros de detención, con largas esperas, mala educación y una gran incertidumbre.

Alejandro, un estudiante de 12 años, compartió conmigo que su familia intentó cruzar la frontera de EE. UU. en múltiples ocasiones sin lograrlo, a menudo yendo a dormir “en algún lugar” y “con hambre.” Ahora que están en los Estados Unidos, él y su familia viven bajo el temor constante de ser deportados. La precariedad de la situación afecta profundamente a estos jóvenes.

La retórica política y los cambios recientes en cuanto a las políticas de asilo parecen ser intentos a calmar a los votantes. Mientras tanto, nuestro sistema de inmigración ha estado roto durante mucho tiempo, y ha habido poca voluntad política para repararlo. Revocar Plyler agravaría la situación al deshacer décadas de jurisprudencia y amenazaría la seguridad de los niños inmigrantes y sus familias.

En mi investigación actual, he realizado encuestas a más de 1.300 estudiantes latinos en dos distritos escolares públicos del Atlántico Medio. Muchos de ellos tienen al menos un padre nacido en el extranjero y otros son recién llegados que hablan idiomas distintos al inglés. He estudiado las diferencias entre estudiantes de high school y middle school, así como las experiencias de pertenencia de aquellos que son blancos y no blancos. Los estudiantes latinos y multirraciales de high school manifestaron una falta de conexión con actividades sociales y relaciones fuera del entorno escolar. Además, descubrí que los estudiantes que hablaban inglés como segundo idioma enfrentaban dificultades para integrarse tanto en la escuela como en actividades extracurriculares.

Los jóvenes inmigrantes siguen sintiéndose ignorados y menospreciados en sus comunidades locales, y lidian con la incertidumbre sobre su estatus migratorio o el de sus padres. En mi investigación, los educadores, incluidos maestros y trabajadores sociales, explicaron que para comprender el impacto de las políticas migratorias es necesario “escuchar sus historias”.

A medida que continúo resaltando los factores que contribuyen al sentido de pertenencia de los estudiantes, me mantengo a la expectativa de que los legisladores, así como también, los distritos escolares incorporen las voces de los jóvenes en sus planes para crear y mantener entornos escolares positivos y seguros. Depende de los educadores desarrollar climas escolares inclusivos que validen culturas, identidades y lenguas; fomentar relaciones de confianza y apoyo entre maestros y estudiantes; proporcionar capacitaciones para todo el personal y educadores que informen acerca del trauma; y promover el liderazgo colectivo para que todos en la escuela colaboren para el beneficio de los estudiantes. Este trabajo es muy importante si se tiene en cuenta que el sentido de pertenencia es esencial para el bienestar de los jóvenes inmigrantes y su movilidad educativa y social.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

Sophia Rodriguez, Ph.D. (@SoRoPhD), es profesora asociada de estudios de políticas educativas en la Escuela Steinhardt de Cultura, Educación y Desarrollo Humano de la Universidad de Nueva York. Como estudiante universitaria de primera generación e hija de un inmigrante latinoamericano, su experiencia impulsa su trabajo de defensa y su búsqueda de políticas justas para la juventud inmigrante y sus familias. Su investigación explora cómo las asociaciones entre comunidades y escuelas, así como el papel de los educadores, promueven la equidad racial para los jóvenes inmigrantes. Su trabajo ha sido publicado en revistas académicas y en medios como el Washington Post, Education Week y The Conversation.

Haitian immigrants have dealt with lies and stereotypes for decades. Here’s how educators can help.

2024-09-24T17:01:26+00:00

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Maryse Emmanuel-Garcy came to the U.S. from Haiti in 1970 and enrolled in high school on Long Island in New York state. When she heard her classmates’ comments about Haitian students, she decided to speak up and push back.

“People said that we didn’t speak English, that we were dumb, and that we smelled,” said Emmanuel-Garcy. “I told them what they could do with the soap they gave us.”

She later became a social worker and one of the co-founders of the Haitian Family of Long Island, known as Hafali. As a community leader, a counselor, and through her family and social connections, she knows the hurdles that confront Haitian students and adults and the discrimination they’ve long faced.

Such harassment against her community gained new strength recently, as false claims about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, started to spread on social media. GOP vice presidential candidate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance amplified the claims, which then exploded when former President Donald Trump repeated them during the presidential debate.

City officials had already debunked the false claim. Nevertheless, Springfield was severely disrupted by bomb and shooting threats after the debate, prompting officials to evacuate schools and other public facilities. Last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine sent state police to Springfield to help restore a sense of security for families and students.

What’s happening in Ohio shows how aggressive and misleading political rhetoric can impact schools. Although bomb threats may grab headlines, harassment, crude insults, and cruel jokes could also strain classrooms and school communities. Emmanuel-Garcy and other Haitian community leaders told Chalkbeat that parents have shared stories of their children being bullied. Some said they are now afraid to send their children to school.

For Haitians and Haitian Americans nationwide, Emmanuel-Garcy said, the situation “is not just a local thing in Ohio.”

Maryse Emmanuel-Garcy, one of the co-founders of the Haitian Family of Long Island, faced discrimination when she first arrived in the U.S. in 1970.

It’s not the first time a presidential campaign has created such fears. Researchers and educators have documented how students of Hispanic heritage felt unsafe during and after the 2016 presidential election. That year, a survey by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that more than 67% of teachers reported that students, especially students of color and children of immigrants, expressed concern about what might happen to them or their families after that year’s election.

In several states, Latino students reported harassment and bullying, including variations of “build the wall!” chants and threats of deportation from classmates.

“What we saw is that when political leaders spread hateful content, students feel emboldened to reproduce this speech in the school”, said John Rogers, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, who researched political rhetoric after the 2016 election and sees parallels today.

Now, just like eight years ago, that’s put pressure on teachers and education leaders to respond. But responding to that pressure can be complicated.

Stopping bullying, avoiding heated debates can help students

Educators agree that creating a respectful and healthier school environment takes time. But some shorter-term strategies are useful in an emergency. One of them is to reinforce measures against bullying.

“Many of these kids went through so much to get to this country. The last thing they deserve is to be portrayed as uncivilized people who eat dogs and cats,” said Stan Neron, co-executive director of NJ 4 Haiti and vice president of the Board of Education in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Educators should be assertive in stopping any incidents they witness, experts said. Since most bullying happens outside of adult supervision, schools should also reinforce anti-bullying policies and channels for students to report such incidents.

“There are already laws and rules in most schools. It’s important to remind students of them,” said Shaireen Rasheed, a professor of culturally responsive teaching at Long Island University who’s worked with school districts as a consultant.

In addition, educators should be responsible for clarifying that the allegations about the Haitian community are false.

“These comments burden the Haitian community to clarify and deny these accusations. Even when people are not mean-spirited, we are still impacted by jokes or comments,” said Carrié Solages, a Haitian American state legislator in Nassau County, New York.

Solages has also received reports of bullying and harassment in schools, and dealt with related comments himself.

“People asked me if they could bring a dog to my rally,” he said. “I was able to process the joke, but kids may be more sensitive to it,” he said.

After the Sept. 10 presidential debate, schools and other facilities in Springfield, Ohio received bomb threats and had to be evacuated. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine subsequently sent state police to Springfield to bolster security.

If educators want to bring up the current situation in class, they should be careful about how to lead student discussions about it, said Paula McAvoy, a North Carolina State University professor who has researched how to bring political debates to the classroom.

“Teachers should not pose it as an open question when the information has been debunked. They can say: ‘I know this information is out there, and I know that people you trust are saying it. But in my understanding, it’s not true. In this classroom, we’re not going to treat it as true,’” said McAvoy.

Teachers should help students focus on policy questions, like how the city can better accommodate the influx of immigrants and what policies can be implemented to integrate them with the local population. And while debates may seem like a good way to share different perspectives, McAvoy said that when “students have to defend a specific position, the energy level goes up, and the competitiveness goes up.”

McAvoy suggests having students form groups to discuss solutions based on shared agreements. In McAvoy’s research, 90% of students reported feeling respected during group deliberations, compared with 76% who felt respected during debates.

Bringing Haiti into the classroom curriculum

Students should also study Haiti itself, Rasheed said. It can help for schools to host families and community members to talk about the country.

“It’s important to know the beautiful history and culture Haiti has,” Rasheed said.

Focusing on different countries’ cultures and histories — as well as various immigrant communities — in classes can make students more open to diversity, she noted.

Haiti was the only country in the Americas that achieved independence through a successful rebellion of enslaved people. The U.S. and Haiti also have a strong and controversial historical connection; for much of the 20th century, the U.S. military occupied Haiti.

Recent violence and intense political instability have fueled the most recent wave of Haitian immigration to the U.S.

After the evacuation of Springfield's Fulton Elementary School, a note in English, Haitian Creole, and Spanish advises parents to pick up their children at another school nearby.

Then there’s the track record of Haitians in places like Springfield and their effects on the economic climate.

Scott DiMauro, the president of the Ohio Education Association, said the new residents have provided a level of rejuvenation for schools as well as the local economy.

“There are growing pains that go along with this, but the community was trying to come together,” DiMauro said.

Fallout from political rhetoric about Haitian immigrants will linger

Even if the situation calms down and the discussion around Haitian immigration fades from the headlines, the discrimination will likely persist in some form.

“This isn’t going away. It’s not something that will last just a day or a week,” Emmanuel-Garcy said.

Still, there are strategies available to educators that can help foster empathy between immigrant students and their classmates.

Jessica Lander, who taught immigrant students at a high school in Massachusetts, suggested an approach called “Building Bridges through Migration Stories.”

Created by the Re-Imagining Migration Project, it consists of teachers putting students in pairs and having them share migration stories about themselves or their families. Then teachers encourage them to find similarities and differences in these stories.

“It’s the most beautiful thing to read students’ reflections that, even if their stories of migration are from different parts of the world or from different time periods, they are pulling out threads of commonality, finding ways of empathizing with each other and seeing the connections”, said Lander, the author of “Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education.”

Extending those types of bonds from two students to school and neighborhood networks can make a big difference. Finding leaders in the school community who can help nurture a welcoming and respectful environment can create a shared sense of responsibility for the school climate, Rogers said.

Principals and other administrators at the district level must also act to ensure a safe environment for all students, especially during times of political polarization, and highlight universal values.

“The most effective way to build trust is for school leaders to spend time with students and families,” Rogers said.

Wellington Soares is Chalkbeat’s national education reporting intern based in New York City. Contact Wellington at wsoares@chalkbeat.org.

How the Durango, Colorado, district supported newcomer students to practice English this year

2024-09-06T20:07:35+00:00

Sandra Hernandez knows what a struggle it can be for students to learn English while in high school.

She’s been raising four multilingual children, including a 17-year-old niece who just returned from Mexico to live with her in Durango in southwest Colorado.

So every time Hernandez was asked to fill out a survey from school, she suggested the same thing: more support for students learning English.

Finally, after hearing many similar requests, a family liaison at Durango High School pitched the idea to host a summer program focused on helping newly arrived migrant students who need more practice with their English before the school year begins.

This summer, the Durango district enrolled about 10 students in the program for four weeks before the school year started, including Hernandez’s niece, Abril Esmeralda.

Hernandez praised the program, and her district for listening to her request.

“I can already see how she’s developing,” Hernandez said of her niece.

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez working on her art project during a summer program.

Such programs fill a critical need for families and educators across the state. Colorado districts enrolled thousands of newly arrived immigrant students throughout the last school year. Teachers in places like Denver, Aurora, and Jeffco have described feeling overwhelmed at times by the arrival of so many new students, and the experience has prompted changes across schools.

The same has happened in rural Durango, a district of about 5,200 students where about 4% of students identify as English learners. The district received 36 new-to-English students last school year, compared with six in 2021.

Last year, the district welcomed new-to-the-country families enrolling for school with a printed guide containing information about school start times, supply lists, and free lunches, plus pictures of all the key people to know and how to get in contact with them.

But this year’s summer program was the big hit with families and students who participated.

The program went beyond practicing English. Students also worked on art projects about what it means to be home. The idea came from a former Colorado Teacher of the Year, who’s been sharing it for years as a way to get students and their communities to connect.

The students’ projects were presented to families first, then to teachers who were able to use the works to get to know the students they might encounter in their classes. Next week, the projects will be on display at the community library.

Leaders say the work has already helped students feel like they belong.

Kira Cunningham, the Durango district’s newcomer specialist, said she watched students from the summer program walking into their first day of the school year last month. One student, who had arrived in the U.S. just before the last school year ended, caught her attention.

“He was strutting into the building, fist-bumping all the staff members out front,” Cunningham said. “It was just such a delight to see. The confidence was just kind of coming out of their pores.”

The district spent just $3,219 on the program. The goal was to help students practice their English skills in a comfortable environment before the start of the school year, giving them confidence to participate more during the school year.

“Truly, I feel that because of the classes, I have a lot more confidence to be able to explain things,” said 17-year-old Brandon Chame, one of the participants. “I’m less afraid of making a mistake.”

Conquering fear was the idea behind the art project, said Leticia Guzman Ingram, the 2016 Colorado Teacher of the Year, an educator in the Roaring Fork School District, and now also a professor at Colorado Mountain College.

Guzman Ingram said she first thought of the idea of an art project about home when she saw fear between her newcomer students and local community members. Students told her they were afraid that one of her white male friends they encountered was going to call immigration on them. The man told her he was afraid the students were troublemakers.

“Everybody is afraid of each other,” Guzman Ingram said. “But then you realize you’re so much more alike than you think. It doesn’t matter what color skin you have. Mothers all want their kids to be happy and to succeed. Sometimes we forget.”

She thought of an art project, she said, because “art’s easy. It’s something everyone can share.”

The project also incorporates writing. In Durango, students wrote a narrative about their project and themselves. Then they practice speaking English when they get to present it to others.

After doing the project in various ways with different classes of students, Guzman Ingram said she sees how art and having students speak about their life experiences can inspire educators, give students confidence, and change the community’s perspectives.

She also likes to take newcomer students on field trips to put their new English skills to use asking for directions at the airport, or for help at the grocery store. She gets the workers at those places involved ahead of time, so they know that they’re helping her students who want to be fluent in English, and it breaks the fear, she said.

“I’ve seen it as a teacher that when these students feel safe and they feel like their voice is heard, they try harder and work harder,” Guzman Ingram said. “When they feel accepted they flourish. That happens with all of us.”

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez's art project.

For her project, Hernandez’s niece, Abril, drew a river because home made her think of peaceful surroundings.

For Brandon, who was also born in Durango but raised in Mexico, home reminded him of a warrior — a representation of the historical Mexican culture he liked to learn about in his former home. It’s something he carries with him wherever he goes.

Brandon has been back in Durango with his parents for just over a year now. He’s attending school, and working at a local hotel kitchen. He loves his job, and the fact that the money he earns doesn’t feel as crucial to his family’s survival as it did when he was in Mexico.

Brandon Chame next to his art project.

In Mexico, he had to give up school recently to work full time. It’s part of what drove his family to decide they needed to come back to the U.S. Now he’s able to work and study. And he’s thinking ahead to college, and a possible career in culinary arts or criminology.

At his high school in Durango, he said he’s encountered supportive teachers, so when Cunningham asked if Brandon would help present the art projects to teachers, he was nervous, but he agreed.

Now Brandon brags about how he was able to present, mostly in English and unscripted — speaking mostly from his heart, he said.

He hopes other immigrant students get to experience programs like Durango’s. And he has been able to offer advice to teachers encountering more immigrant students.

“I told them the majority of Latino students who arrive here tend to be nervous about speaking,” Brandon said. “We know we’re not very familiar with the language, like to be able to explain things fully. It’s not that we don’t want to participate, it’s that embarrassment, and nerves stop us. Just get close to them and ask them questions. Little by little, it gets better.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Cómo el distrito escolar de Durango, Colorado, apoyó a los estudiantes recién llegados este año

2024-09-06T20:07:09+00:00

Sandra Hernandez sabe bien lo difícil que puede ser para un estudiante aprender inglés mientras estudia high school.

Ha estado criando cuatro niños multilingües, incluyendo una sobrina que recientemente regresó de México para vivir con ella en Durango en el sudoeste de Colorado.

Así que cada vez que a Hernandez le pedían que completara una encuesta en la escuela, sugería la misma cosa: más apoyo para estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés.

Finalmente, después de escuchar que muchos otros había pedido algo similar, una facilitadora familiar en Durango High School presentó la idea de organizar un programa de verano enfocado en ayudar a los estudiantes migrantes recién llegados que necesitaran practicar más el inglés antes de iniciar el año escolar.

Este verano, como 10 estudiantes en el distrito escolar de Durango se inscribieron en el programa de cuatro semanas antes de que empezara el año escolar, incluyendo la sobrina de Hernandez, Abril Esmeralda.

Hernandez elogió el programa, y también elogió al distrito por escuchar su pedido.

“Yo ya veo que se está desenvolviendo”, Hernandez dijo sobre su sobrina.

Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez trabajando en su proyecto.

Este tipo de programas cubren una necesidad crucial para familias y educadores alrededor del estado. Miles de estudiantes migrantes recién llegados se inscribieron en distritos de Colorado durante todo el año escolar. Maestros en lugares como Denver, Aurora y Jeffco han descrito sentirse abrumados a veces con la llegada de tantos estudiantes nuevos, y la experiencia ha resultado en cambios en las escuelas.

Lo mismo ha ocurrido en zonas rurales como Durango, un distrito con alrededor de 5,200 estudiantes donde cerca del 4 por ciento dice estar aprendiendo inglés. El distrito recibió 36 estudiantes que estaban empezando a aprender inglés—comparado con seis en 2021.

El año pasado, el distrito recibió a familias recién llegadas al país que querían inscribir a sus hijos en una escuela con una guía impresa con información sobre los horarios de llegada, listas de materiales y almuerzos gratis, además de fotografías de todas las personas clave en el distrito y cómo comunicarse con ellas.

Pero el programa de verano de este año fue muy popular entre las familias y estudiantes que participaron.

El programa abarcó más que practicar inglés. Los estudiantes también trabajaron en proyectos de arte sobre lo que significa sentirse como en casa. La idea surgió de una maestra que años antes recibiera el premio como Maestra del Año en Colorado y quien, por años, ha estado compartiendo la idea como una forma de que los estudiantes y las comunidades se conecten.

Los proyectos de los estudiantes se presentaron primero a las familias, luego a los maestros que pudieron usar las obras para conocer mejor a los estudiantes que quizás asistieran a sus clases. La próxima semana, los proyectos empezarán a exhibirse en la biblioteca comunitaria.

Líderes dicen que el proyecto ya ayudó a los estudiantes a sentir que pertenecen.

Kira Cunningham, la especialista en estudiantes recién llegados en el distrito escolar de Durango, dijo que observó a los estudiantes en el programa de verano llegar a su primer día de clases el mes pasado. Un estudiante, quien había llegado a los Estados Unidos justo antes que terminara el año escolar pasado, atrajo su atención.

“Entró caminando orgullosamente al edificio, chocando los puños [como saludo] con los integrantes del personal parados en la entrada”, Cunningham dijo. “Fue un placer ver eso. La confianza en sí mismo salía de sus poros”.

El distrito gastó solo $3,219 en el programa. El objetivo fue ayudar a los estudiantes a que practicaran sus habilidades de inglés en un entorno cómodo antes que empezara el año escolar, dándoles confianza para participar más durante el año.

“La verdad, en base a las clases, siento mucha más confianza para tratar de explicar cosas”, dijo Brandon Chame de 17 años de edad y uno de los participantes. “Tengo menos temor de equivocarme”.

La idea detrás del proyecto de arte es que los estudiantes superen sus temores, dijo Leticia Guzman Ingram, la Maestra del Año 2016 en Colorado, una educadora en el Distrito Escolar de Roaring Fork. Ahora, Guzman también es profesora en Colorado Mountain College.

Guzman Ingram dijo que la idea de un proyecto de arte sobre lo que significa sentirse como en casa se le ocurrió por primera vez cuando observó el temor entre los estudiantes recién llegados e integrantes de la comunidad local. Los estudiantes le dijeron que tenían miedo de que uno de los amigos varones blancos de Guzman Ingram iba a llamar a inmigración para reportarlos. El hombre le dijo que tenía miedo de que los estudiantes causaran problemas.

“Todos tienen miedo del otro”, Guzman Ingram dijo. “Pero luego te das cuenta de que te pareces mucho más de lo piensas. No importa de qué color sea tu piel. Todas las madres quieren que sus hijos sean felices y triunfen. A veces nos olvidamos”.

Pensó en un proyecto de arte, dijo, porque “el arte es fácil. Es algo que todos pueden compartir”.

El proyecto también incorpora la escritura. En Durango, los estudiantes escribieron una historia sobre su proyecto y sobre ellos mismos. Luego practican hablar en inglés cuando les presentan el proyecto a otras personas.

Después de hacer el proyecto de diferentes formas con diferentes grupos de estudiantes, Guzman Ingram dijo que ve cómo el arte y que los estudiantes hablen sobre sus experiencias de vida puede inspirar a los educadores, darles confianza a los estudiantes y cambiar las perspectivas de la comunidad.

También le gusta llevar a estudiantes recién llegados excursiones para que usen sus habilidades con el inglés, ya sea preguntando cómo llegar al aeropuerto o pidiendo ayuda en el supermercado. Involucra por adelantado a las personas que trabajan en esos lugares para que sepan que están ayudando a estudiantes que quieren hablar inglés con fluidez, y eso rompe con el temor, dijo.

“Lo he observado como maestra que cuando estos estudiantes se sienten seguros y que sus voces se escuchan, intentan más y trabajan más duro”, Guzman Ingram dijo. “Cuando se sienten aceptados, prosperan. Eso sucede con todos nosotros”.

El proyecto de Abril Esmeralda Cigarroa Hernandez.

Para su proyecto, Abril, la sobrina de Hernandez, dibujó un río porque sentirse como en casa le hizo pensar sobre entornos tranquilos.

Para Brandon, quien también nació en Durango pero se crio en México, sentirse en case le hace pensar en un guerrero, una representacion de la cultura mexicana histórica que le gustaba estudiar en su antiguo hogar. Es algo que lleva dondequiera que va.

Brandon ha estado de regreso en Durango con sus padres por un poco más de un año. Está yendo a la escuela y trabajando en la cocina de un hotel local. Le encanta su trabajo y el hecho de que no siente que el dinero que gana es tan indispensable para que la familia sobreviva como cuando estaba en México.

Brandon Chame con su proyecto.

En México, tuvo que dejar de ir a la escuela para poder trabajar de tiempo completo. Es parte de lo que impulsó a la familia a regresar a Estados Unidos. Ahora puede trabajar y estudiar. Y está pensando en ir a la universidad y en una posible carrera en artes culinarias o criminología.

En su high school en Durango, dijo que ha encontrado maestros que lo apoyan, así que cuando Cunningham le pidió a Brandon que ayudara a presentar los proyectos de arte ante los maestros, se sintió nervioso pero aceptó.

Ahora Brandon presume que pudo presentar, principalmente en inglés y sin un guion—hablando más que nada de corazón, dijo.

Espera que otros estudiantes inmigrantes puedan participar en programas como el de Durango. Y ha podido ofrecer consejos a los maestros que interactúan con más estudiantes inmigrantes.

“Les dije, la mayoría de los estudiantes latinos que llegan aquí tendemos a ser nerviosos para hablar”, Chame dijo. “Sabemos que no estamos familiarizados con el idioma como para explicar algo por completo. No es que no queramos participar, si no que la vergüenza y los nervios es lo que nos detiene. Solo acercarse y preguntarle a uno preguntas. Poco a poco mejora”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Yesenia Robles es una reportera para Chalkbeat Colorado que cubre distritos escolares de kindergarten a 12º grado y la educación multilingüe. Comunícate con Yesenia por correo electrónico a yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

National teacher of the year urges teachers to ‘find their voice’ as experts in their profession

2024-08-26T23:24:49+00:00

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The Tennessee educator chosen as the nation’s teacher of the year is calling on America’s 3.5 million teachers to “find their voice” on behalf of students as many states seek to censor teachers, ban books, and push voucher policies that send taxpayer funding to private schools.

Missy Testerman, who just ended her tenure as Tennessee’s teacher of the year, said that bigger educational priorities demand attention: air conditioners are breaking down in aging school buildings as a new academic year begins; federal pandemic relief funding is running out to pay for tutoring and summer learning programs; and school communities are struggling to provide mental health support, especially for their most marginalized students.

“When we find our voices, we find our own way to stand in the gap for kids. It is not enough to just shut our classroom doors and teach,” Testerman said in her video address to the nation, released this month by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Testerman, who officially began as her profession’s top ambassador in July, is on leave this academic year from her job at Rogersville City School, where she teaches English language learners in her rural Appalachian town of 4,500 people. Her new role includes traveling to more than 150 speaking engagements or appearances before organizations spanning education, business, health, and government.

Among her messages: Teachers are experts in their field.

“Your governor is not an education expert. The legislature is not filled with education experts,” she told Chalkbeat. “If you want an expert on education policy and outcomes and what works for students, ask your teachers, your administrators, your director of schools.”

That message has resonated at her talks, where she’s routinely greeted afterward by a line of educators waiting to thank her.

“It’s hard to do a profession where you are the expert, but you’re often not treated as such,” she said. “Sometimes, we need to be reminded.”

Testerman spoke with Chalkbeat on Friday before ceding her title as Tennessee’s teacher of the year to the 2024-25 honoree, Bryan Kerns, a math and fire management instructor at Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport.

In many ways, Testerman said, Tennessee epitomizes the challenges faced by educators she’s met across the nation, many of whom feel like they’re walking on eggshells just to keep demanding jobs that pay a modest salary.

While she applauded a focus on early literacy and significant investments in vocational and technical education under Gov. Bill Lee’s administration, she said other policy changes during the last six years have been more of a burden.

A 2021 state law limits what public school teachers can say about race, gender, and bias in the classroom and interferes with instruction on difficult but important topics included in the state’s academic standards. A group of Tennessee teachers is challenging that law in federal court.

Tennessee’s 2022 school library law, billed as a way to ensure materials are age-appropriate, quickly expanded so that a state panel can ban certain books statewide, based on local complaints. This year, lawmakers added a definition of “suitable” that makes it easier to remove materials, including many stories about Black people or those identifying as LGBTQ.

Also this year, the legislature passed a law requiring public school employees to out transgender students to their parents and debated a bill designed to ban LGBTQ+ flags in schools. Testerman called the second proposal, which failed to pass, a distraction.

“From my standpoint, there are so many problems facing schools — I’ll give you a list,” she said. “But that’s not one that I think we need to waste a lot of time on. Let that be a local decision.”

Meanwhile, Lee’s administration is pushing for a statewide voucher program that would let any Tennessee family use taxpayer money toward private school tuition, regardless of their family income.

“Tennessee is currently in the bottom tier of states in per-pupil funding for public education, and increasing that should be our focus,” said Testerman.

“Right now, however, there’s a $144 million placeholder in our state budget for a voucher program that didn’t even pass,” she continued. “It’s disheartening for teachers to know this money is sitting there doing nothing while their students have so many needs.”

Testerman said the money could be used instead to fix broken air conditioners in Memphis schools, hire more mental health professionals in her own school system, and replace outdated Chromebook laptops in suburban Williamson County near Nashville, one of the state’s most affluent districts.

“If Williamson County is seeing these kinds of financial problems,” she said, “you can imagine what’s happening in urban and rural districts in East and West Tennessee that don’t have the tax base to raise funds the traditional way.”

While it often feels like her profession is under attack, Testerman said she’s inspired by the educators she’s met across America as she advocates for higher compensation and respect for them.

“This job can feel heavy,” she said. “Teachers are facing student behavioral and mental health issues at a scale they’ve never seen before. We have no idea what kids go home to. But we can make the seven hours that they’re with us happy. We can use those hours to deliver academic content in a way that prepares them to move on and hopefully create a good life.”

“We are hope givers,” she said.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Clausura de edificio deja a familias migrantes con problemas para encontrar vivienda y mantener a sus hijos en la escuela

2024-08-12T17:55:42+00:00

La hija de 8 años de Carolina estaba emocionada de empezar la escuela esta semana, pero se ha pasado la semana llorando.

El miércoles, la policía rodeó el edificio de apartamentos donde la familia vive, causando que la niña llegara tarde a la escuela el primer día de clases.

Carolina no pudo ocultarle las noticias a su hija. La ciudad declaró en ruinas el edificio. Tendrían que salirse a más tardar el martes. La policía y los funcionarios de la ciudad publicaron un aviso formal mientras los niños trataban de llegar a su primer día de clases.

“El colegio es un escape donde ella se olvida de todos los problemas de aquí”, Carolina dijo. “Pero está asustada. Pregunta que adónde nos vamos a ir”.

Carolina no tiene una respuesta.

Carolina es una de aproximadamente 300 personas, la mayoría inmigrantes venezolanos, que están viviendo en el edificio de apartamentos ubicado en 1568 Nome St. en Aurora. La ciudad declaró el edificio en ruinas debido a condiciones inseguras de vivienda, pero residentes como Carolina temen que la ciudad esté enfocándose en el edificio debido a un reciente tiroteo conectado con violencia de pandillas. (Chalkbeat no está usando el nombre real de Carolina porque teme que afecte negativamente su caso migratorio.)

Ella y otras familias que viven en el edificio están suplicándole a la ciudad que les dé más tiempo para encontrar un lugar donde vivir. Inquilinos y líderes de organizaciones comunitarias creen que hay por lo menos 66 niños afectados viviendo en el edificio y asistiendo a escuelas en Aurora. Se cree que algunos otros niños asisten a escuelas cercanas en Denver.

Nadeen Ibrahim, directora de esfuerzos organizativos en la Colectiva Comunitaria de East Colfax, una organización sin fines de lucro, dijo que el aviso de la ciudad—programado para el primer día de clases—causó una profunda angustia entre las familias.

“Honestamente, fue una de las cosas más traumatizantes que he visto”, Ibrahim, quien ha trabajado con otras familias desplazadas, dijo. “Los niños estaban extremadamente aterrados y llorando. Ha habido muchos policías presentes desde entonces, y [los niños] están viendo muchas armas alrededor del edificio y es difícil encontrar una razón para sonreír.

“Los niños así de pequeños no deberían estar expuestos a eso”, agregó.

En una declaración preparada, los funcionarios de la ciudad dijeron que “reconocen totalmente la carga y la incertidumbre” que se ha producido, pero dijeron que “sería irresponsable para la ciudad permitir que 1568 Nome St. siga estando ocupado por otros dos meses en su estado actual”.

Con menos de una semana para encontrar un nuevo hogar, Carolina dijo que muchas personas sin parientes o un automóvil terminarán en la calle o en uno de los refugios para personas sin hogar de la ciudad. Y para los niños como su hija, probablemente también signifique que perderán días de clase.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Aurora organizaron una feria de recursos para las familias en un antiguo edificio escolar el jueves. Representantes del distrito no confirmaron cuántos estudiantes se han visto afectados por la clausura del edificio de apartamentos, pero dijeron en una declaración que saben que muchas familias fueron afectadas.

“Con nuestro año escolar apenas empezando, sabemos que este es un difícil desafío para muchas de nuestras familias y continuaremos proporcionando tantos apoyos y recursos como sea posible. Es sumamente importante que nuestros estudiantes sigan asistiendo a la escuela todos los días, para que estén en un lugar seguro para aprender y recibir desayuno y almuerzo”, dijo un vocero del distrito en un una declaración.

Carolina lleva a su hija caminando a la Escuela Primaria Montview de Aurora, a solo un par de cuadras del edificio de apartamentos. Inscribió a su hija ahí al poco tiempo de llegar a Denver en diciembre.

El año escolar pasado, Aurora registró la llegada de más de 1,500 estudiantes provenientes de un nuevo país entre octubre y finales de febrero.

Madre teme que el desalojo interrumpa los estudios de los niños

Carolina y su hija dejaron su país natal de Venezuela hace seis años y fueron a vivir a Colombia. Carolina abrió una lavandería, pero pandillas locales empezaron a extorsionarla. La inseguridad presionó a Carolina para que dejara su hogar con su hija una vez más—esta vez, con el objetivo de llegar a los Estados Unidos.

Después de llegar a Colorado, Carolina logró encontrar trabajo limpiando apartamentos. Le permitió pagar el alquiler de $1,200 mensuales en el edificio que han declarado en ruinas.

Ahora su trabajo informal está en pausa mientras encuentra una solución.

Tenía inquietudes con las condiciones del edificio, y hace un par de meses empezó a notar lo que ahora sabe que eran actividades de pandillas, pero los niños no se dan cuenta de las malas condiciones de vivienda, dijo. Solo saben que tienen un lugar para ir a casa, dijo.

Carolina no compró un automóvil porque no quería conducir sin una licencia. Y mientras espera que le den su permiso de trabajo sujeto a su caso de asilo, cuenta con pocas formas de identificación para obtener una licencia o completar la documentación necesaria para solicitar otras formas de asistencia.

Sin un automóvil, Carolina no está segura de si logrará que su hija siga yendo a la escuela Montview. Dijo que quizás tenga que deshacerse de las pocas cosas que tienen porque no tendrá manera de transportarlas o guardarlas.

Carolina dijo que los funcionarios de la escuela están haciendo todo lo posible por ayudar, pero muchos de los recursos con los que los conectan, como de asistencia con el alquiler, tardan en procesarse.

Ibrahim dijo que a las familias desplazadas les puede tomar más de un mes encontrar una vivienda nueva, aun cuando tengan un historial de crédito y buenos ingresos y no tengan desafíos de accesibilidad. Dijo que la decisión de la ciudad de clausurar un edificio de apartamentos tan grande, sin comunicarse antes con ninguna de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro que están ayudando, “no tiene precedente”.

“Lo único que sabemos que es definitivo es que todo el complejo va a quedarse sin hogar el martes por la mañana”, Ibrahim dijo. “Esto está directamente afectando de manera negativa el acceso de los niños a la educación. Los niños serán los más profundamente afectados”.

Funcionarios de la ciudad dicen que cubrirán los costos de los nuevos depósitos de seguridad, pero las familias deben solicitar esa ayuda después conseguir vivienda.

Carolina solo quiere encontrar una forma de proporcionarle estabilidad a su hija mientras encuentra vivienda.

“Sería muy shockeante para estos niños”, dijo Carolina. “Es complicado, pero solo quiero que piensen en los niños que más sufren”.

Traducido por Alejandra X. Castañeda

Condemned building leaves migrant families scrambling to find housing and keep their kids in school

2024-08-09T23:52:12+00:00

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Carolina’s 8-year-old daughter had been excited about the start of school this week, but has spent the week in tears.

Police surrounded the family’s apartment building on Wednesday, making her late to class on the first day of school.

Carolina couldn’t keep the news from her daughter: The city condemned their building. They have to leave by Tuesday. Police and city officials gave the formal notice as kids were trying to make their way to the first day of school.

“School is an escape where she can forget about her problems here,” Carolina said. “But she’s scared. She keeps asking where we’re going to go.”

Carolina doesn’t have an answer.

Carolina is one of nearly 300 estimated people, mostly Venezuelan immigrants, living in the apartment building at 1568 Nome St. in Aurora. The city condemned the building for unsafe housing conditions, but residents like Carolina fear the city is targeting the building because of a recent shooting tied to gang violence. (Chalkbeat isn’t using Carolina’s real name because she fears retribution in her immigration case.)

She and other families living in the building are pleading for the city to give them more time to figure out where to move. Residents and organization leaders believe there are at least 66 school-aged children in the building who attend Aurora schools and will be affected. Some other children are believed to attend Denver schools nearby.

Nadeen Ibrahim, an organizing director with the nonprofit East Colfax Community Collective, said that the city’s notice – timed for the first day of classes — was deeply upsetting for families.

“Honestly it was one of the most traumatizing sights I’ve ever seen,” Ibrahim, who has worked with other displaced families, said. “Kids were extremely terrified and crying. There’s been a lot of police present since and so they’re seeing a lot of weapons around the building and it’s just hard to find a reason to smile.

“Children that young shouldn’t be exposed to that,” she added.

In a prepared statement, city officials said they “wholeheartedly recognize the burden and uncertainty” that has resulted, but said that “it would be irresponsible for the city to allow 1568 Nome St. to remain occupied for another two months in its current state.”

With less than a week to find a new home, Carolina said that many people without extended family or a car, will end up on the streets or in the city’s homeless shelters. And for children like her daughter, it will also likely mean missed days of school.

Aurora Public Schools hosted a resource fair for families at a former school building on Thursday. District officials would not confirm how many students are impacted by the building’s closure, but said in a statement they know many families are impacted.

“With our school year just starting, we know this is a difficult challenge for many of our families and we will continue to provide as many supports and resources as possible. It is critically important that our students continue to attend school every day, so that they are in a safe place to learn and to receive breakfast and lunch,” a spokesperson for the district said in a statement.

Carolina walks her daughter to Aurora’s Montview Elementary, just a couple blocks away from the building. She enrolled her daughter there shortly after arriving in Denver in December.

Last school year, Aurora recorded receiving more than 1,500 students between October and the end of February who were new to the country.

Mom fears the disruption is likely to interrupt children’s school

Carolina and her daughter first left their home in Venezuela six years ago and moved to Colombia. She opened a small laundromat, but local gangs began extorting her. The insecurity pushed Carolina to leave home with her daughter once again — this time, with the goal of reaching the U.S.

After arriving in Colorado, Carolina was able to find work cleaning apartments. It allowed her to pay the $1,200 monthly rent at the condemned building.

Now the informal work is on hold while she figures out what she’s doing next.

She had issues with the building conditions and a few months ago started noticing what she now knows was gang activity, but kids don’t notice the bad living conditions, she said. They just know they have a place to go home to, she said.

Carolina didn’t buy a car because she didn’t want to drive without a license. And while she’s waiting on a work permit pending her asylum case, she has limited identification forms to get a license, or to complete paperwork for other forms of assistance.

Without a car Carolina isn’t sure she’ll be able to get her daughter to continue school at Montview Elementary. She said she may have to give up some of their few possessions because she won’t have a way to transport or store them.

Carolina said the school officials are doing their best to help, but many of the resources they connect them to, such as rental assistance, take a while to process.

Ibrahim said that for displaced families, it can take more than a month to find new housing, even when they do have credit, good income, and no accessibility issues. She said the city’s move to condemn such a large apartment building, without contacting any of the local nonprofits that assist beforehand, is “unprecedented.”

“The only thing we know that is definitive is that entire complex is going to become homeless Tuesday morning,” Ibrahim said. “This is directly negatively impacting children’s access to education. The children are going to be the most deeply impacted.”

City officials say they will cover the costs of new security deposits for families, but they must apply for that assistance after they secure housing.

Carolina just wants to find a way to provide stability for her daughter while she finds housing.

“It will be very disruptive for these kids,” Carolina said. “It’s complicated, but I just want the city to think about the kids who are the ones who suffer the most.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Cómo una nueva coalición defiende los derechos educativos de niños indocumentados

2024-08-05T18:24:00+00:00

Una nueva coalición está en alerta máxima ante las violaciones de una sentencia histórica del Tribunal Supremo que garantiza a los niños el derecho a una educación pública y gratuita independientemente de su estatus migratorio.

Conocida como Educación para Todos (Education for All en inglés), la campaña está trabajando para contrarrestar la retórica antiinmigrante y las propuestas políticas conservadoras que buscan limitar el derecho a la educación de los niños indocumentados, que está protegido por la decisión del Tribunal Supremo de 1982 Plyler v. Doe.

La campaña, lanzada en mayo, está sucediendo en un momento en el que la Fundación Heritage, un think tank (instituto de investigación) vinculado al expresidente Donald Trump, está presionando a los estados a que cobren a los niños indocumentados una colegiatura, o matriculación, para asistir a la escuela pública. Esto, según Heritage, podría llevar al Tribunal Supremo a reconsiderar la sentencia de Plyler.

Los que respaldan la idea dicen que el costo de educar a niños indocumentados ha aumentado demasiado y que los estudiantes inmigrantes están utilizando recursos que pertenecen a los estudiantes estadounidenses. Los críticos sostienen que estas políticas negarían a cientos de miles de niños el derecho fundamental a una educación — y puede conmover a toda la economía de la nación, la red de seguridad social, y el sistema de justicia penal.

Desde el 2022, legisladores de al menos cuatro estados han intentado aprobar dichas medidas. Algunos distritos ya han impuesto barreras que impiden a los recién llegados matricularse, mientras que algunos miembros de la junta de la escuela han sugerido recopilar datos acerca del estatus migratorio de los estudiantes.

“Queremos tomarnos todo en serio,” dijo Will Dempster, vicepresidente de comunicaciones estratégicas del Centro Nacional de Leyes Migratorias, que lidera la coalición. “Están poniendo a prueba los límites de lo que es posible.”

Unas treinta y seis organizaciones se han unido a la coalición, entre ellas grupos pro inmigrantes, defensores de la educación y asesores legales, y los dos sindicatos de docentes más grandes de todo el país. Su trabajo abarca a estados fronterizos como Arizona y Texas, y estados que han inscrito a una gran proporción de estudiantes migrantes en estos últimos años, como Nueva York, California, Colorado, e Illinois.

Juntas van a estar vigilando las reuniones del consejo escolar, presionando a los legisladores estatales, educando familias acerca de sus derechos, y asegurándose que los funcionarios escolares entiendan la decisión Plyler. La meta es “coordinar cuando surjan problemas en algún estado y estar listos para movilizarnos,” dijo Dempster.

En medio de las preocupaciones por los costos, las escuelas apoyan a los estudiantes migrantes

La coalición también se opone a las declaraciones de Trump y de otros políticos conservadores acerca de los niños migrantes recientemente llegados.

“Están tomando nuestras escuelas,” dijo Trump el mes pasado durante el debate presidencial. A comienzos de este año, Trump falsamente aseguró que los niños migrantes habían desplazado a otros estudiantes en las escuelas de la ciudad de Nueva York, aunque en realidad el distrito tiene cupos vacíos que está intentando ocupar.

Del mismo modo, en junio, el representante de los Estados Unidos Aaron Bean, un republicano de Florida, llevó a cabo una audiencia educativa llamada “Las Consecuencias del Caos Fronterizo de Biden para las escuelas K-12″ en donde habló acerca del costo “impresionante” de educar a niños indocumentados.

“Se requiere una cantidad importante de recursos para poder educar a niños inmigrantes ilegales, esto altera el entorno de aprendizaje de todos los estudiantes,” dijo Bean. “Aulas saturadas, la necesidad de tener nuevas instalaciones, y las proporciones de alumnos por maestro son sólo algunos de los desafíos.”

El señaló que Colorado le está otorgando a las escuelas unos 24 millones de dólares adicionales este año para ayudar a cubrir los costos de educar a estudiantes recientemente llegados, y un par de escuelas en Austin, Texas en dónde los maestros dieron clases en los pasillos después de que hubo un gran aumento en estudiantes refugiados.

A algunas escuelas les ha costado poder satisfacer las necesidades de los estudiantes inmigrantes recientemente llegados. Esto es porque frecuentemente no disponen de suficiente personal bilingüe o reciben financiación limitada para educar a los estudiantes inmigrantes.

En el 2022, el gobernador de Texas, Greg Abbot dijo que la sentencia Plyler debe ser reconsiderada “porque los gastos son descomunales” y él pidió al Gobierno Federal que pagara los costos de los estados. Un legislador en su estado intentó prohibir que los estudiantes se matriculen en las escuelas públicas a menos que el gobierno federal hiciera precisamente eso, pero el proyecto de ley no prosperó.

Propuestas similares estaban siendo consideradas en Utah, Oklahoma y Tennessee, pero ninguna pasó — lo que indica que la idea sigue siendo algo controversial, inclusive entre conservadores.

Las necesidades de los estudiantes recientemente llegados no son únicas. Muchos niños nacidos en los Estados Unidos también necesitan apoyo lingüístico, terapia especializada en traumas, o ayuda para ponerse al día tras una interrupción de los estudios. Y algunas escuelas se están esforzando capacitando al personal para que ofrezca apoyo adicional de salud mental o al agregar programas de verano para ayudar a los niños a que se acostumbren a la vida en los Estados Unidos.

La coalición también tiene previsto destacar los numerosos beneficios que los estudiantes inmigrantes pueden aportar a sus compañeros y a sus comunidades de la escuela.

“Una de las cosas que podemos hacer es demostrar que los estudiantes inmigrantes pueden ser exitosos cuándo se les da el apoyo adecuado,” dijo Liza Schwartzwald, directora de justicia económica y empoderamiento familiar en la Coalición de Inmigración de Nueva York que pertenece a Educación para Todos. “No se trata de niños que están poniendo en peligro nuestro sistema educativo”.

Trabas para la matriculación, la recopilación de datos podría violar los derechos de los estudiantes

Aún, inclusive sin las restricciones estatales oficiales, los niños indocumentados frecuentemente se enfrentan a barreras para matricularse en las escuelas, inclusive en estados liderados por demócratas.

El verano pasado, el fiscal general de Nueva York supo acerca de políticas escolares qué hacían que fuese “difícil o imposible” que los estudiantes indocumentados se inscriban — probablemente violando las protecciones estatales o federales. Algunos distritos exigían a los estudiantes o a sus padres que proporcionaran sus tarjetas de identificación electoral, que no están disponibles para personas que no son ciudadanas, o amenazaban con ir a sus hogares si un estudiante no podía establecer su residencia con un contrato de alquiler, el cual puede ser difícil de obtener para las familias indocumentadas.
En toda la ciudad de Nueva York, los jóvenes inmigrantes recientemente llegados se han encontrado con listas de espera o se les ha dicho que no hay cupos cuando intentaban matricularse en la escuela, City Limits informó. Por otro lado, algunos estudiantes de secundaria recientemente llegados han sido presionados a abandonar sus estudios cuando necesitaban más apoyo para graduarse.
En Massachusetts, algunos distritos dijeron que no tenían previsto matricular a niños migrantes que viven en refugios temporales, hasta que el estado les dijera que tenían que hacerlo.
Cientos de escuelas de docenas de estados recientemente dijeron a The 74 que no permitirían matricular a un estudiante venezolano de 19 años con un inglés limitado a pesar de que legalmente tenía derecho a matricularse.

Los miembros de la coalición están en alerta ante estos y otros ejemplos de escuelas que posiblemente estén violando los derechos establecidos en Plyler.

Alejandra Vázquez Baur, encargada de dirigir el National Newcomer Network, que incluye a 250 maestros, líderes escolares, defensores comunitarios, e investigadores de todo el país, dijo que los miembros comparten acerca de ciertas infracciones cuando se reúnen cada dos meses.

Su organización ha presentado denuncias federales de derechos civiles en nombre de los estudiantes o ha ayudado a que las familias las presenten por cuenta propia, aunque ella sabe que el proceso generalmente es muy lento para poder ayudar a un niño antes de que este decida matricularse en otra escuela o no matricularse en absoluto.

Tessa Petit, directora ejecutiva de la Coalición de Inmigrantes de Florida, dijo que su organización le está pidiendo a sus 80 organizaciones miembros a “estar alerta” ante posibles violaciones de Plyler. Eso incluye trabajar con socios que organizan estudiantes de secundaria para ver si han escuchado acerca de casos de niños indocumentados que no pueden matricularse para la escuela.

Están pendientes de las escuelas del condado de Sarasota después de que Bridget Ziegler, integrante del consejo escolar y cofundadora del grupo político conservador Mamás por la Libertad, hizo preguntas sobre la posibilidad de que el distrito podría recopilar datos de los estatus migratorios de los estudiantes.

“He escuchado tanto del personal como a los miembros de la comunidad en general acerca de preocupaciones de poder responder a las barreras lingüísticas, pero también de que se está convirtiendo en una carga más pesada de lo usual,” ella dijo durante una reunión del consejo escolar en marzo. “Es solo una percepción? ¿Hay alguna manera de evaluar eso?”

El plan de la Fundación Heritage pide a las escuelas que recopilen los estatus migratorios de los estudiantes para llevar a cabo un análisis de costos. Generalmente no hacen esto porque puede asustar a las familias y hacer que no envíen a los niños a la escuela, lo cual sería un incumplimiento de Plyler.

Simpatizantes de los estudiantes indocumentados trabajan para convencer a los votantes

La Coalición de Inmigrantes de Florida también está contactando a los sindicatos de docentes y a miembros del consejo escolar para informarlos acerca de este tema, y está reuniéndose con legisladores para que se comprometan a no apoyar leyes que puedan perjudicar a los estudiantes migrantes.

“Nos damos cuenta que hay mucha educación que tiene que llevarse a cabo”, dijo Petit. “La reacción que estamos teniendo es ‘No, guau, eso no sucedería.’ La gente ni siquiera puede concebir la idea de que los estudiantes no vayan a la escuela.”

La coalición nacional también está buscando estados o comunidades que estén dispuestos a aprobar políticas que apoyen los derechos educativos de los niños inmigrantes.

Un ejemplo es una ley reciente de Connecticut qué garantiza a las familias inmigrantes que los niños tienen derecho a la educación pública y que deberían recibir ciertos servicios de traducción.

Y La Coalición de Illinois pro Derechos de los Inmigrantes y Refugiados ha tenido conversaciones preliminares acerca de pasar una ley estatal con respecto a la decisión Plyler para que sea “sumamente claro” que los estudiantes indocumentados tienen derecho a una educación pública, dijo Fred Sao, abogado senior de políticas de la organización.

Además, la coalición está actuando de forma proactiva sin recurrir a los estatutos.

La organización de Vázquez Baur llevó a cabo entrenamientos acerca de cómo contar su propia historia estos últimos meses para ayudar a sus miembros a hablar de su trabajo con los estudiantes recién llegados. La idea es compartir las experiencias “en el territorio” en los meses previos a las elecciones presidenciales.

“Eso es lo que muchas veces hace cambiar de opinión a la gente,” dijo Vázquez Baur. “Para aquellas personas podrían estar tomando una decisión al votar que podría perjudicar a esta comunidad, contar estas historias y decir ‘Estos son tus vecinos’ — es impactante. Así es básicamente como estamos luchando.”

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco

Kalyn Belsha es una reportera nacional de educación senior basada en Chicago. Pueden ponerse en contacto con ella: kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Undocumented kids have a right to attend public schools. This coalition wants to keep it that way.

2024-07-31T17:15:28+00:00

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A new coalition is on high alert for violations of a landmark Supreme Court ruling that guarantees children the right to a free public education regardless of their immigration status.

Known as Education for All, the campaign is working to counteract anti-immigrant rhetoric and conservative policy proposals seeking to limit the educational rights of undocumented children, which are protected by the 1982 Supreme Court decision Plyler v. Doe.

The campaign, which launched in May, comes as The Heritage Foundation, a think tank with ties to former President Donald Trump, is pushing states to charge undocumented children tuition to attend public school. Doing so, Heritage says, could lead the Supreme Court to reconsider the Plyler ruling.

Supporters of the idea say the costs of educating undocumented children have grown too high and that migrant students are drawing resources from U.S. citizens. Critics argue these policies would deny hundreds of thousands of kids the fundamental right to an education — and send shockwaves through the nation’s economy, social safety net, and criminal justice system.

Lawmakers in at least four states have tried to pass such measures since 2022. Already, some districts have thrown up barriers that prevent newcomers from enrolling, while some school board members have suggested collecting data on students’ immigration status.

“We want to take everything seriously,” said Will Dempster, the vice president of strategic communications for the National Immigration Law Center, which is leading the coalition. “They’re testing the boundaries of what’s possible.”

Three dozen organizations have joined the coalition, including immigrant rights groups, education and legal advocates, and the nation’s two largest teachers unions. Their work spans border states like Arizona and Texas, and states that have enrolled a large share of migrant students in recent years, such as New York, California, Colorado, and Illinois.

Together they will be watchdogging school board meetings, lobbying state lawmakers, educating families about their rights, and making sure school officials understand the Plyler decision. The goal is to “coordinate when things pop up in different states and be ready to mobilize,” Dempster said.

Amid cost concerns, schools support migrant students

The coalition is also pushing back against claims from Trump and other conservative politicians about newly arrived migrant children.

“They’re taking over our schools,” Trump said last month during the presidential debate. Earlier this year, Trump falsely claimed that migrant children had displaced other students in New York City schools, though the district actually has empty seats it’s trying to fill.

Similarly, in June, U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, a Florida Republican, held an education hearing titled “The Consequences of Biden’s Border Chaos for K-12 Schools” where he spoke about the “staggering” cost of educating undocumented kids.

“Educating illegal immigrant children requires substantial resources, altering the learning environment for all students,” Bean said. “Overcrowded classrooms, the need for new facilities, and strained student-to-teacher ratios are just some of the challenges.”

He pointed to Colorado giving schools an extra $24 million this year to help offset the costs of educating newcomer students, and a pair of schools in Austin, Texas where teachers taught classes in hallways after a big uptick in refugee students.

Some schools have struggled to meet the needs of newly arrived immigrant students. That’s often because they do not have enough bilingual staff or receive limited funding to educate immigrant students.

In 2022, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the Plyler ruling should be revisited “because the expenses are extraordinary” and he called on the federal government to pay states’ costs. A lawmaker in his state tried to bar undocumented children from enrolling in public schools unless the federal government did just that, but the bill didn’t go anywhere.

Similar proposals were floated in Utah, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, but none passed — suggesting the idea remains controversial, even among conservatives.

Newly arrived students’ needs aren’t unique. Many U.S.-born children also need language support, trauma-informed counseling, or help catching up after interrupted schooling. And some schools have stepped up by training staff to provide additional mental health support or adding summer programs to help kids adjust to life in the U.S.

The coalition plans to highlight the many benefits immigrant students can bring to their classmates and school communities, too.

“Part of what we can do is show that immigrant students can succeed when given the right supports,” said Liza Schwartzwald, the director of economic justice and family empowerment at the New York Immigration Coalition, which belongs to Education for All. “These are not kids that are throwing our education system into turmoil.”

Enrollment barriers, data collection could violate student rights

Still, even without official state restrictions, undocumented children commonly face barriers to school enrollment, including in Democratic-led states.

Last summer, New York’s attorney general said the state had learned of school policies that made it “difficult or impossible” for undocumented students to enroll — likely in violation of state or federal protections. Some districts required students or their parents to provide voter registration cards, which aren’t available to non-citizens, or threatened to make home visits if a student couldn’t establish residency with a lease, which can be difficult for undocumented families to obtain.
Throughout New York City, newly arrived immigrant youth have encountered wait lists or been told there are no spots as they sought to enroll in school, City Limits reported. On the flip side, some newcomer high schoolers have been pressured to leave their school when they needed more support to graduate.
In Massachusetts, some districts said they didn’t plan to enroll migrant children who were housed in temporary shelters, until the state told them they had to.
Hundreds of schools in dozens of states recently told The 74 they wouldn’t admit a 19-year-old Venezuelan student with limited English skills, even though he was legally entitled to enroll.

Coalition members are alert to these and other examples of schools potentially violating the rights laid out in Plyler.

Alejandra Vázquez Baur, who directs the National Newcomer Network, which includes 250 teachers, school leaders, community advocates, and researchers from across the country, said members share possible infringements when they meet every other month.

The National Newcomer Network has led storytelling training to help teachers, school leaders, and others talk about their work with immigrant children.

Her organization has filed federal civil rights complaints on behalf of students or helped families file their own, though she knows that process is often too slow to help a child before they decide to enroll elsewhere or not to enroll in school at all.

Tessa Petit, the executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said her organization is urging its 80 member organizations to “be alert” for potential Plyler violations. That includes working with partners that organize high schoolers to see if they’ve heard about any cases of undocumented kids not being able to register for school.

They are keeping their eye on Sarasota County Schools after Bridget Ziegler, a school board member and a co-founder of the conservative political group Moms for Liberty, raised questions about whether the district could collect data on students’ immigration status.

“I’ve heard both from staff and members of the community in general about a concern about being able to respond to the language barriers, but also it kind of becoming more of a burden than usual,” she said at a board meeting in March. “Is that just the perception? Is there a way to evaluate that?”

The Heritage Foundation plan calls on schools to collect data on students’ immigration status as a way to conduct cost analyses. Schools typically do not do this because it can scare families and cause them not to send their children to school, in violation of Plyler.

Undocumented students’ supporters work to convince voters

The Florida Immigrant Coalition is also reaching out to teachers unions and school board members to raise awareness about this issue, and meeting with state lawmakers to try and secure pledges that they would not support legislation that could harm immigrant students.

“We realize that there is a lot of education that needs to be done,” Petit said. “The reaction that we’re getting is ‘No, wow, that wouldn’t happen.’ Some people can’t even imagine the idea of kids not going to school.”

The national coalition is also looking for states or communities that would be willing to pass policies that support the educational rights of immigrant children.

One example is a recent Connecticut law that ensures immigrant families know their kids are entitled to a public education and that they should receive certain translation services.

And the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has had preliminary conversations about putting the Plyler decision into state law to make it “super clear” that undocumented children are entitled to a public education, said Fred Tsao, the organization’s senior policy counsel.

There are other ways the coalition is being proactive that don’t involve statutes.

Vázquez Baur’s organization has been conducting storytelling training over the last few months to help its members talk about their work with newcomer students. They plan to share those “on-the-ground” experiences in the lead-up to the presidential election.

“That is often what changes minds,” Vázquez Baur said. “For folks who might be making a voting decision that would otherwise harm this community, telling those stories and saying ‘Those are your neighbors’ — that is impactful. That is primarily how we’re going to be pushing back.”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Jeffco will pilot new programs, including a welcome center bus, to better serve immigrant students

2024-07-15T23:28:51+00:00

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An influx of immigrant students last year left the Jeffco school district scrambling to meet their needs. So this fall, officials are piloting new programs and support to help newcomer students.

The school district is piloting a series of changes, including new staff, resources, and curriculum materials, as well as a new welcome center bus, after hundreds of immigrant students arrived throughout the past school year. The district is planning for the surge to continue into next school year.

“Our schools have been incredibly autonomous in how they meet the needs of our special populations and especially our multilingual language learners,” Jeffco Superintendent Tracy Dorland told the district’s school board this spring. “Our student achievement data tells us that’s not working.”

Schools across the state and country saw a surge of new students last school year arriving from South American countries, including Venezuela and Colombia. Jeffco reported to state officials that it received more than 300 students from October through the end of February. But district officials told the board in March that they estimated about 600 newcomer students had arrived in the previous 12 months.

Jeffco, the second largest school district in Colorado, enrolled 76,172 students as of last October, of which about 6.2% were identified as English learners.

New programs will focus on four schools at secondary level

Although the newcomer students are spread across the district, some Jeffco areas were more overwhelmed with new enrollments.

Four high schools — Jefferson Jr/Sr, Alameda Jr/Sr, Lakewood High, and Green Mountain High — will have specific newcomer programming where a dedicated teacher with a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education certificate to teach English learners will co-teach core academic classes and help give students two years worth of English credits in one year to help them gain traction toward graduation.

For elementary schools, the district is creating a team of roving teachers to deploy to any school experiencing a surge in students who don’t speak English as a native language. The central team will help screen, enroll, and orient students so English language development teachers at schools can continue their work helping classroom teachers learn strategies to teach any language learners in their classes.

Other large metro-area school districts, including Denver, Aurora, and Adams 12, already have specialized programs to serve refugee and immigrant students who are new to the country. But Jeffco hasn’t historically had such standalone programming.

The district is also retrofitting a short school bus to serve as a mobile welcome center for families. District leaders said they were inspired by the Aurora school district’s comprehensive welcome center that serves diverse immigrant and refugee families. Jeffco initially considered using an empty school building to create one, but worried that families spread throughout Jeffco would find transportation to the center to be a barrier.

“We really reimagined what a welcome center could look like,” said Tara Peña, Jeffco’s chief of family and community partnerships. “The brick and mortar experience of walking through and into an institution could also feel really intimidating and so having something that is colorful and inviting could hopefully take a little bit of that stigma away.”

Much of the cost of the bus is being covered by a state grant. The district has budgeted about $1.2 million for the new staff and other supports.

Adan Gonzales, president of Volition Components, a shop that is retrofitting the bus into a mobile welcome center for Jeffco, describes how the outside of the bus will have an awning and speakers to help the district draw people in.

The bus and three newly hired family ambassadors, as well as additional translators when necessary, will travel to schools, apartment complexes, shelters, and libraries to find families that need help enrolling their children in school, or who need referrals to health or mental health resources. The bus will also be equipped with wi-fi to help families fill out online forms on site. District leaders are taking donations so the bus can be stocked with school supplies, clothes, food, and diapers to help families with other needs.

Peña said the family ambassadors come from some of the same countries as many new Jeffco students and speak their language.

“That immediately disarms our families,” she said.

Peña said the department is also in talks with high school students earning translation certificates at Alameda High School to possibly volunteer on the bus to get more translation work experience.

The students and the family ambassadors would speak Spanish. According to district data, 70% of the past year’s newcomers speak Spanish. The next most common languages are Arabic and Russian.

The inside of Jeffco's welcome center bus will have tables, a fridge, a television screen, and wi-fi so families can get help filling out enrollment forms or getting referrals to services.

At the high school level, the district is planning to track students who enroll in the newcomer program to compare to other newcomer students who don’t to see if, in the long run, students are more successful with that support.

Students would be part of the newcomer programming for no more than a school year, and would be integrated into classes with non-newcomer students for electives, lunch, and other activities.

The district is expecting to serve a total of 150 students in the four schools and has already identified some students who will enroll, but is planning to leave space for students who show up this fall.

For students who aren’t near those four schools, the district will continue and expand an online service it offered last school year. Students who don’t have access to English language development in their own school log onto a multilingual learner online platform where they get live instruction from a trained teacher. The district expects to be able to serve 300 students this way.

The district is also in the process of updating district-wide policies for how high schools enroll students with foreign transcripts or without transcript records.

School board President Mary Parker questioned the process after a 16-year-old newly arrived Ugandan student she was mentoring was counseled to go to college because school officials felt the girl had already met the high school graduation requirements. District leaders said high schools have so far often used their own discretion in making decisions about enrolling and placing students, but will have updated uniform guidance soon.

In elementary schools, district leaders will be tracking whether the central roving team is the right support for school staff to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed.

“Right now the thinking initially is this is really a pilot design before we scale this up,” Peña said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Para ayudar a los estudiantes migrantes, Westminster creó un programa de verano

2024-07-11T22:41:05+00:00

Durante la última semana de la escuela de verano en Westminster, unos 19 niños practicaban la formación de oraciones en inglés que describían imágenes mostradas en una pizarra digital al frente de la clase.

“Veo niños jugando fútbol”, dijo un niño, Mathias, sobre una foto de un grupo de niños mayores jugando al fútbol bajo la lluvia.

Pero la maestra Sydney Pollock quería que la clase de tercer a quinto grado practicara comenzando las oraciones con las palabras “Esto” o “Eso”, y que usaran un verbo singular en la oración. Le recordó a Mathias que “niños” es plural. Escribiendo la palabra en la pizarra, preguntó a la clase cómo hacerla singular. Quitar la “S”, dijeron los niños.

Mathias lo intentó de nuevo. “Este niño jugando…”

Mathias, un estudiante en la clase de verano en el distrito escolar de Westminster practica su inglés durante clase el 26 de junio de 2024.

No olvides tu verbo, le recordó Pollock, señalando ejemplos en la pizarra blanca.

“Este niño está jugando fútbol”, dijo Mathias, emocionado por acertar.

Las Escuelas Públicas de Westminster fue uno de muchos distritos en Colorado que recibió una oleada de nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes después del comienzo del año escolar. Solo en los cuatro meses entre octubre y febrero, el distrito informó que había matriculado a 216 estudiantes recién llegados. Westminster recibió $877,000 en financiamiento estatal único para ayudar a cubrir los gastos de educar a estudiantes que no fueron contados para el financiamiento estatal de este año porque comenzaron después de octubre.

Los estudiantes del programa de verano tienen un recreo breve durante su día escolar de cuatro horas.

Con esa ayuda, Westminster presupuestó $10,000 para crear un nuevo programa de escuela de verano para ayudar a los estudiantes hispanohablantes a seguir practicando inglés, con la esperanza particular de matricular a muchos de los nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes que acababan de comenzar a aprender.

El programa de verano matriculó a 135 estudiantes desde kínder hasta el undécimo grado. Kate Herter, quien se desempeñó este verano como directora del programa, dijo que estimó que aproximadamente el 85% de los estudiantes matriculados eran nuevos en el país este año.

Los líderes dijeron que uno de los objetivos era asegurarse de que los nuevos estudiantes inmigrantes se sintieran más cómodos y listos para aprender este otoño.

Herter dijo que el objetivo es que los estudiantes tengan un espacio donde puedan sentirse más cómodos practicando sus habilidades en inglés, para que puedan sentirse más seguros participando en su aprendizaje el próximo año escolar.

Cuando los niños comenzaron el programa de verano, empezaron aprendiendo cómo hablar sobre la comida. Otra semana se dedicó a aprender sobre el dinero y cómo contar dólares estadounidenses. Al lado de la clase de Pollock, otro grupo de estudiantes estaba aprendiendo cómo formar oraciones en inglés para describir las diferentes estaciones, haciendo observaciones sobre el frío, la lluvia y las hojas.

“Realmente estamos tratando de enfocarnos en el lenguaje que puedan usar inmediatamente en la comunidad”, dijo Herter.

Susana Zubia López fue una de las enlaces familiares que ayudaron al distrito a llamar a todas las familias recién llegadas para invitarlas a inscribir a sus hijos.

Dijo que la mayoría de las familias estaban entusiasmadas con la oportunidad de que sus hijos siguieran aprendiendo inglés.

Zubia López dijo que de las nuevas familias inmigrantes con las que estaba en contacto, las únicas que no inscribieron a sus hijos fueron las que se estaban mudando o que dijeron que iban a hacer un viaje.

El distrito proporcionó transporte gratuito al programa diario de cuatro horas, así como desayuno y almuerzo justo antes de que los estudiantes se fueran a casa al mediodía. Los estudiantes en el programa también pudieron recibir vacunas para estar listos para la inscripción escolar este otoño.

“Nosotros no queríamos una brecha”, dijo Zubia López. “Nuestro objetivo era no tener una brecha tan grande”.

En 2018, Westminster firmó un acuerdo con el gobierno federal para hacer cambios en cómo identificaba y atendía a los estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés como nuevo idioma después de que el Departamento de Justicia encontrara que el distrito podría haber estado subidentificando a los estudiantes y no proporcionándoles suficientes recursos. El distrito comenzó a hacer cambios cuando empezó la pandemia.

En el verano de 2021, Westminster también utilizó fondos de ayuda por COVID para extender el año escolar 12 días adicionales para dar a los estudiantes más oportunidades de aprendizaje. Pero este es el primer año, dijeron los líderes del distrito, en que el distrito tuvo un programa de verano específico para estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

Herter dijo que los maestros están recopilando datos regularmente y evaluarán si los estudiantes demuestran mejoras en su desarrollo del inglés el próximo año.

Los estudiantes en una clase del programa de verano de Westminster vieron un video de caricaturas acerca de las temporadas y se pusieron a cantar y bailar con el video.

Por ahora, los maestros también trabajaron para que los estudiantes se sintieran más cómodos. En la clase de Pollock, una niña escribió una oración sobre la imagen que observó, pero al principio rogó a la maestra que se acercó a su mesa que no la hiciera intentar decirla en voz alta.

Al lado, cuando los estudiantes estaban aprendiendo sobre las estaciones, la maestra SanJuanita Carbajal hizo que los estudiantes vieran un video animado con una canción pegajosa sobre las estaciones. Al principio, los estudiantes no cantaban. Pero después de unos minutos, se unieron.

Sara Gonzalez, quien enseña a estudiantes de primer y segundo grado en el programa, dijo que los estudiantes saben que ella habla español y empezaron el programa tratando de hablarle principalmente en español.

A menudo les dice que no entiende, en un esfuerzo por hacer que practiquen su inglés. Ahora, dijo, los está viendo intentar hablar más en inglés.

“Sabemos que se sentirán más seguros en su aprendizaje más adelante”, dijo Herter.

Yesenia Robles es reportera de Chalkbeat Colorado, cubriendo distritos escolares K-12 y educación multilingüe. Contacta a Yesenia en yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

La traducción de este articulo se publico primero en La Ciudad, un boletín digital bilingüe de Colorado Community Media. Regístrate para recibirlo en coloradocommunitymedia.com/newsletters.

To help migrant students, Westminster created a summer program for English language learners

2024-06-28T23:38:53+00:00

During the last week of summer school in Westminster, about 19 kids practiced forming English sentences that described pictures displayed on a smartboard at the front of the class.

“I see kids playing fútbol,” one child, Mathias, said about a photo of a group of older kids playing soccer in the rain.

But teacher Sydney Pollock wanted the class of third through fifth graders to practice starting sentences with the words “This” or “That,” and to use a singular verb in the sentence. She reminded Mathias that “kids” is plural. Writing the word on the board, she asked the class how to make it singular. Drop the “S”, kids said.

Mathias, a student in the mixed grade summer classroom for Westminster Public Schools, works to practice speaking English during class on June 26, 2024.

Mathias tried again. “This kid playing…”

Don’t forget your verb, Pollock reminded him, pointing to examples on the whiteboard.

“This kid is playing fútbol,” Mathias said, excited to get it right.

Westminster Public Schools was one of many districts in Colorado to receive a surge of new immigrant students after the start of the school year. In the four months between October and February alone, the district reported it had enrolled 216 newcomer students. Westminster received $877,000 in one-time state funding to help cover the expenses of educating students who were not counted for this year’s state funding because they started after October.

Students in the summer program get a short recess during their four-hour school day.

With that help, Westminster budgeted $10,000 to create a new summer school program to help Spanish-speaking students keep practicing English, particularly hoping to enroll many of the new immigrant students who had just started to learn.

The summer program enrolled 135 students in kindergarten through 11th grade. Kate Herter, who served this summer as the program’s principal, said she estimated about 85% of the students enrolled were new to the country this year.

Leaders said one of the goals was to ensure new immigrant students feel more comfortable and ready to learn come this fall.

Herter said the goal is for students to have a space where they can feel more comfortable practicing their English skills, so that they might feel more confident participating in their learning next school year.

When kids began the summer program, they started learning how to talk about food. Another week was spent learning about money and how to count U.S. dollars. Next door to Pollock’s class, another group of students was learning how to form sentences in English to describe the different seasons, making observations about the cold, the rain, and the leaves.

“We’re really trying to target language that they can use immediately inside the community,” Herter said.

Susana Zubia López, left, and Kate Herter, pose for a portrait on Wed., June 26, 2024 at Josephine Hodgkins Leadership Academy in Denver, Colorado.

Susana Zubia López was one of the family liaisons who helped the district call all newcomer families to invite them to enroll their children.

She said most families were excited about the opportunity to have their children keep learning English.

Zubia López said that of the new immigrant families she was in touch with, the only ones who didn’t enroll their children were families who were moving or who said they were taking a trip.

The district provided free transportation to the four-hour daily program, as well as breakfast and lunch just before students went home at noon. The students in the program were also able to get vaccinations to be ready for school enrollment this fall.

“We didn’t want a gap,” Zubia López said. “Our goal was to not have that big a gap.”

In 2018, Westminster had signed an agreement with the federal government to make changes to how it identified and served students who were learning English as a new language after the Department of Justice found that the district may have been under-identifying students and not providing them with enough resources. The district started making changes as the pandemic began.

In the summer of 2021, Westminster also used COVID relief funds to extend the school year an extra 12 days to give students more opportunities to learn. But this is the first year, district leaders said, that the district had a targeted summer program for students learning English.

Herter said teachers are regularly collecting data and will be evaluating if students demonstrate improvement in their English development next year.

Students in Westminster's summer program watched an animated video about the seasons and sang and danced along.

For now, teachers also worked on making students feel more comfortable. In Pollock’s class, one girl spelled out a sentence about the picture she observed, but initially pleaded with the teacher who had come around to her table not to make her try to say it out loud.

Next door, when students were learning about the seasons, teacher SanJuanita Carbajal had the students watch an animated video with a catchy song about the seasons. At first, the students were not singing along. But after a few minutes, they joined in.

Sara Gonzalez, who teaches first and second graders in the program, said that students know she speaks Spanish and started the program trying speaking to her mostly in Spanish.

She often tells them she doesn’t understand in an effort to have them practice their English. Now, she said, she is seeing them try to speak more in English.

“We know they’ll feel more confident in their learning later,” Herter said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation to award $1M for multilingual learners, students with disabilities

2024-06-12T22:04:53+00:00

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Newark schools looking to bolster programs and create new initiatives or learning environments for the city’s most vulnerable students can apply for a new $1 million grant.

Sponsored by the New Jersey Children’s Foundation, the “Accelerating Outcomes for Exceptional Learners” grant program aims to provide city schools with more resources to develop, support, and increase achievement outcomes for Newark’s students with disabilities and multilingual learners.

The foundation is accepting grant requests that will focus on special education and multilingual programming and build new support systems to better serve those students, said Barbara Martinez, executive director of the foundation, a charter school-aligned nonprofit advocating for the improvement of public education systems. The grant comes as the number of diagnosed autism cases in Newark has surged since 2000 and multilingual learners have increased citywide.

“We wanted to help facilitate that by providing additional funding that may not be available through public sources to help schools innovate programs that maybe they wanted to try and haven’t been able to because of funding,” Martinez added.

Students in need of special education services are rising year over year and more than 10,000 students – a quarter of the Newark Public Schools’s enrollment – are multilingual learners.

In 2020, one in 20 Newark children had been diagnosed with autism, compared with one in 167 in 2000, according to researchers at Rutgers University. Last school year, Newark mothers of students with disabilities said they were still reeling from the negative effects of the pandemic and have struggled to secure in-classroom aides, compensatory education, and specialized services for their children. At Great Oaks Legacy Charter school in 2022, teachers raised concerns over the lack of resources for students with disabilities and teacher pay.

With the influx of English language learners in the district, officials will launch a new bilingual program at Malcolm X Shabazz High School this fall. The district is also wrestling with a shortage of bilingual teachers who can communicate in different languages. Most of the district’s multilingual learners speak Spanish or Portuguese, although some speak Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, or other languages.

The data shows schools need extra resources to tailor educational programs to these student populations, Martinez said.

“We have a lot of migrant students and we have schools that are doing the best that they can to serve as many children who are learning English and give teachers extra skills to serve special needs students,” Martinez added.

Schools can be awarded two-year grants of up to $100,000 starting in July and ending in June 2026. Schools should implement new programs by fall 2024 and new learning environments should be operational by fall 2025, but may be launched earlier, according to a Children’s Foundation press release. Traditional public schools and charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed, are eligible.

Applications with a focus on students with autism, students with emotional support needs, and students from migrant communities will be prioritized, according to the foundation’s press release.

Additional funding may be available for local organizations willing to conduct quarterly professional development cycles, help other grantees, and share data to measure and track their progress. The Children’s Foundation is also partnering with All Means All School Leadership Program, a 15-month cohort-based fellowship designed for school leaders to strengthen adaptive and technical skills in classrooms to increase equitable outcomes for marginalized students. The foundation will provide funding to cover tuition and travel for school leaders to participate in the program.

Schools interested in applying for an “Accelerating Outcomes for Exceptional Learners” grant can email sarah@njchildren.org.

Clarification: June 14, 2024: This story was updated to clarify that both traditional public schools and charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed, are eligible.

Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.

5 things to know about our recent investigation about migrant students in Chicago

2024-06-11T11:00:00+00:00

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For the past two years, thousands of migrant families fleeing political and economic turmoil south of the border have come to Chicago. And in that time, thousands of their children — most learning English as a new language — have enrolled in schools across the city.

But many of those children don’t have easy access to services they need to thrive in school.

A recent Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat investigation found that many families have found affordable housing in majority Black communities where schools have traditionally served relatively few English-language learners. That’s left many migrant students without services that will help them adjust and advance in school.

Here are five main takeaways from the investigation:

1. Many migrant families are finding affordable housing in Chicago’s majority Black, low-income neighborhoods.

Officials’ main strategy to get migrant families into permanent housing is a state initiative called the Asylum Seeker Rental Assistance Program.

Run by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and the Illinois Department of Human Services in partnership with Catholic Charities, the program covers three months of rent for people migrating from the southern border who are seeking asylum and arrived in the city’s shelters before Nov. 17, 2023.

Nearly 60% of the roughly 5,000 families using the program as of April to resettle in Chicago have found apartments in predominantly Black, low-income communities on the South and West sides, such as South Shore and Austin, according to data obtained through an open records request.

2. Many kids are enrolling in segregated schools that have little to no bilingual support.

Schools in these neighborhoods typically have not served a large number of English language learners, meaning they often don’t have staff certified to teach those kids. Now, as migrant students enroll in these schools, teachers are feeling overwhelmed and under-equipped to serve them. The lack of resources has left migrant kids struggling to learn and ask simple questions in class.

As of April, Chicago Public Schools had identified more than 70 schools that lacked enough English as a Second Language or bilingual teachers. More than 40 percent of them were in majority Black, low-income neighborhoods where migrant families were getting apartments.

3. Other students are traveling lengthy distances to better-resourced schools.

Rather than sending their children to under-resourced schools, some parents are opting to keep their children enrolled at schools with more bilingual resources near shelters where they used to live.

Often that means families are spending up to three to four hours a day commuting to and from school. Some kids still aren’t getting enough language support at those schools, even though they have more bilingual resources.

4. Chicago Public Schools officials say they’re prioritizing extra support for schools without enough resources.

District officials acknowledge that dozens of schools need more bilingual staff, but they said a nationwide bilingual teacher shortage has made hiring difficult.

Officials said they’re trying to attract more bilingual educators by subsidizing the cost of earning bilingual or ESL credentials and extending early job offers to teachers who are completing their requirements.

CPS officials say they’re prioritizing schools on the South and West sides that are in so-called “language deserts.”

5. CPS has a long history of failing students learning English.

The school district’s struggles come after years of not being in compliance with state and federal laws for bilingual education.

In recent years, the vast majority of schools with bilingual programs that the district has monitored have failed internal and state audits. They’ve fallen short of a range of requirements, such as providing bilingual instruction in core subjects to all students who need it, having properly certified teachers, and teaching students about their native country and culture.

Now, the arrival of many migrant families continues to test whether the district can do better by students learning English as a new language.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mina Bloom is an investigative reporter at Block Club Chicago. Contact Mina at mina@blockclubchi.org.

Could ‘newcomer liaisons’ help migrant students struggling in Chicago schools?

2024-06-11T11:00:00+00:00

This story was co-published with Block Club Chicago.

A couple months after enrolling, a few dozen migrant students were struggling to adjust to life at Kenwood Academy on the South Side.

The teens had landed in a school where few people speak Spanish, their native language, and the classrooms they were put in were “a mess,” teacher Maggie Ritthaler said.

“Kids were throwing things, punching each other, playing around — and the teacher was barely speaking Spanish,” Ritthaler said.

Ritthaler and another teacher, Zachary Hill, made it their mission to help: The two Spanish-speakers moved their schedules around to teach classes of migrant kids and got their principal to hire part-time student teachers.

Still, about 85% of Kenwood’s students are Black, and the school hasn’t historically served many students whose first language isn’t English. So the newcomers still aren’t getting the language help and emotional support they need, the teachers said.

“We provide a safe home base for them in school, but at the same time, the needs they come in with are more than we are prepared for or licensed for, or that we have resources for,” Ritthaler said.

In May, a Block Club and Chalkbeat investigation found many migrant students are landing in segregated schools like Kenwood with few if any bilingual resources. The so-called “language deserts,” concentrated on the city’s South and West sides, have left many migrant kids feeling lost in school while teachers scramble to meet their needs.

Gabriela Ruiz, 12, — from Venezuela — sets off for school from her South Shore apartment in April. She and her family were featured in a Block Club and Chalkbeat investigation into challenges faced by migrant students and their families.

But experts and teachers union leaders say the district could help the migrant students with a different approach: hiring “newcomer liaisons.” As envisioned by the Chicago Teachers Union, the liaisons would help ease the burden on teachers and other school employees who, in addition to their regular duties, are managing newcomer students’ behavioral and emotional needs while also helping them find health care and clothes.

The liaisons would also provide language support to migrant students who are enrolled in schools where few people speak Spanish, such as Laura S. Ward Elementary School in West Humboldt Park, where a kindergarten teacher and two custodians are translating for the whole building, Block Club and Chalkbeat found.

School districts across the country have been able to help migrant students with liaisons, said Alejandra Vázquez Baur, who leads the National Newcomer Network, a coalition of educators, researchers, and advocates that works to address newcomer student inequity.

While it will take a lot more to overcome the Chicago Public Schools’ long history of failing English learner and immigrant students, the liaisons would be a step in the right direction, she said.

“You get these newcomer liaisons in sooner rather than later and they can help,” Vázquez Baur said. “Students can at least get in the best programs for them, [they can be] aware of their options, their rights are upheld, things are translated and interpreted for them so they can make the best decisions for their futures.”

A go-between for migrant families and schools

Under the Chicago Teachers Union proposal, “newcomer liaisons” would be in charge of migrant student enrollment, programming, communication between families and teachers, and other duties that require bilingual services, like translating Local School Council meetings, union leaders said.

Those duties currently fall to teachers like Ritthaler and Hill who have a myriad of other responsibilities. Ritthaler is a Spanish teacher who chairs Kenwood’s world language department, while Hill is the school’s English language program teacher.

“What usually happens is [those teachers] are trying to do that either in their off time or they’re not providing the required services to kids because they’re doing those things,” said Julie Sugarman, associate director for K-12 Education Research at the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

A class at Erie Elementary Charter School in Humboldt Park, a dual-language school with nearly 50 newcomer students.

In other school districts that use the approach, liaisons are “local folks, maybe parents, maybe community advocates” who can communicate with new families and explain their rights, but don’t necessarily need teacher certifications, Vázquez Baur said.

Other districts have used a patchwork of funding — local, state, and federal dollars — to cover the program, experts said.

Union leaders didn’t answer specific questions about their proposal.

CPS officials also didn’t respond to questions, saying only that the district has received the union’s proposals and is reviewing them.

A list of the district’s initial proposals does not include “newcomer liaisons.”

The district needs ‘more bilingual support on every level’

“Liaisons” alone won’t be able to fix all the problems faced by under-resourced schools serving newcomers.

As of April, nearly 9,000 migrant students — many of them fleeing turmoil in South and Central American countries — had enrolled with the Chicago Public Schools. The vast majority of the new students don’t speak English and are living in temporary housing. Many have spent limited time in school and are grade levels behind for their ages.

Thousands of migrant families are getting apartments in historically Black neighborhoods like South Shore and Austin through a state rental assistance program. From there, children are enrolling at schools that haven’t historically served students whose first language isn’t English.

In addition to a lack of language support, many families are struggling with long commutes and are unaware of their rights and options, Block Club and Chalkbeat found.

All of this comes after the district has struggled for years to fully comply with state and federal laws around bilingual education.

Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates said newcomer families are experiencing “what it feels like to be a Black family in Chicago public schools.”

Segregated Black schools on the South and West Sides, where many migrant students have landed, have for years faced declining enrollment and a dearth of resources, the union said in a written statement. Meanwhile, some Latino schools have seen their budgets slashed in recent years as a lack of affordable housing has led to declines in enrollment.

“This is the context for the influx of newcomer students — a reflection of how CPS has lacked funding and support for Black and Brown students, and why this is so key to our contract negotiations,” union leaders said in their statement.

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates introduces Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson after he won the mayoral runoff on April 4, 2023.

Those negotiations are the CTU’s first since the election of Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former organizer for the union. Adding resources for migrant students is one of the union’s key demands.

The union is asking for “more bilingual support on every level,” the union statement said.

On top of “newcomer liaisons,” the union is pushing for more bilingual and multilingual teachers; more dual-language programs, which offer English learners and native English speakers instruction in Spanish and English; and an expansion of the district’s Sustainable Community Schools model.

Launched in 2018, that initiative enlists community organizations to bring programs and services to high-poverty schools struggling with low enrollment.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez speaks at a press conference at Roberto Clemente Community Academy before the opening of a pilot CPS welcome center for newly arriving families on July 17, 2023.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has said the district wants to expand dual-language programs, and Mayor Brandon Johnson named growing sustainable community schools as a top priority for his administration.

The union also wants “staffing and support for language access needs around early education, IEPs, guest teachers, clinicians, access to Pre-K and other high-needs areas,” along with “training and support from the Board of Education for migrant students on a yearly basis, including funding for immigration support,” according to a list provided by the union.

Union leaders didn’t respond to questions asking for more information about these proposals. The union’s current contract expires at the end of June.

‘The most traumatic journey they’ll ever go through’

Calls for more support for migrant students come as the district faces a large budget shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.

With pandemic relief dollars drying up, the district is facing a nearly $400 million budget deficit while the state has its own financial challenges.

Lawmakers recently approved a state budget with an increase of $350 million for K-12 funding, the minimum under the law and $200 million less than education advocates had asked for. And the General Assembly didn’t approve a proposal that would’ve sent more money to school districts that have received an influx of migrant students.

CPS officials have said they’re trying to cut expenses at the district’s central office, but Martinez recently told reporters they’re still figuring out how to close the deficit.

Kenwood Academy on April 24, 2024.

At Kenwood, Ritthaler and Hill are wrapping up the school year exhausted and demoralized.

They spent the year “in survival mode,” scrambling to find Spanish-language activities and assignments, distributing donated clothes and food and providing counseling.

“We’re receiving these kids who’ve just gone through the most traumatic journey they’ll ever go through, and we’re kinda just plopping them into biology class,” Ritthaler said.

“This isn’t just getting 30 new students. This is 30 new students who are coming from a completely new world … and we’re not equipped to serve them the best way they need to be served.”

Mina Bloom is an investigative reporter for Block Club Chicago. Contact Mina at mina@blockclubchi.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

‘A huge disruptor’: 60-day shelter limits for migrant families hurt NYC preschools

2024-05-29T19:00:00+00:00

When migrant families began arriving two years ago, Hudson Guild, a long-time preschool operator on Manhattan’s West Side, became a popular child care choice for those staying in nearby emergency shelters.

The operator had plenty of open seats because of prekindergarten enrollment losses during the pandemic, and it ran several publicly funded preschool programs that were free and open to undocumented families. Before long, as many as 70% of the seats in some of Hudson Guild’s programs were occupied by the newcomer students, according to administrators.

“It was a great partnership, because we were able to offer safe, nurturing educational classrooms,” said Joanny Ruiz, the director of early childhood services at Hudson Guild. “Parents were really appreciative and open to the work that we were doing.”

But that arrangement was upended when a new city rule limiting shelter stays for migrant families to 60 days began to take effect, Ruiz said. As many as 50 of Hudson Guild’s roughly 200 families have dropped out over the past several months, while others are now making long daily commutes and struggling to keep up their attendance, she said.

“It was a huge disruptor for our work,” Ruiz said.

While the impact of the 60-day rule on K-12 schools and students has received some sustained public attention, the effects of the policy on pre-K students and programs have often been overlooked. The policy’s impact on the early childhood sector is the subject of a new report from United Neighborhood Houses, an organization that advocates on behalf of city-contracted early childhood education providers.

Many of the fundamental challenges described by early childhood providers in the report echo those faced by school-age students and K-12 schools — particularly the difficulty for kids and families of having to leave schools where they’d grown comfortable, or add long commutes to their daily schedules.

But early childhood providers pointed out that the disruption of midyear schooling changes can be even more pronounced for the youngest kids. And because preschool enrollment is not mandatory, there’s a greater chance that kids forced to leave their programs midyear may simply not re-enroll and remain at home.

Teachers also had to switch up their curriculums midyear, rebuild relationships, and reset their classroom expectations as large numbers of kids left and new ones arrived, Ruiz said.

“To be honest, a lot of the work that I’ve been doing was just self-care for my teachers,” Ruiz said. “They were feeling burnt out. The revolving door of children coming in and out, it felt like it was September and October all year long.”

There are also operational challenges of dealing with the fallout of the 60-day notices specific to early childhood programs, the report found.

While K-12 schools, for example, are eligible to receive MetroCards to distribute to homeless families to help with their commutes, preschool operators have gotten mixed messages about MetroCards, according to the report. Ruiz, of Hudson Guild, said she was able to obtain some MetroCards from the city Education Department, but it took a long time.

“Not all providers have been able to get MetroCards,” said Irene Lew, a senior research analyst at United Neighborhood Houses, and author of the report. “There’s been inconsistency there.”

An Education Department spokesperson said the agency is working to get early childhood education providers MetroCards.

“We have messaged to [Early Childhood Education] providers and families that children have the right to stay in the program that they are currently enrolled in, and we also provide support for families who choose to transfer,” said spokesperson Chyann Tull.

The funding structure for preschool programs has also magnified the disruption of the 60-day policy, according to the report. Child care operators in city-funded programs are supposed to regularly submit invoices and are reimbursed based on their current enrollment.

When enrollment fluctuates dramatically in the middle of the school year, it can be hard for programs to forecast how much money is coming in and plan their budgets, the report found.

Adding to the challenge is the fact that enrolling new students often requires documentation and medical records that migrant families don’t have at their fingertips, leading to delays in kids signing up and programs getting reimbursed, according to the report.

Ruiz noted that on several occasions, by the time a student’s enrollment cleared the backlog, they had already dropped out.

For migrant families with kids ages 2 and under, the options are even more scarce. There are no universal city-funded child care programs for such children, and undocumented families aren’t eligible for the city’s largest child care voucher program for low-income families.

A new voucher program called Promise NYC for undocumented families launched last year for 600 students, but the funding of the program was not included in Mayor Eric Adams’s executive budget for next year.

At a City Council hearing earlier this month, Office of Management and Budget Director Jacques Jiha called the program “very important.” He said the administration will have discussions with the council about whether to restore the program in the adopted budget, which must be approved by the end of June.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Pensaban que faltaba poco para graduarse. En cambio, a varios estudiantes inmigrantes se les presionó para transferirse.

2024-05-29T16:30:00+00:00

Génesis Callero pensaba que le faltaba poco para alcanzar su meta.

La estudiante senior de 18 años había logrado un progreso académico rápido desde que llegó a la Cyberarts Studio Academy de Park Slope, Brooklyn —conocida como CASA— a donde llegó de Ecuador el año pasado sin hablar inglés. Había aprobado cuatro de los cinco exámenes Regents requeridos y obtenido más que suficientes créditos para graduarse, nos dijo Génesis y un empleado de la escuela familiarizado con su transcripción de créditos.

Todo lo que faltaba era tomar y aprobar el examen English Language Arts (ELA), el único examen Regents que los inmigrantes recién llegados no pueden tomar en su idioma materno. Según los educadores, los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés como segundo idioma a menudo necesitan más tiempo y apoyo para aprobar el examen. Aun así, Génesis se sentía optimista sobre la posibilidad de obtener su diploma este año escolar y hasta se había tomado una foto profesional de graduación.

Por esa razón la adolescente se sorprendió cuando las autoridades escolares, entre ellas la principal Valrie Wauchope, la citaron a una reunión hace poco más de dos meses y le dieron una noticia devastadora.

Génesis no podía graduarse de CASA y tampoco su hermana Karen de 17 años y también estudiante senior, nos contó Génesis que le dijeron los funcionarios de la escuela. Les dijeron a las niñas que tendrían que transferirse de escuela y les recomendaron la Escuela Superior New Dawn Charter, orientada para estudiantes mayores en riesgo de no graduarse.

“Me dijeron que no, que ellos no me pueden ayudar en ese colegio”, dijo Génesis en español, recordando su reunión con los funcionarios de CASA. “A mí me parecía algo injusto”.

Las fotos profesionales de graduación de Genesis y Karen Callero.

La familia sintió que no había más opción que transferir a sus hijas. En cuestión de días Génesis y Karen se fueron de CASA.

Las adolescentes no eran las únicas. Según las entrevistas con las familias de seis estudiantes inmigrantes de CASA — todos ellos estudiantes senior que habían reprobado recientemente el examen ELA de Regents, según las familias y el personal — Wauchope les dijo recientemente a sus hijos que no se graduarían si permanecían en CASA y les aconsejó que se trasfirieran inmediatamente.

“Si él se queda, no se va a graduar”, le dijo a Chalkbeat en español la mamá de otro estudiante senior de 17 años en CASA, recordando lo que la principal le dijo. La mamá pidió permanecer en el anonimato porque teme poner en peligro un caso de inmigración activo.

Todas las familias han transferido a sus hijos de CASA, según las entrevistas y los expedientes escolares obtenidos por Chalkbeat.

Wauchope, que está en su primer año como principal de CASA, no respondió a las llamadas telefónicas ni a un email que le enviamos para pedir sus comentarios. La portavoz del Departamento de Educación, Chyann Tull, dijo: “Tomamos muy en serio las alegaciones de que algún estudiante haya sido presionado para transferirse de su escuela, y vamos a investigar todas las quejas formales cuando surjan. Todo estudiante tiene derecho a permanecer en su escuela hasta graduarse y a estar inmerso en un ambiente de aprendizaje que le apoye”. Tull no dijo inmediatamente si el departamento ha recibido quejas sobre CASA.

Tres empleados de la escuela, que hablaron de manera anónima por temor a represalias, sostienen que los estudiantes hubiesen podido graduarse en CASA con más tiempo. Los estudiantes inmigrantes con frecuencia no aprueban el examen ELA de Regents en el primer intento pero pueden aprobarlo con tiempo adicional y apoyo. Solo el 27% de los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés en la ciudad aprobaron el examen ELA de Regents en 2023, según los datos del estado. De conformidad con las leyes de Nueva York, los estudiantes pueden permanecer en la escuela hasta el año escolar que comiencen a los 21 años.

Los empleados sospechan que se presionó a los estudiantes a transferirse porque si no se graduaban este ano, eso perjudicaría la tasa de graduación en cuatro años de la escuela — una medida clave del rendimiento de los principales de escuela en la ciudad. La tasa de graduación en cuatro años de CASA en junio de 2023 fue de 75%, una tasa menor al promedio de la ciudad de 81%.

“Son nuestros mejores estudiantes. Vienen a la escuela todos los días, aprueban sus otros exámenes Regents”, dijo un empleado, añadiendo que algunos estudiantes no tienen hogar y no llevan mucho tiempo en el país. “Todo esto es porque no pueden aprobar sus exámenes Regents de inglés a tiempo. Presionarlos a transferirse... es vergonzoso”.

Los empleados dijeron que les preocupa que la situación continúe con los estudiantes que estén aprendiendo inglés como idioma nuevo en el futuro.

Annette Renaud, que ha sido madre activista por mucho tiempo, es ex presidente de la Asociación de Padres de CASA, y sigue participando en la escuela para apoyar a varios familiares que asisten allí, dijo que se acercó a algunas de las familias de los estudiantes inmigrantes después de que el personal le hablara de la situación. Espera que los estudiantes puedan volver a matricularse en CASA.

“No sé a cuántos médicos, abogados, supervisores de saneamiento, asistentes del hogar... hemos sacado por la puerta”.

Presiones de graduación sobre los administradores

Varios administradores escolares de toda la ciudad de Nueva York le dijeron a Chalkbeat que los principales de escuela superior con frecuencia enfrentan una intensa presión para mejorar sus tasas de graduación en cuatro años. Esa presión puede ser especialmente aguda para escuelas como CASA, que han absorbido un gran número de estudiantes inmigrantes recién llegados en medio del caudal de casi 36,000 estudiantes inmigrantes nuevos en los últimos dos años escolares.

La población de estudiantes de inglés (English Language Learners, ELL) de CASA aumentó de menos de 40 en 2018 a casi 100 de sus 300 estudiantes el año pasado, según los datos de la ciudad. Los estudiantes que están aprendiendo inglés a menudo tardan más en graduarse y el porcentaje de los que terminan la escuela superior en cuatro años es menor que el de sus compañeros.

Las hermanas Genesis Callero y Karen Callero.

En el caso de los ELL que empezaron la escuela superior en 2017, aproximadamente un 56% se graduaron en cuatro años, y un 67% en seis años.

Esto se compara con un 80% de todos los estudiantes de la clase de 2017 que se graduaron en cuatro años y un 87% en seis años.

En años recientes, “las escuelas que nunca habían tenido una alta población de estudiantes inmigrantes de repente las tenían, y el ajuste tuvo sus complicaciones”, dijo Liza Schwartzwald, Directora de Economic Justice and Family Empowerment en la New York Immigration Coalition, una organización de defensa.

Pero recalcó que “sigue siendo responsabilidad de la escuela” buscar de los muchos recursos disponibles para apoyar mejor a los estudiantes recién llegados.

Las alegaciones en CASA representan un “ejemplo atroz de la manera incorrecta de hacer este trabajo”, dijo ella.

Las escuelas tienen alternativas para ayudar a los estudiantes inmigrantes

Sin duda, algunos adolescentes mayores que todavía están aprendiendo inglés podrían beneficiarse de una escuela diseñada más específicamente para atender a estudiantes recién llegados de más edad, sobre todo si están en peligro de quedar fuera del sistema por su edad y tienen un retraso considerable en los créditos, dijeron educadores y defensores.

Pero esa no era la situación de los estudiantes a los que se les pidió transferirse de CASA, todos los cuales tenían 19 años o menos, habían aprobado al menos algunos de sus otros exámenes Regents, y habían acumulado todos o casi todos los créditos que necesitaban para graduarse, según el personal y las familias.

Los educadores dijeron que la escuela, que ha contratado a varios maestros de inglés como nuevo idioma en los últimos años, era más que capaz de guiar a los estudiantes a aprobar el examen ELA. Ellos solamente necesitaban un poco más de tiempo.

“Hubiésemos podido 100% lograr que obtuvieran la puntuación requerida en ese tiempo”, dijo un empleado de CASA. “No tengo ninguna duda”.

Las escuelas tienen otras vías para apoyar a los estudiantes inmigrantes que tienen dificultades con los exámenes ELA de Regents que no incluyen obligarlos a transferirse, dijo Rita Rodríguez-Engberg, Directora del Immigrant Students Rights Project de Advocates for Children, una organización sin fines de lucro que trabaja en nombre de los niños vulnerables.

Ellos pueden referir a los estudiantes a clases nocturnas adicionales en los Young Adult Borough Centers sin que tengan que cancelar su matrícula, y hay un proceso de apelación del examen ELA de Regents específico para los ELL que no aprueban el examen pero que logran una puntuación bastante cercana al límite de aprobación.

“Hay varias opciones”, dijo Rodríguez-Engberg. “Uno no le pide a un estudiante que se vaya”.

Las familias batallan con las consecuencias de ser transferidos

Los estudiantes inmigrantes que abandonaron CASA tenían diferentes historiales y perfiles académicos, pero todos estaban progresando en la escuela y ninguno quería irse de repente en la primavera de año senior, según las entrevistas con los estudiantes y sus familias y los expedientes que revisó Chalkbeat.

Uno de ellos, un joven de 17 años recién llegado de Venezuela, se ganó rápidamente la admiración del personal y los estudiantes desde que se matriculó el pasado otoño por su comportamiento alegre y su inspiradora historia, dijeron su familia y el personal. Su mamá pidió que no se usara su nombre porque la familia tiene un caso de inmigración abierto.

En su informe de notas más reciente, emitido en marzo alrededor de la fecha en que se fue de la escuela, obtuvo un promedio de 85% y comentarios de los maestros elogiando su “excelente progreso”, “participación constante” e “iniciativa”, según una copia revisada por Chalkbeat.

El adolescente relató su difícil experiencia como inmigrante en una película producida por estudiantes y transmitida en los televisores de la oficina principal y los pasillos de la escuela, según un vídeo visto por Chalkbeat.

La familia quedó devastada con la noticia de que él no podría seguir en la escuela.

Su mamá dijo que le preguntó a Wauchope sobre alternativas que le permitieran a su hijo permanecer en CASA, como matricularlo en clases nocturnas de inglés o esperar más para graduarse. Wauchope no cedió y la madre acordó transferir a su hijo.

“Yo sentí que fue algo malo que hicieron”, dijo. Pero en ese momento se sintió impotente. “A veces uno, por miedo, porque somos migrantes, nosotros no decimos que no, sino que hacemos lo que nos dicen”.

Eso no impidió que la mujer siguiera abogando por su hijo. Ella volvió a reunirse por segunda vez con Wauchope y le dijo a la principal que la decisión le parecía injusta, dijo.

También visitó un centro de matrícula y les pidió que volvieran a matricular a su hijo en CASA. La mamá cuenta que le dijeron que la escuela estaba llena y que no podían aceptar más estudiantes.

El niño estaba destrozado, pero le dijo a su mamá: “Si es para graduarme, bueno, no importa”.

Ahora está asistiendo a New Dawn, pero a menudo se pasa por CASA para saludar a sus compañeros y maestros.

“Me dolió mucho porque lo veo ahora y no quiere ir a clase”, dijo su mamá. “Se desestabilizó totalmente. Literalmente su mundo giró, total”.

La noticia fue igual de dura para Carolina, una senior guatemalteca de 19 años. Desde que llegó a CASA hace tres años, había progresado significativamente en aspectos académicos, sociales y de idioma.

La adolescente, que nos pidió que solo usáramos su segundo nombre por miedo a consecuencias por ser inmigrante, tuvo dificultades al principio para adaptarse a una escuela nueva y un país nuevo.

“Cuando pasaron los tiempos, me fui adaptando. Entiendo un poquito y hablo un poquito” de inglés, dijo.

La asistencia de Carolina había flaqueado este año, y todavía tenía que aprobar dos exámenes Regents, según la información de la transcripción académica compartida con Chalkbeat. Pero tenía esperanzas de graduarse pronto y pensaba solicitar admisión a la universidad o irse al ejército.

Cuando Wauchope le dijo a Carolina a finales de febrero que no podría graduarse en CASA y que se transfiriera, la adolescente se sintió abatida ante la idea de abandonar la escuela que había sido su hogar durante tres años.

Recuerda haber suplicado en la reunión, “no podría adaptarme en otra escuela o con otras personas”.

Ella y su mamá rogaron que le dieran oportunidad de quedarse en la escuela, prometiendo redoblar sus esfuerzos para aprobar el examen. Pero Wauchope se mantuvo firme, según la familia. (Un empleado de CASA señaló que la adolescente sigue técnicamente en la lista de estudiantes de CASA, probablemente porque nunca fue oficialmente dada de baja. Pero la mamá de Carolina dijo que ella no tenía conocimiento de eso.)

A pesar de sus reticencias, Carolina decidió finalmente darle una oportunidad a New Dawn.

Según la adolescente y su mamá, un viernes por la mañana del mes pasado se dirigió a la escuela, que está más lejos de lo que está acostumbrada, y cuando llegó las clases ya habían empezado. Aunque Sara Asmussen, fundadora y directora ejecutiva de New Dawn, dijo que la escuela “acepta estudiantes todo el año sin ningún requisito de admisión”, Carolina dijo que el personal de la escuela le pidió, en inglés, que regresara el lunes.

Carolina nunca volvió. Desde entonces no ha vuelto a esa escuela, ni a ninguna otra.

Traducido por Milly Suazo-Martinez

Michael Elsen-Rooney es reportero de Chalkbeat New York y cubre reportajes sobre las escuelas públicas de Nueva York. Para comunicarte con Michael, envíale un email a melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Lost in translation: Migrant kids struggle in segregated Chicago schools

2024-05-21T11:00:00+00:00

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This story was reported and published in collaboration with Block Club Chicago. Sign up for their newsletters here.

Leer en español.

Gabriela Aquino Ruiz relies on a translation app to learn, but some of her teachers talk so fast in English, the software can’t keep up.

The soft-spoken 12-year-old, who speaks only Spanish, loves to read, but her school — Isabelle C. O’Keeffe School on Chicago’s South Side — doesn’t have books in her native language, and she’s struggling to make friends, she said.

Gabriela misses her school in Venezuela, where she and her family emigrated from in October.

“I want to learn,” she said in Spanish through a translator. “I feel frustrated when I get home.”

Gabriela is one of nearly 9,000 migrant students enrolled in Chicago Public Schools as of April. Many of those students are leaving shelters and finding housing that provides them much needed stability.

Gabriela’s family moved from a shelter in Little Village to an apartment in South Shore, the top neighborhood where families have resettled in Chicago through a state program that helps cover their rent, according to data obtained by Chalkbeat and Block Club Chicago through a Freedom of Information Act request.

But the promise of housing comes with a cost: Families are moving to more affordable neighborhoods that also are some of the city’s most segregated. As a result, students are landing in schools with little to no bilingual staff or support, according to data obtained through open records requests and more than 50 interviews with families, teachers and experts.

That has resulted in some students falling further behind in their studies, custodians taking on translation roles, and school leaders struggling to comply with a state requirement that they provide bilingual education if student enrollment meets certain thresholds.

The surge of new students, many of whom fled political and economic turmoil in Central and South American countries, is exposing the cracks in a school system that has for years struggled to fully comply with state and federal laws around bilingual education.

Even before buses carrying migrants began arriving in waves from Texas in 2022, Chicago’s public schools failed to fully comply with multiple internal and state audits related to bilingual instruction, documents show.

CPS schools that already had bilingual programs have fallen short of a range of requirements, such as providing bilingual instruction in core subjects to all students who need it, having properly certified teachers, and teaching students about their native country and culture. Now, a crop of additional schools that have enrolled waves of migrant students need to bolster staff.

“We are very concerned about those language deserts in the city … where there are no English learner services,” said Karime Asaf, the chief of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education, which oversees instruction for English learners.

As of March, at least 72 K-12 schools across the district had vacancies for bilingual staff or teachers certified to teach English as a new language, at least a quarter of which are in the top 10 neighborhoods where asylum-seeking families are moving.

District officials said creating bilingual programs and complying with audits require finding properly certified teachers, which has been a nationwide challenge. They pointed to newer efforts, such as recruiting existing CPS students to become teachers, but added that CPS needs more funding.

“There is always a need for additional support and improvements in the process, and we are working to secure more funding from the state and federal governments to support all of our students,” said CPS spokesperson Sylvia Barragan.

Asked why the district and city are still struggling to provide support to migrant students, Mayor Brandon Johnson told Chalkbeat and Block Club that asylum-seeking families are settling in “neighborhoods that have been historically disinvested,” which puts “pressure on that system that is already weighted,” referring to neighborhood schools that he believes lack adequate resources.

As a former middle school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson has called for investing more money in neighborhood schools.

Students at Erie Elementary Charter School in Humboldt Park.

In response to the rapid arrival of migrant students over the past two years, CPS opened a “welcome center” at Roberto Clemente High School and is working with the city and shelter staff to help families with school enrollment, officials said. The district is also trying to attract more bilingual educators and is prioritizing extra support for schools that have traditionally not served English learners, officials said.

But teachers say the district’s efforts haven’t translated into more resources on the ground, and migrant kids are missing out on vital instruction. At Laura S. Ward Elementary School on the West Side, which has gained dozens of English learners, a kindergarten teacher and two custodians are translating for the whole building.

“They were dropped at our doorstep, and we’re supposed to keep it moving, accept these children, educate them and keep it moving,” said Dewanda Watt, first grade teacher at Ward, one of dozens of schools CPS identified as lacking enough staff for English learners.

“There should’ve been a plan. There was no plan from Chicago Public Schools.”

Migrant families resettle on South and West sides

Like many migrants, Gabriela and her family left Venezuela for Chicago in October to escape the country’s socioeconomic and political turmoil, said Gabriela’s mother, Yennifer Ruiz.

The family lived in the Englewood Police District station for a few months before moving into a shelter in Little Village, a historically Mexican neighborhood. Ruiz enrolled her son and daughter in schools with Spanish-speaking staff: Eli Whitney Elementary School and Richards Career Academy.

But when the family moved about 13 miles southeast to an apartment in South Shore, Ruiz decided to switch her daughter to O’Keeffe, a mostly Black, low-income school that lacks bilingual resources but was close to home.

Like the Ruizes, one in 10 families seeking asylum have landed in the South Shore area through a state resettlement program called the Asylum Seeker Emergency Rental Assistance Program, according to data obtained by Block Club and Chalkbeat.

Gabriela Aquino Ruiz, 12, getting ready for school. Gabriela goes to Isabelle C. O’Keeffe School in South Shore, near where her mom got an apartment through a state rental assistance program.

Run by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and the Illinois Department of Human Services in partnership with Catholic Charities, the rental assistance program covers three months of rent for people migrating from the southern border who are seeking asylum and arrived in the city’s shelters before Nov. 17, 2023. It is the city’s main strategy to get families into permanent housing once they leave shelters.

Data show nearly 60% of the roughly 5,000 families using the program to resettle in Chicago are finding housing in predominantly Black, low-income communities on the South and West sides — historically neglected neighborhoods with schools that don’t serve many English language learners and often don’t have staff certified to teach those students.

Through the state program, families can choose where to live, and “ultimately, low rental cost is what drives selection,” said Daisy Contreras, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Human Services.

State law requires schools to launch bilingual programs — instruction in English and a child’s native language — when they enroll 20 or more English learners who speak the same native language. Schools must also teach students about their native country’s history and culture.

But as families leave shelters and find housing in relatively cheap, segregated neighborhoods, they’re encountering segregated schools that suffer from years of declining enrollment and inadequate resources, much less fully-staffed bilingual programs.

This was the case for Nathaly Garcia when she recently moved out of a downtown shelter to a three-bedroom apartment in South Shore with rent covered by the state program. Her 11-year-old son, Santiago, had enrolled at Ogden International School in the Gold Coast and moving meant their commute time would triple.

But Garcia didn’t want to enroll her son in the school near the new apartment because she had heard bad things about it and felt the school’s reading and math test scores were not high enough, she said.

Venezuelan migrant Nathaly Garcia cooks eggs in her South Shore apartment. Like Ruiz, Garcia got an apartment through a state program. But instead of sending her kids to schools nearby, she opted to keep her children at schools near their old shelter.

Even after families leave shelters, their children are legally entitled to stay in the school where they originally enrolled because the district’s guidelines classify those students as homeless, providing them with certain federal protections.

So Garcia and her son now take two buses an hour and a half each way to continue at Ogden. Garcia said no one told them they could apply for yellow bus service.

In Yennifer Ruiz’s case, no one explained that her daughter had a legal right to stay at Eli Whitney, the school the girl went to when they lived in the Little Village shelter, she said. In fact, when Ruiz showed Eli Whitney staff where she was moving, they said she would be “too far” outside of the attendance boundaries, she said.

District officials said they help families enroll in or transfer to other schools that are not in their neighborhood, but may have better resources, such as bilingual programs. Asaf said migrant families, like all Chicago families, can choose where to send their children to school.

“They’re individual, independent residents of the city,” Asaf said, adding that the district gets in touch with principals “the moment we hear school calls for support.”

O’Keeffe’s principal has requested help from the district, and Gabriela has recently started learning English through an after-school program, Ruiz said.

The school district spokesperson said O’Keeffe recently enrolled enough English learners to warrant a bilingual program, and the school has been approved to hire a part-time teacher to work with those students.

Still, Yennifer Ruiz is saving up so the family can move out of the neighborhood and closer to a school that better serves her daughter, she said.

‘We have to build a program from the bottom up’

Ward Elementary School is in West Humboldt Park, a neighborhood that has affordable housing and sees a high number of drug and gun crimes. Nearly all of the school’s students are Black and come from low-income families.

Data show nearly 140 families have resettled in the Humboldt Park area through the state program.

After years of declining enrollment, Ward’s numbers stabilized this school year as migrant families found apartments near the school, said Watt, the school’s first-grade teacher.

Watt now has nine new students from Venezuela and Ecuador. But like other adults at Ward, she doesn’t speak Spanish. The elementary school has dozens of English learners, but no bilingual teachers or bilingual program, according to Watt and preliminary enrollment data.

It’s an “overwhelming” predicament, Watt said. Before this year, Watt, a teacher for 25 years, had never taught non-English-speaking students.

Laura S. Ward Elementary School, 646 N. Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park on May 13, 2024.

A CPS audit of Ward last April found the school, which had about 20 English learners at the time, wasn’t providing required instruction to all kids learning English and lacked enough certified staff, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat and Block Club.

Ward is one of 72 K-12 schools CPS identified with vacancies for staff certified to teach ESL or bilingual classes as of April, according to district data. That excludes the district’s Virtual Academy. An ESL certification doesn’t mean the teacher speaks another language — just that they’re certified to teach ESL classes.

Those schools have seen the number of English language learners increase by an average of more than 40% this school year, according to a Chalkbeat and Block Club analysis of preliminary enrollment data.

Earlier this year, Ward enrolled enough English language learners to warrant a bilingual program and is now working to establish one, according to a district spokesperson. The school was approved in October to hire a part-time teacher position to work with English learners and can hire for a full-time position next year now that the school has enrolled more than 50 English learners, a CPS spokesperson said.

Currently at Ward, Watt and other teachers rely on Spanish-speaking staff who don’t have bilingual credentials — the kindergarten teacher and two custodians — to help them communicate with migrant students and families seeking help with school applications.

For a while, the kindergarten teacher was getting pulled out of her classroom up to five times a day to translate, she said. The district gave teachers translation devices, but Ward teachers said they don’t always function properly and are not a substitute for speaking the language.

The kindergarten teacher, who did not want to be identified because she wasn’t authorized to speak to the press, said she’s torn between her teaching responsibilities and her unofficial job as school translator. Watt said some of her migrant students are progressing academically, but others are struggling to understand their classwork and learn English.

“Some [teachers] are in schools where the [bilingual] program is already up and running; they’re just continuing on. As opposed to us, where we have to build a program from the bottom up,” the kindergarten teacher said.

Asaf, the head of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education, said CPS has been opening teaching positions for schools that are enrolling many more English learners. She acknowledged that help may not come right away, and it takes time to build bilingual programs.

“It’s not always easy and it’s not always immediate and it’s not always fast,” Asaf said. “This is a big district, and we are constantly paying attention to the number of [English learners] we have.”

A history of failing bilingual students

This is not the first time Chicago has been under scrutiny for how it serves students learning English.

In 1980, a federal consent decree forced CPS to come up with a plan to desegregate schools and to ensure English language learners were receiving an adequate amount of support. The decree had to be updated twice, in part because the district was failing to provide enough staffing and materials for English learners.

Schools are responsible for screening their students to determine which of them are learning English as a new language. Those students are legally entitled to additional support, such as specialized English instruction.

In addition to state requirements for bilingual programs, schools with 19 or fewer English language learners must have a program known as Transitional Point of Instruction, which teaches students in English. It’s not clear how many CPS schools are now required to have bilingual programs but don’t have them yet.

A classroom at Erie Elementary Charter School in Humboldt Park. Erie is one of 43 dual-language schools across the city, which means it offers English learners and native English speakers instruction in Spanish and English.

Segregation can play a large role in whether schools have bilingual support for students.

Chicago’s immigrants have always settled in neighborhoods with people who share their ethnicity or native language, said Jim Lewis, senior research specialist for Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has studied segregation.

But some of Chicago’s recent Latin American newcomers, such as Venezuelans, do not have enclaves, Lewis said. Also, many historically Latino neighborhoods have become unaffordable for families who don’t have a stable income, potentially driving today’s newcomers to segregated neighborhoods that have been long ignored.

To get an apartment under the state program, families have to find a landlord who will participate in the program or get matched with one through Catholic Charities. The only stipulation is rent must be affordable, said Catholic Charities spokeswoman Emily Dagostino.

Catholic Charities is not involved in the school enrollment process, Dagostino said.

District officials said CPS works with the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, shelters and principals to help families enroll in school, and Asaf, the head of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education, emphasized that families have options.

But the district’s practice of helping families enroll in schools outside their neighborhoods doesn’t “follow the spirit” of what CPS says it aims to provide: equal access to quality neighborhood schools, said Jesse Ruiz, former interim CPS CEO and Chicago Board of Education vice president.

Santiago Orozco, 11, attends Ogden International School in the Gold Coast, an hour and a half away from his family’s South Shore apartment. Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Ruiz led the charge to audit all of the district’s bilingual and ESL programs in 2015. That school year, 71% of schools audited were in serious violation of state requirements for bilingual education, the Chicago Reporter found at the time.

The issues have persisted.

During the 2021 school year — before buses from Texas began arriving — the Illinois State Board of Education put CPS on what’s called a “corrective action plan” after officials determined the district was out of compliance with bilingual education requirements, said Lindsay Record, a spokesperson for the board.

In a follow-up visit last year, the state found several improvements. But the district still failed to have bilingual programs at all schools that were supposed to have them, as well as enough certified teachers, according to corrective action plan documents.

Ruiz, also a former chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, said he understands why under-resourced schools haven’t had bilingual programs if they didn’t historically serve English learners.

“But now they have these students, and that’s what the law says, that you have to provide bilingual education services to those students,” Ruiz said. “The district is going to have to provide those resources.”

‘It was a long journey’

Maria, a Venezuelan migrant who came to Chicago last summer, moved from a downtown shelter this February to an apartment in South Shore through the state’s rental assistance program. Block Club and Chalkbeat are using a pseudonym for Maria out of concerns for her family’s safety.

After the move, the family struggled to enroll their 8-year-old daughter in school. The first school noted that it lacked bilingual staff, and they were turned away from a second school for living outside of attendance boundaries, Maria said.

Desperate for another option, Maria’s family sought help from the Welcome Center at Clemente High School, where a staffer directed them to Erie Elementary Charter School, a dual-language school in Humboldt Park 90 minutes away via public transit from their South Shore apartment.

The long commute to Erie wasn’t easy, but Maria said it was worth it because her daughter was learning more English and “engaging in conversations.” Her daughter left Erie recently when the family moved to the suburbs.

Many of Erie’s 49 newcomer students are coming from all over the city, said Carlos Perez, the school’s executive director.

A class at Erie Elementary Charter School in Humboldt Park, a school that has nearly 50 newcomer students.

Erie is better-equipped than other schools to serve native Spanish speakers learning English. As one of 43 dual-language schools in the city, Erie teaches English learners and native English speakers in Spanish and English. Eight of Erie’s teachers are from Latin American countries, Perez said.

“It was a long journey that a lot of them have gone through to get to us. This was their target: to bring their kids to a school in America ... There’s a weight and responsibility that comes with it,” Perez said.

Even with those resources, teachers face big challenges. Most migrant students come to Erie more than two grade levels behind, and some haven’t attended formal school for up to two years, Perez said. In 2022, Erie was out of compliance with bilingual and ESL program requirements, according to the school’s most recent CPS audit.

Multiple principals questioned whether the audits are effective. Perez said one teacher who they consider effective is not certified to teach English learners — one reason the school is out of compliance.

“Are we aiming for compliance, or are we aiming to get good people in front of students who can educate them?” Perez said. “Oftentimes, those are not interchangeable things.”

According to CPS, it has about 7,500 teachers who are certified to teach bilingual classes, ESL or both — a figure that has grown in recent years. Many teachers certified to teach those classes are in regular teaching positions, a spokesperson said.

District officials said they’ve tried to attract more bilingual teachers by subsidizing the cost of earning bilingual or ESL endorsements and extending early job offers to teachers who are completing their requirements. But it’s difficult to fill teaching positions midway through the year, said Ben Felton, the district’s chief talent officer.

Felton said “we simply don’t have the talent” for every school to have big bilingual programs “because historically there haven’t been as many bilingual students in these schools.”

One child is thriving, another is ‘just stuck’

While Yennifer Ruiz switched Gabriela’s school after moving to South Shore, she opted to keep her 16-year-old son, Gabriel, at Richards Career Academy, which has a bilingual program.

After just five months in Chicago, Ruiz said she has seen how those bilingual resources have helped Gabriel thrive — he is rapidly learning English and even joined the school’s baseball team — and how the lack of services has left Gabriela feeling lost at school.

Gabriela wishes she could go back to Eli Whitney, where she liked being able to communicate with her teachers and other kids, she said.

“I feel really bad because all the objective of moving here was to get quality of life,” Ruiz said in Spanish through a translator. “I know how my son is getting to his maximum potential, but she is just stuck.”

Interviews with Spanish- speakers were conducted with translation help from Yoha Salmeron Chaparro, an intern at the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Accompaniment at Loyola University, and Alex Hernandez, a reporter for Block Club Chicago.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mina Bloom is an investigative reporter for Block Club Chicago. Contact Mina at mina@blockclubchi.org.

Perdidos en la traducción: Los niños migrantes luchan en las escuelas segregadas de Chicago

2024-05-21T11:00:00+00:00

Read in English.

Este reportaje se ha redactado y publicado en colaboración con Block Club Chicago. Suscríbete a sus boletines aquí.

Gabriela Aquino Ruiz depende de una aplicación de traducción para aprender, pero algunas de sus maestras hablan tan rápido en inglés que el software no puede seguir el ritmo.

La niña de 12 años, de voz tenue, que sólo habla español, adora leer, pero en su escuela - la escuela Isabelle C. O’Keeffe en el South Side de Chicago - no hay libros en su lengua natal, y tiene dificultades para hacer amigos, ella dijo.

Gabriela extraña su escuela en Venezuela, de donde ella y su familia emigraron en octubre.

“Quiero aprender”, dice en español a través de un traductor. “Me siento frustrada cuando llego a casa.”

Gabriela es una de los casi 9.000 estudiantes migrantes matriculados en las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago hasta el mes de abril. Muchos de estos estudiantes están dejando los refugios y encontrando una vivienda que les proporciona la estabilidad que tanto necesitan.

Su familia se mudó de un refugio en Little Village a un apartamento en South Shore, el barrio donde más familias se han reubicado en Chicago a través de un programa estatal que les ayuda a cubrir la renta, según datos obtenidos por Chalkbeat y Block Club Chicago a través de una solicitud amparada por la Ley de Libertad de Información.

Pero la promesa de la vivienda tiene un precio: Las familias se están mudando a barrios más asequibles que también son algunos de los más segregados de la ciudad. Como resultado, los estudiantes están llegando a escuelas con poco o nada de personal bilingüe o de apoyo, según los datos obtenidos a través de solicitudes de registros públicos y más de 50 entrevistas con familias, profesores y expertos.

Esto ha provocado que algunos alumnos se retrasen aún más en sus estudios, que los conserjes asuman roles de traductores y que los líderes escolares se enfrenten a dificultades para cumplir el requisito estatal de impartir educación bilingüe si la matriculación de alumnos alcanza determinados umbrales.

El aumento de nuevos estudiantes, muchos de los cuales huyeron de la agitación política y económica en países de América Central y del Sur, está exponiendo las grietas en un sistema escolar que durante años ha luchado por cumplir plenamente con las leyes estatales y federales en torno a la educación bilingüe.

Incluso antes de que los autobuses con migrantes comenzaron a llegar en oleadas de Texas en 2022, las escuelas públicas de Chicago no cumplieron plenamente en múltiples auditorías internas y estatales relacionadas con la enseñanza bilingüe, muestran los documentos.

Las escuelas de CPS que ya tenían programas bilingües no han logrado cumplir una serie de requisitos, como proporcionar enseñanza bilingüe en las materias básicas a todos los estudiantes que la necesitan, tener maestros adecuadamente certificados y enseñar a los estudiantes sobre su país de origen y su cultura. Ahora, un número de escuelas adicionales que han matriculado oleadas de estudiantes migrantes necesitan reforzar su personal.

“Nos preocupan mucho los desiertos lingüísticos de la ciudad … donde no hay servicios para los estudiantes que aprenden inglés”, dijo Karime Asaf, jefa de la Oficina de Educación Lingüística y Cultural del distrito, que supervisa la instrucción para los estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

Hasta el mes de marzo, al menos 72 escuelas de kindergarten a 12º grado del distrito tenían vacantes para personal bilingüe o maestros certificados para enseñar inglés como nueva lengua, al menos una cuarta parte de las cuales se encuentran en los 10 vecindarios principales a los que se están mudando las familias solicitantes de asilo.

Los funcionarios del distrito dijeron que la creación de programas bilingües y el cumplimiento de las auditorías requieren encontrar maestros debidamente certificados, lo cual ha sido un reto a nivel nacional. Destacaron esfuerzos más recientes, como el reclutamiento de estudiantes actuales de CPS para convertirse en maestros, pero agregaron que CPS necesita más fondos.

“Siempre hay una necesidad de apoyo adicional y mejoras en el proceso y estamos trabajando para asegurar más fondos de los gobiernos estatales y federales para apoyar a todos nuestros estudiantes”, dijo Sylvia Barragán, portavoz de CPS.

Cuando se le preguntó por qué el distrito y la ciudad siguen con dificultades para proporcionar apoyo a los estudiantes migrantes, el alcalde Brandon Johnson dijo a Chalkbeat y Block Club que las familias solicitantes de asilo se están asentando en “vecindarios en los cuales históricamente no se ha invertido”, lo que ejerce “presión sobre ese sistema que ya está sobrecargado”, refiriéndose a las escuelas de los vecindarios que, en su opinión, carecen de los recursos adecuados.

Como ex maestro de escuela intermedia y ex organizador del Sindicato de Maestros de Chicago, la plataforma educativa de Johnson incluye invertir más dinero en las escuelas de los vecindarios.

Alumnos de la Escuela Primaria Chárter Erie, en Humboldt Park.

Ante la rápida llegada de estudiantes migrantes en los últimos dos años, CPS abrió un “centro de bienvenida” en la escuela secundaria Roberto Clemente y está trabajando con la ciudad y el personal de los refugios para ayudar a las familias con la matriculación escolar, dijeron los funcionarios. El distrito también está tratando de atraer a más educadores bilingües y está priorizando el apoyo adicional para las escuelas que tradicionalmente no han trabajado con estudiantes que aprenden inglés, dijeron los funcionarios.

Pero los maestros dicen que los esfuerzos del distrito no se han plasmado en más recursos concretos, y los niños migrantes se están quedando sin una instrucción vital. En la escuela primaria Laura S. Ward, en el West Side, que ha incorporado a docenas de estudiantes que aprenden inglés, una maestra de kindergarten y dos conserjes traducen para todo el colegio.

“Los dejaron en nuestra puerta, y se supone que debemos seguir adelante, aceptar a estos niños, educarlos y seguir adelante”, dijo Dewanda Watt, maestra de primer grado en Ward, una de las docenas de escuelas que CPS identificó como carentes de suficiente personal para los estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

“Debería haber habido un plan. No hubo ningún plan por parte de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago”.

Familias migrantes se reasientan en el South y el West Side

Como muchos migrantes, Gabriela y su familia se marcharon de Venezuela a Chicago en octubre para escapar de la agitación socioeconómica y política del país, dijo la madre de Gabriela, Yennifer Ruiz.

La familia vivió en la Comisaría del Distrito de Englewood durante unos meses antes de mudarse a un refugio de Little Village, un barrio históricamente mexicano. Ruiz matriculó a su hijo e hija en escuelas con un personal hispanohablante: la escuela primaria Eli Whitney y la Academia de Carreras Richards.

Pero cuando la familia se mudó a unas 13 millas al sureste, a un apartamento en South Shore, Ruiz decidió cambiar a su hija a la escuela O’Keeffe, una escuela predominantemente negra y de bajos ingresos que carece de recursos bilingües pero que estaba cerca de su hogar.

Al igual que los Ruiz, una de cada 10 familias solicitantes de asilo ha llegado a South Shore a través de un programa estatal de asentamiento llamado Asylum Seeker Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ASERAP), según datos obtenidos por Block Club y Chalkbeat.

Gabriela Aquino Ruiz, de 12 años, se prepara para ir a la escuela. Gabriela va a la escuela Isabelle C. O'Keeffe en South Shore, cerca de donde su madre consiguió un apartamento a través de un programa estatal de ayuda para cubrir la renta.

Dirigido por el Illinois Housing Development Authority y el Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Illinois en colaboración con Caridades Católicas, el programa de ayuda para la renta cubre tres meses de renta para las personas que emigran desde la frontera del sur en busca de asilo y que llegaron a los refugios de la ciudad antes del 17 de noviembre de 2023. La estrategia fundamental de la ciudad es conseguir que las familias consigan una vivienda permanente una vez que han dejado los refugios.

Los datos muestran que casi el 60% de las aproximadamente 5.000 familias que utilizan el programa para asentarse en Chicago están encontrando viviendas en comunidades predominantemente negras, de bajos ingresos en el South y West Side, vecindarios históricamente abandonados con escuelas que no tienen muchos estudiantes que aprenden inglés y que a menudo no cuentan con personal certificado para educar a esos estudiantes.

A través del programa estatal, las familias pueden escoger dónde vivir, y “en definitiva, el bajo costo de la renta es lo que determina la decisión”, dijo Daisy Contreras, portavoz del Departamento de Servicios Humanos de Illinois.

Las leyes estatales obligan a las escuelas a poner en marcha programas bilingües — educación en inglés y en la lengua natal del niño — cuando matriculan a 20 o más estudiantes que aprenden inglés que hablan la misma lengua natal. Las escuelas también deben enseñar a los alumnos la historia y la cultura de su país de origen.

Pero a medida que las familias se van de los refugios y encuentran un hogar en vecindarios segregados y relativamente baratos, se encuentran con escuelas segregadas que llevan años sufriendo un descenso del número de alumnos matriculados y recursos poco suficientes, y mucho menos programas bilingües con todo el personal necesario.

Este fue el caso de Nathaly García cuando recientemente se mudó de un refugio en el centro a un apartamento de tres habitaciones en South Shore con la renta cubierta por el programa estatal. Su hijo de 11 años, Santiago, estaba matriculado en la Escuela Internacional Ogden en Gold Coast, y la mudanza implicaba triplicar el tiempo de viaje a la escuela.

Pero García no quería matricular a su hijo en la escuela que estaba cerca del nuevo apartamento porque había escuchado cosas negativas sobre la escuela y creía que las puntuaciones de las pruebas de lectura y matemáticas no eran lo suficientemente altas, ella dijo.

La inmigrante venezolana Nathaly García prepara huevos en su apartamento de South Shore. Al igual que Ruiz, García consiguió un apartamento a través de un programa estatal. Pero en vez de enviar a sus hijos a las escuelas más cercanas, optó por mantenerlos en las escuelas cercanas a su refugio previo.

Incluso después de que las familias se van de los refugios, sus hijos tienen derecho legal a permanecer en la escuela en la que se matricularon originalmente porque las directrices del distrito clasifican a los estudiantes inmigrantes como personas sin hogar, lo que les proporciona ciertas protecciones federales.

Por consiguiente, García y su hijo toman ahora dos autobuses de hora y media de ida y vuelta para continuar yendo a Ogden. García dijo que nadie les dijo que podían solicitar el servicio del autobús amarillo.

En el caso de Yennifer Ruiz, nadie le explicó que su hija tenía derecho legal a quedarse en Eli Whitney, la escuela a la que iba su hija cuando vivían en el refugio de Little Village, ella dijo. De hecho, cuando Ruiz le mostró al personal de Eli Whitney a dónde se iba a mudar, le dijeron que estaría “demasiado lejos” fuera de los límites de asistencia, ella dijo.

Los funcionarios del distrito dijeron que ayudan a familias a matricularse o transferirse a otras escuelas que no están en su vecindario, pero que pueden tener mejores recursos, como programas bilingües. Asaf dijo que las familias migrantes, como todas las familias de Chicago, pueden elegir dónde enviar a sus hijos a la escuela.

“Son residentes individuales e independientes de la ciudad”, dijo Asaf, y añadió que el distrito se pone en contacto con los directores “en el momento en que oímos llamadas de la escuela pidiendo apoyo”.

El director de O’Keeffe ha solicitado ayuda al distrito, y Gabriela ha comenzado recientemente a aprender inglés a través de un programa extracurricular, dijo Ruiz.

El portavoz del distrito escolar dijo que O’Keeffe recientemente matriculó suficientes estudiantes que aprenden inglés para justificar un programa bilingüe y la escuela ha sido aprobada para contratar a un maestro a medio tiempo para trabajar con esos estudiantes.

No obstante, Yennifer Ruiz está ahorrando para que su familia pueda mudarse del barrio y estar más cerca de una escuela que asista mejor a su hija, ella dijo.

‘Tenemos que construir un programa de cero’

La escuela primaria Ward está en West Humboldt Park, un vecindario con viviendas asequibles y un gran índice de delitos de drogas y armas de fuego. Casi todos los alumnos de la escuela son negros y proceden de familias con bajos ingresos.

Los datos muestran que casi 140 familias se han asentado en la zona de Humboldt Park a través del programa estatal.

Después de años de disminución en las matriculaciones, las cifras de Ward se estabilizaron este año escolar, ya que las familias inmigrantes encontraron apartamentos cerca de la escuela, dijo Watt, la maestra de primer grado de la escuela.

Watt ahora tiene nueve nuevos alumnos de Venezuela y Ecuador. Pero al igual que otros adultos en Ward, ella no habla español. La escuela primaria tiene docenas de estudiantes que aprenden inglés, pero no tiene ni maestros bilingües ni un programa bilingüe, según Watt y los datos preliminares de matriculación.

Es un predicamento “abrumador”, dijo Watt. Antes de este año, Watt, que lleva 25 años ejerciendo como maestra, nunca había dado clase a alumnos que no hablan inglés.

La escuela primaria Laura S. Ward en West Humboldt Park es una de las docenas de escuelas públicas con vacantes de maestros bilingües y de ESL, según el distrito.

Una auditoría del CPS de Ward en el mes de abril determinó que la escuela, que tenía alrededor de 20 estudiantes que estaban aprendiendo inglés en ese momento, no estaba proporcionando la instrucción requerida a todos los niños que estaban aprendiendo inglés y carecía de suficiente personal certificado, según documentos obtenidos por Chalkbeat y Block Club.

Ward es una de 72 escuelas de kindergarten a 12º grado identificadas por CPS con vacantes de personal certificado para enseñar ESL o clases bilingües según datos del distrito hasta el pasado abril. Eso excluye la Academia Virtual del distrito. Una certificación de ESL no significa que el maestro habla otro idioma — sólo que están certificados para enseñar clases de ESL.

Esas escuelas han visto el número de estudiantes que aprenden inglés aumentar en un promedio de más del 40 por ciento en lo que va del año escolar, según un análisis de Chalkbeat y Block Club de los datos preliminares de matriculación.

A principios de este año, Ward matriculó a suficientes estudiantes que aprenden inglés para justificar un programa bilingüe y ahora está trabajando para establecer uno, según un portavoz del distrito. La escuela fue aprobada en octubre para contratar una posición de maestro de medio tiempo para trabajar con estudiantes que aprenden inglés y puede emplear a una persona de tiempo completo el año entrante ahora que la escuela ha matriculado a más de 50 estudiantes que aprenden inglés, dijo un portavoz de CPS.

En Ward, Watt y otros maestros dependen del personal hispanohablante que no tiene credenciales bilingües — la maestra de kindergarten y dos conserjes — para ayudarles a comunicarse con los estudiantes migrantes y las familias que buscan ayuda con las matrículas escolares.

Desde hace algún tiempo, la maestra de kindergarten tenía que ausentarse de su clase hasta cinco veces al día para traducir, ella dijo. El distrito proporcionó a los maestros dispositivos de traducción, pero los maestros de Ward afirman que no siempre funcionan adecuadamente y que no sustituyen el hecho de hablar el idioma.

La maestra de kindergarten, que no quiso ser identificada porque no estaba autorizada a hablar con la prensa, dijo que está dividida entre sus responsabilidades como maestra y su trabajo no oficial como traductora de la escuela. Watt dijo que algunos de sus alumnos migrantes progresan académicamente, pero otros tienen dificultades para entender sus trabajos de clase y aprender inglés.

“Algunos [maestros] están en escuelas en donde ya está en marcha el programa [bilingüe]; simplemente lo están continuando. A diferencia de nosotros, que tenemos que construir un programa de cero”, dijo la maestra de kindergarten.

Asaf, directora de la Oficina de Educación Lingüística y Cultural del distrito, dijo que CPS ha estado creando puestos de maestros para las escuelas que están matriculando a muchos más estudiantes que aprenden inglés. Reconoció que la ayuda puede no llegar de inmediato, y se necesita tiempo para construir programas bilingües.

“No es siempre fácil y no es siempre inmediato y no siempre es rápido”, dijo Asaf. “Este es un distrito grande, y estamos constantemente pendientes del número de [estudiantes que aprenden inglés] que tenemos”.

Una historia de alumnos bilingües que reprueban

Esta no es la primera vez que Chicago ha estado bajo escrutinio por la manera en que se ocupa de los estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

En 1980, un decreto federal de consentimiento obligó a CPS a elaborar un plan para eliminar la segregación en las escuelas y garantizar que los estudiantes que aprenden inglés recibieran el apoyo necesario. El decreto tuvo que ser modificado dos veces, en parte porque el distrito no proporcionaba suficiente personal y materiales para los estudiantes que aprenden inglés.

Las escuelas son responsables de examinar a sus alumnos para determinar cuáles de ellos están aprendiendo inglés como un nuevo idioma. Esos alumnos tienen derecho por ley a recibir apoyo adicional, como instrucción especializada en inglés.

Además de los requisitos estatales para los programas bilingües, las escuelas con 19 o menos estudiantes que aprenden inglés deben tener un programa conocido como Punto de Instrucción Transicional, que se les enseña a los estudiantes en inglés. No está claro cuántas escuelas de CPS están ahora obligadas a tener programas bilingües, pero aún no los tienen.

Un aula de la escuela primaria Charter Erie, en Humboldt Park. Erie es una de las 43 escuelas con enseñanza bilingüe de la ciudad, lo que significa que proporciona a los estudiantes que aprenden inglés y a los angloparlantes nativos instrucción en español e inglés.

La segregación puede tener mucho que ver a la hora de decidir si las escuelas cuentan con apoyo bilingüe para los alumnos.

Los inmigrantes de Chicago siempre se han establecido en barrios con personas que comparten su origen étnico o su lengua natal, dijo Jim Lewis, especialista senior en investigación del Great Cities Institute de la Universidad de Illinois en Chicago, que ha estudiado la segregación.

Pero algunos de los latinoamericanos recién llegados a Chicago, como los venezolanos, no tienen enclaves, dijo Lewis. Además, muchos vecindarios históricamente latinos se han vuelto inasequibles para familias que no disponen de ingresos estables, lo que puede llevar a los recién llegados de hoy a vecindarios segregados que han sido ignorados durante mucho tiempo.

Para obtener un apartamento según el programa estatal, las familias tienen que encontrar un propietario que participe en el programa o se les asigna uno a través de Caridades Católicas. La única condición es que la renta debe ser asequible, dijo la portavoz de Caridades Católicas Emily Dagostino.

Caridades Católicas no está involucrada en el proceso de matriculación escolar, dijo Dagostino.

Funcionarios del distrito dijeron que CPS trabaja con el Departamento de Familia y Servicios de Apoyo de la ciudad, los refugios y los directores para ayudar a las familias a matricularse en la escuela, y Asaf, jefe de la Oficina de Lenguaje y Educación Cultural del distrito, hizo hincapié en que las familias tienen opciones.

Pero la práctica del distrito de ayudar a las familias a matricularse en la escuela fuera de sus vecindarios no “sigue el propósito” de lo que CPS dice que pretende ofrecer: igualdad de acceso a las escuelas de calidad del vecindario, dijo Jesse Ruiz, ex director general interino de CPS y vicepresidente de la Junta de Educación de Chicago.

Santiago Orozco, 11, asiste a la Escuela Internacional Ogden en Gold Coast, a hora y media del apartamento de su familia en South Shore. Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Jesse Ruiz lideró la auditoría de todos los programas bilingües y de ESL del distrito en el 2015. Ese año escolar, el 71 por ciento de las escuelas auditadas estaban en grave incumplimiento de los requisitos estatales para la educación bilingüe, el Chicago Reporter informó en ese momento.

Los problemas han continuado.

Durante el año escolar 2021 — antes de que los autobuses de Texas comenzaron a llegar — la Junta de Educación del Estado de Illinois puso a CPS en lo que se llama un “plan de acción correctiva” después de que funcionarios determinaron que el distrito estaba incumpliendo con los requisitos de educación bilingüe, dijo Lindsay Record, portavoz de la junta.

En una visita de seguimiento el año pasado, el Estado constató varias mejoras. Pero el distrito seguía sin tener programas bilingües en todas las escuelas que debían tenerlos, ni suficientes maestros acreditados, según los documentos del plan de acción correctiva.

Ruiz, también ex presidente de la Junta Estatal de Educación de Illinois, dijo que entiende por qué las escuelas de bajos recursos no han tenido programas bilingües si históricamente no tenían a estudiantes que aprendían inglés.

“Pero ahora tienen estos estudiantes y eso es lo que dice la ley, que tienes que proporcionar servicios de educación bilingüe a esos estudiantes”, dijo Ruiz. “El distrito va a tener que proporcionar esos recursos”.

‘Ha sido un largo viaje’

María, una migrante venezolana que llegó a Chicago el verano pasado, se mudó de un refugio del centro de la ciudad en febrero a un apartamento en South Shore a través del programa estatal de ayuda para pagar la renta. Block Club y Chalkbeat utilizan un seudónimo para María por motivos de seguridad de su familia.

Tras la mudanza, la familia tuvo dificultades para matricular en la escuela a su hija de 8 años. La primera escuela no contaba con personal bilingüe, y en la segunda los rechazaron por vivir fuera de los límites de la zona de asistencia, cuenta María.

Desesperada por encontrar otra opción, la familia de María buscó ayuda en el Centro de Bienvenida de la escuela secundaria Clemente, donde un empleado los dirigió a la escuela primaria Chárter Erie, una escuela de enseñanza bilingüe en Humboldt Park, a 90 minutos en transporte público de su apartamento de South Shore.

El largo viaje hasta Erie no fue fácil, pero María dice que valió la pena porque su hija aprendía más inglés y “entablaba conversaciones”. Su hija dejó de asistir a Erie hace poco, cuando la familia se mudó a los suburbios.

Muchos de los 49 estudiantes recién llegados de Erie vienen de toda la ciudad, dijo Carlos Pérez, director ejecutivo de la escuela.

Una clase en la escuela primaria Chárter Erie de Humboldt Park, una escuela que cuenta con casi 50 alumnos recién llegados.

Erie está mejor equipada que otras escuelas para proporcionar formación a los estudiantes hispanohablantes que aprenden inglés. Como una de las 43 escuelas de enseñanza bilingüe de la ciudad, Erie les enseña a estudiantes que aprenden inglés y angloparlantes en español y en inglés. Ocho de los maestros de Erie provienen de países latinoamericanos, dijo Pérez.

“Ha sido un largo viaje que muchos de ellos han recorrido para llegar hasta nosotros. Este era su objetivo: traer a sus hijos a una escuela en Estados Unidos ... hay un peso y una responsabilidad que eso conlleva”, dijo Pérez.

Incluso con esos recursos, los maestros se enfrentan a grandes retos. La mayoría de los estudiantes migrantes llegan a Erie con más de dos grados atrasados, y algunos no han asistido a una institución educativa formal hasta por dos años, dijo Pérez. En el 2022, Erie no cumplía con los requisitos del programa bilingüe y ESL, según la auditoría más reciente de CPS.

Varios directores cuestionaron si las auditorías son eficaces. Pérez dijo que uno de los maestros que ellos consideran efectivo no está certificado para enseñar a los estudiantes que aprenden inglés, una de las razones por las que la escuela no cumple con los requisitos.

“¿Nuestro objetivo es el cumplimiento de las normas, o poner frente a los estudiantes a buenas personas que puedan educarlos?” dijo Pérez. “A menudo, esas no son cosas indistintas”.

CPS dijo que tiene alrededor de 7.500 maestros que están certificados para enseñar clases bilingües, ESL o ambos — una cifra que ha crecido en los últimos años. Muchos de los maestros certificados para enseñar esas clases están en puestos de enseñanza regular, dijo un portavoz.

Funcionarios del distrito dijeron que han tratado de atraer a más maestros bilingües mediante la subvención del costo para obtener endosos bilingües o de ESL y ofreciendo ofertas de trabajo temprano a los maestros que están completando sus requisitos. Pero es difícil cubrir puestos de docencia a mitad de año, dijo Ben Felton, jefe de talento del distrito.

Felton dijo que “simplemente no tenemos el talento” para que cada escuela tenga grandes programas bilingües “porque históricamente no han habido tantos estudiantes bilingües en estas escuelas”.

Un niño prospera, otra está ‘simplemente atascada’

Aunque Yennifer Ruiz cambió a Gabriela de colegio tras mudarse a South Shore, ella optó por mantener a su hijo Gabriel, de 16 años, en la Academia de Carreras Richards, que cuenta con un programa bilingüe.

Después de sólo cinco meses en Chicago, Ruiz dice que ha visto cómo esos recursos bilingües han ayudado a que Gabriel prospere — está aprendiendo inglés rápidamente e incluso se ha unido al equipo de béisbol de la escuela — y cómo la falta de servicios ha hecho que Gabriela se sienta perdida en la escuela.

Gabriela desearía poder volver a Eli Whitney, donde le gustaba poder comunicarse con sus maestros y otros niños, ella dice.

“Me siento muy mal porque el único objetivo de mudarme aquí era conseguir una buena calidad de vida”, dijo Ruiz en español a través de un traductor. “Yo sé que mi hijo está sacando su máximo potencial, pero ella está simplemente atascada”.

Traducido por Flavia Melisa Franco.

Yoha Salmerón Chaparro, pasante en el Centro de Acompañamiento para Inmigrantes y Refugiados de la Universidad de Loyola, y Alex Hernández, periodista de Block Club Chicago, proporcionaron ayuda de interpretación con hispanohablantes en este artículo.

Reema Amin es una periodista que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago. Puede ponerse en contacto con ella: ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mina Bloom es una periodista de investigación de Block Club Chicago. Puede ponerse en contacto con Mina: mina@blockclubchi.org.

They thought graduation was near. Instead, several immigrant students were pressured to transfer.

2024-05-20T14:33:24+00:00

Genesis Callero thought she was nearing the finish line.

The 18-year-old senior had made quick academic progress since arriving at the Cyberarts Studio Academy in Park Slope, Brooklyn — CASA, for short — from Ecuador last year knowing no English. She had passed four of her five required Regents exams and earned more than enough credits to graduate, according to Genesis and a school staffer familiar with her transcript.

All that remained was the English Language Arts Regents exam, the only Regents test newly arrived immigrants aren’t eligible to take in their home language. Students learning English as a new language often need extra time and support to pass, according to educators. Still, Genesis was optimistic that she would get her diploma this school year and had even taken a professional graduation portrait.

High school graduation photos of Genesis and Karen Callero.

So the teen was blindsided when school officials, including principal Valrie Wauchope, summoned her to a meeting just over two months ago and delivered devastating news.

Neither Genesis nor her sister Karen, 17 and also a senior, would be able to graduate from CASA, Genesis recalled the school officials saying. They told the girls they would need to transfer and recommended New Dawn Charter High School, a transfer school geared toward older students at risk of not graduating.

“They told me no, they can’t help me in this high school,” Genesis said in Spanish, recalling her meeting with CASA officials. “It seemed to me like something unfair.”

The family felt they had no choice but to transfer. Within days, Genesis and Karen left CASA.

The teens were not alone. According to interviews with the families of six immigrant students from CASA — all seniors who had recently failed the ELA Regents exam, according to families and staffers — Wauchope recently told their children they would not graduate if they remained at CASA and counseled them to transfer immediately.

“If he stays, he won’t graduate,” the mom of another 17-year-old senior at CASA told Chalkbeat in Spanish, recalling what the principal told her. The mom asked to remain anonymous because she fears jeopardizing an active immigration case.

Genesis Callero, 18, on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Brooklyn, New York.

All of the families have since taken their children out of CASA, according to interviews and school records obtained by Chalkbeat.

Wauchope, who is in her first year as principal at CASA, didn’t respond to phone calls or an email seeking comment. Education Department spokesperson Chyann Tull said, “We take allegations of students being pushed out of their school very seriously and investigate all formal complaints when they arise. Every student has the right to remain in their school through graduation and be immersed in a supportive learning environment.” Tull didn’t immediately say whether the department has received complaints about CASA.

Three staffers at the school, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, contend the students would have been able to graduate from CASA with more time. Immigrant students often fail the ELA Regents exam on their first attempt but can pass with extra time and support. Just 27% of city English language learners passed the ELA Regents in 2023, according to state data. Under New York law, students can remain in school through the academic year they start at age 21.

The staffers suspect students were pressured to transfer because if they did not graduate this school year, it would harm the school’s four-year graduation rate — a key performance measure for city principals. CASA’s four-year June graduation rate in 2023 was 75% last year, lower than the 81% citywide average.

Karen Callero, 17, on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Brooklyn, New York.

“They’re our best students. They come to school every single day, pass their other Regents exams,” said one staffer, adding that some students are homeless and haven’t been in the country long. “This is all because they can’t pass their English Regents on time. To push them out … it’s disgraceful.”

The staffers said they worry the situation will continue with future students learning English as a new language.

Annette Renaud, a longtime parent activist and former CASA Parent Association president who remains involved at the school supporting several relatives enrolled there, said she reached out to some of the families of immigrant students after learning about the situation from staff. She’s hoping the students can be reenrolled at CASA.

“I don’t know how many doctors, lawyers, sanitation supervisors, home attendants … we pushed out the door.”

Graduation pressures weigh on administrators

Several school administrators from across New York City told Chalkbeat that high school principals often face intense pressure to improve their four-year graduation rates. That pressure can be particularly acute for schools like CASA that have absorbed large numbers of newly arrived immigrant students amid the influx of roughly 36,000 migrant students over the past two school years.

CASA’s population of English Language Learners surged from below 40 in 2018 to nearly 100 out of its 300 students last year, according to city data. English Language Learners often take longer to graduate and finish high school at lower rates than their peers.

For English Language Learners who began high school in 2017, roughly 56% graduated in four years, jumping to 67% in six years.

That’s compared to 80% of all students in the 2017 cohort who graduated within four years and 87% within six years.

In recent years, “schools that have never really seen a high population of immigrant students were suddenly seeing these populations, and there were some growing pains there,” said Liza Schwartzwald, Director of Economic Justice and Family Empowerment at the New York Immigration Coalition, an advocacy organization.

But she stressed that “it is still incumbent on the school” to seek out some of the many resources available to better support newcomer students.

The allegations at CASA represent an “egregious example of the wrong way to go about doing this work,” she said.

The facade of John Jay High School campus in Park Slope, the building that houses Cyberarts Studio Academy.

Schools have alternatives to help immigrant students

To be sure, some older teenagers still learning English may benefit from a school more specifically tailored toward serving older newcomer students, particularly if they are in danger of aging out of the system and severely behind on credits, educators and advocates said.

But that wasn’t the situation for students counseled to transfer out of CASA, all of whom were 19 or younger, had passed at least some of their other Regents exams, and had accumulated all or close to all the credits they needed to graduate, according to staff and families.

Educators said that the school, which has hired several English as a new language teachers in recent years, was more than capable of shepherding the students to passing the ELA exam. They just needed a little more time.

“We would be able to get them to that passing rate within that time 100%,” said one CASA staffer. “No doubt in my mind.”

Schools have other avenues for supporting immigrant students struggling with the ELA Regents that don’t involve forcing them to transfer, said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, the Immigrant Students Rights Project Director at Advocates for Children, a nonprofit that works on behalf of vulnerable kids.

They can refer students to extra night classes at Young Adult Borough Centers without un-enrolling them, and there is an appeals process specifically for the ELA Regents test for English Language Learners who fail the exam but score close enough to the cutoff.

“There are several options,” Rodriguez-Engberg said. “You don’t just ask a student to leave.”

Families struggle with fallout of being pushed out

The immigrant students who left CASA had different backgrounds and academic profiles, but all of them were making progress at the school and none wanted to abruptly leave in the spring of their senior year, according to interviews with the students and their families and records reviewed by Chalkbeat.

Sisters Genesis Callero, 18, and Karen Callero, 17, talk to each other while at a park near where they stay on Friday, May 17, 2024, in Brooklyn, New York.

One student, a 17-year-old recent arrival from Venezuela, quickly won admiration from staff and students since enrolling last fall for his gregarious demeanor and inspiring story, according to his family and staffers. The boy’s mom asked not to use his name because the family has an open immigration case.

On his most recent report card, issued around the time he left the school in March, he earned an 85% average and comments from teachers praising his “excellent progress,” “consistent participat[ion]” and “initiative,” according to a copy reviewed by Chalkbeat.

The teen recounted his grueling immigration journey in a student-produced film that played on TVs in the school’s main office and hallways, according to a video reviewed by Chalkbeat.

The family was devastated by the news he couldn’t remain at the school.

The boy’s mom said she asked Wauchope about alternatives that would allow her son to remain at CASA, like enrolling him in night classes for English or taking longer to graduate. Wauchope didn’t budge, and the mom agreed to withdraw her son.

“I felt it was something bad they did to him,” she said. But in the moment, she felt powerless. “Sometimes out of fear, we’re migrants, we don’t say no, we do what they say.”

That didn’t stop the woman from continuing to advocate for her son. She went back for a second meeting with Wauchope, telling the principal she thought the decision was unfair, she said.

She also visited an enrollment center and asked them to reenroll her son at CASA. She was told the school was now full and could not accept any more students, the mom said.

The boy was crushed but told his mom, “If it’s to graduate, it’s okay.”

He has since enrolled at New Dawn, but frequently drops by CASA to say hi to classmates and teachers.

“It hurt me very much because I see him now, he doesn’t want to go to class,” his mom said. “It destabilized him totally. It flipped his world upside down.”

The news landed just as hard for Carolina, a 19-year-old senior from Guatemala. Since arriving at CASA three years ago, she had made significant academic, social, and linguistic strides.

The teen, who asked to use only her middle name for fear of immigration consequences, struggled at first to acclimate to her new school and country.

“But after some time passed, I adapted. I understand and speak English,” she said.

Carolina’s attendance had faltered this year, and she still needed to pass two Regents exams, according to transcript information shared with Chalkbeat. But she was hopeful she would soon graduate and planned to apply to college or join the Army.

When Wauchope told Carolina she wouldn’t be able to graduate from CASA and counseled her to transfer in late February, the teen was crestfallen over the idea of leaving her home of three years.

“I couldn’t adapt to a new school or new people,” she recalled pleading in the meeting.

She and her mother begged for the chance to stay at the school, promising to redouble the teen’s efforts to pass the exam. But Wauchope held firm, according to the family. (One CASA staffer noted the teen is technically still on CASA’s roster, likely because she was never officially unenrolled. But Carolina’s mother said she wasn’t aware of that.)

Despite her misgivings, Carolina eventually decided to give New Dawn a try.

She set out for the school, which is a farther commute than she’s used to, on a Friday morning last month, and arrived after classes had begun, according to the teen and her mom. While Sara Asmussen, New Dawn’s founder and executive director, said the school “accepts students year-round with no intake requirements at all,” Carolina said staff at the school asked her, in English, to come back on Monday.

Carolina never went back. She hasn’t returned to that school, or any other, since.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

In need of more bilingual teachers, Denver looks to recruit and support international candidates

2024-05-06T17:06:32+00:00

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When Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero was invited to a panel by the government of the Dominican Republic last year to showcase the school district’s approach to bilingual education, he said dozens of teachers there asked him how they could work for him.

Marrero said he came back to Denver excited that he may have helped recruit 30 new teachers to fill bilingual teaching vacancies. But despite their enthusiasm, only a handful of those teachers are now working in Denver Public Schools, he said.

Marrero asked the district’s human resources team to look into why. Many teachers said they felt making the switch was a big risk and they didn’t have enough support, Marrero said.

So this school year, Denver Public Schools launched the International Educators Institute to provide not only professional, but also personal support to new international teachers. The institute will help teachers from other countries figure out where to live, understand finances and credit, and provide other social or emotional support. It will also train teachers to help them earn more credentials and to understand how Denver’s school system works.

Denver Public Schools has enrolled thousands of new students who have recently immigrated from South America. Although the International Educators Institute wasn’t created because of that influx of students, it makes the work more important, Marrero said. In addition, the district is under a court order guiding how it teaches students who aren’t yet fluent in English. Meeting that order requires a large number of bilingual teachers, but there are always vacancies.

Marrero said the work of the institute is to help fill teacher vacancies without replacing existing efforts to fill those jobs.

Denver Public Schools serves 88,200 students, 75% of whom are students of color. But among the more than 6,000 teachers, just about a third are teachers of color. If the institute is successful, he envisions a system where students have more teachers of color, and teachers can expand their careers and better their lives.

If they have to go back to their home countries, they can better help more children around the world too, he said.

“That’s what hasn’t existed ever,” Marrero said of the institute. “Just like we say we have to educate the whole student, it’s the same approach. The parallel is that we have to support the whole educator.”

To get the institute started, Marrero said DPS used $500,000 from federal COVID relief money. But the district will also invest at least $1 million from its general fund.

“We would waste way more in guest teachers, substitute coverage throughout the year, so the way I see it, that’s an investment,” Marrero said.

International teachers struggle without support

Maria Moncada Rodriguez, an international teacher from Honduras, has been in Colorado for four years, but is working in Denver schools for the first time this school year.

She said she has loved the support from her colleagues and from the institute and wished she had more of it when she initially arrived in the U.S. to work in a different school district.

Moncada Rodriguez and her husband were teachers in Honduras who ran a Montessori school for more than 20 years. But as violence in the country increased, she sought a way out. Then she won a contest that allowed her the opportunity to come teach in Colorado.

She and her husband were both supposed to get jobs, and her two children would be able to come along. But at the last minute, a new principal took over the Colorado school where she was supposed to teach and rescinded her husband’s job offer.

Maria Moncada Rodriguez, a teacher from Honduras now teaching in Denver Public Schools, in her classroom.

While her family still joined her in Colorado, it took her husband more than a year and a half to get a work permit. And during that time, Moncada Rodriguez said the family struggled financially with just her income.

“We cried almost every day,” she recalled. But she said she and her husband still gave thanks that their children were in a safe home.

But now that she’s working in Denver Public Schools, she’s been able to connect to other international teachers from various countries, through the institute, and also through the teachers union.

Recently, she said she and the other international teachers she’s met decided to start a guide for newly arrived teachers. Ideally, she said it would include information on clothing drives, financial literacy classes, help with buying a home, immigration lawyers, and more.

“We need all types of information,” she said.

It’s the same kind of help the district’s institute wants to provide.

Denver’s goal: 120 new international teachers next year

As the district has rolled out the supports and launched the institute this year, it’s also hired 64 new visa sponsored teachers for the current school year. That’s brought the total of international teachers with work visas in DPS to 234. For next school year, the district’s goal is to hire 120 new international teachers.

The district plans to use some of the institute’s $1.5 million budget on visits to other countries to help recruit and connect with teachers, but also to help staff to spend time finding resources and helping new teachers.

Finding affordable housing for teachers is a particularly important issue, but Marrero said he’s not interested in being a landlord or managing property.

“There is a healthy way to engage, but there’s also a lot to be said when you have a little bit of separation,” Marrero said. Teachers, he said, “don’t want to be under the DPS thumb.”

Still, the district is exploring relationships with developers, landlords, and city officials. This year, for example, the district was able to negotiate a lower price on a long-term lease for some teachers from the Dominican Republic.

“That’s going to be us leveraging our existing relationships and leveraging also our position,” Marrero said. “Even if it’s just a building. Saying: ‘Can we have X amount of units that we have first dibs on?’ That’s what I’m looking to explore.”

Moncada Rodriguez continues to look for resources on her own. One issue she hasn’t figured out is how to help her oldest child, who’s graduating this year, pay for college. Since her children are her dependents and she is on a sponsored visa, they can’t get work permits, and they don’t qualify for any of the financial assistance for higher education she’s learned about so far.

“Of course we aren’t asking for everything to come easy or handed to us,” Moncada Rodriguez said. “We love to work and study. But coming here and knowing our kids can’t go to university because of a lack of resources is overwhelming.”

Still, she wants other teachers considering coming to the United States to know that things can get better if they can persist. And she hopes local leaders can learn to be more supportive too.

At her school, Academia Ana Marie Sandoval, she loves that she gets to use her experience as a Montessori teacher working with students from low-income families, and that she’s valued for her Spanish language skills.

She said her fellow teachers have been helpful and supportive, and her connection to the institute means there’s always someone to answer her questions.

Moncada Rodriguez said she’s taken many Denver Public Schools training courses, including one that’s taught her how to do home visits with families of newly arriving migrant students.

“Now the only thing missing is how to get a masters degree,” she said. “I’m working on that next.”

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado approved $24 million for migrant students. Here’s how much each school district will get.

2024-05-03T21:44:21+00:00

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A surge of one-time money will reach 85 Colorado school districts — almost half of all districts in the state — this month to help offset costs of an unprecedented number of new students arriving midyear, mainly from South America.

Between October and Feb. 29, Colorado school districts received 8,085 newcomer students spread throughout the state, according to data submitted by the districts to the state.

Colorado lawmakers last month approved the use of $24 million in state funding to help school districts experiencing an influx of new migrant students this year. Colorado funds schools based on enrollment counts from October. Every year there are some students who leave or enroll in schools after October, and the district’s funding doesn’t get adjusted.

But this school year, district leaders, especially in large districts such as Denver and Aurora, said the number of new students they were receiving after October was much larger than in typical years.

To be eligible for the money, districts had to submit their request, along with a record of their enrollment counts, to the Colorado Department of Education. The department used a formula approved by state lawmakers to figure out how much each district will receive. Nine districts that applied were not eligible for any of the money.

Search for your district’s allocation, net enrollment change, and total new arrivals in the following table:

Districts got money in two ways. First, there was a tiered system that gave certain set amounts of money to districts based on how many new arrivals they’ve enrolled between October and Feb. 29. Then, districts could also qualify for additional money, on a per student basis — if those new arrivals resulted in net increases in district enrollment.

Of the 85 districts getting money, 39 qualified for per-student dollars: $4,672.03 for each student, which is less than districts got for students enrolled in October.

In other cases, districts received many new arrivals, but because of overall declining enrollment, their total student count by February was still lower than it was in October.

The Adams 12 school district, for example, enrolled 374 new arrivals, but because of overall enrollment declines, their total enrollment is down 58 students compared to October. That meant Adams 12 qualified for $550,000 from the tiered system, but did not receive any per-student amount in addition to that.

Districts will receive their funding allocations this month, though for most, it will serve to reimburse them for money they’ve already spent on hiring extra staff earlier this year.

School district leaders talked about having to add new classrooms in some schools, requiring more teachers and other support staff.

The Westminster school district is planning to offer some summer programming for newly arrived students. In the Harrison school district in Colorado Springs, a “newcomer committee” is developing a “toolkit for teachers to use.”

“Even though they are just one-time funds, every little bit helps us provide our newcomer students with the support, resources, and instruction they need,” Rachel Laufer, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning for the Harrison district, said in an email about the funding.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

More than academics: Aurora’s community schools are an example as interest in the model grows

2024-04-23T23:45:27+00:00

Chicago Mayor visits high school to advocate for more Sustainable Community Schools

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When Bishnu Rai’s children started school at Aurora’s Crawford Elementary five years ago, she initially felt lost. She wasn’t very social and she struggled to help her children, she says.

But thanks to Crawford’s community school model, she’s been getting more involved, learning English, and now feels confident enough she’s helping come up with a plan for empowering other immigrant parents.

Crawford Elementary is one of six schools in Aurora that are using the community schools model. Five of them are part of the ACTION Zone, a group of schools near Denver’s border that have high levels of poverty and large numbers of language learners. The district grouped the schools years ago as part of a plan to better support the schools with similar needs.

At Crawford, some of the work has gone on for almost 10 years, but evolved as the zone schools committed to a “community schools” model in the past five years. The approach focuses on using community partners to address whole family needs, with the end goal of ensuring that children have fewer social and emotional barriers to learning.

In Colorado, nonprofit organizations and the state education department are increasing their focus on how they support schools that want to use the community schools model. Some of these leaders say they see an untapped potential for improving communities.

At Crawford, 97% of the school’s 540 students qualify for subsidized meals, a measure of poverty, and students come from 40 different countries speaking about 25 different languages.

Through the community schools model, Crawford works with organizations to test students’ eyesight at school, helps parents learn how they can continue lessons at home, and brings families together to share about their various cultures. Rai also has taken advantage of English classes, health classes, and parent leadership classes.

Parents are involved in big school decisions. For instance, parents helped pick this year’s new principal by participating in interviews and hosting a forum where parents could ask questions of the applicants and fill out scorecards.

“If we empower our parents, this helps our kids,” Rai said. “They teach me how to raise my voice, how to speak up.”

At Crawford Elementary, students come from 40 different countries and speak about 25 different languages. The school celebrates its diversity.

Supporting the model takes resources

Colorado Department of Education officials recently visited Crawford and Boston K-8, two of Aurora’s zone schools, as part of the state’s work to better understand how the community schools model is implemented and what resources can be shared with other schools looking to try the same model.

State lawmakers in 2022 added adopting the model to the menu of improvement options for schools on the state’s watchlist for low performance. The state education department had some support for the model spread across various departments but now is creating a team focused just on supporting the community schools model.

“We’re happy to connect schools with resources,” said Dana Scott, director of the office of student supports for the state Department of Education. “We want to be a place where we can really create some good connections for them so schools don’t have to start from scratch.”

The state doesn’t track how many districts are using the model, but nationwide, some experts believe the model has had growing interest, and more so since the start of the pandemic. Even as schools shut down, they served as hubs for various help to families in the community, providing meals, internet, COVID tests, shots, and more.

Katie Wilberding Cross, senior director for youth initiatives and education for Mile High United Way, helps lead a coalition of organizations that want to support community schools. The coalition just started meeting in the fall.

She says the idea behind community schools is that students have needs that can be a barrier to learning, but schools should not be expected to be everything for everybody.

“There are partners that provide these different needs,” Wilberding Cross said. “United Ways are uniquely positioned to convene folks, to bring these various organizations and sectors together.”

She said part of the work is getting more districts to learn about the model. It’s hard to say how much interest is in Colorado.

“What I keep hearing is there’s a lot of percolating interest, but it’s something that hasn’t been fully tapped into,” Wilberding Cross said.

In the metro area, Adams 14 has had national support in trying to start using the model at Central Elementary, one of the district’s lowest-performing schools, which is under a state-ordered improvement plan of its own. The hope is that the model will eventually help improve student achievement.

The Harrison school district of Colorado Springs also uses the model at one of its schools, and Pueblo 60 uses it at two of its schools.

Many more schools are likely doing much of the same work community schools focus on, such as starting a food pantry for families, or partnering with community organizations to provide another service for students or families, but they don’t have the community schools label or a plan with the intentionality that the model would provide.

Having a community schools coordinator on staff ensures that the partnerships belong to the schools and not an individual teacher or principal who might leave, that those partnerships are responsive to the needs in the community, and that they are providing something for the families. With those elements in place,the work is more likely to be successful and to continue beyond just a year or two, experts said.

Schools trying to use the community schools approach generally hire a community schools coordinator. At Crawford, Maggie Lautzenheiser-Page, the community schools coordinator, helps plan and run the various programs offered for that school’s needs, which are different than the programs offered at the next school using the model.

Family liaisons at Crawford speak multiple languages and meet with parents regularly.

“Then it’s not burdening or putting more weight on educators,” said Christa Rowland, Western regional deputy director for the Coalition for Community Schools from the Institute for Educational Leadership, a national nonprofit group based in Washington D.C. “Rather it should lift it.”

The community school coordinator is key, leaders agree. The person should have some decision-making authority at the school level to help drive the work, Wilberding Cross said. There should be district buy-in. And the plans need to be designed with the community, evaluating needs and existing assets, experts said.

If schools are following Colorado’s definition of community schools as laid out in Colorado statute, then they have to assess the community’s needs every year.

Hiring that community school coordinator to implement this model does require an investment. Experts say research has shown the investment can pay off with more resources coming to the school, and improved measures of attendance, parent engagement, and eventually, other student outcomes.

Aurora has made some of that investment. The community school coordinators, one at each of the zone schools, are district-funded. The district is working to find permanent funding for some of the other positions, including community health coordinators and family liaisons for special populations that speak different languages.

The model has helped improve family and community engagement and enabled parents such as Rai to feel empowered to help their children’s learning. But, based on state ratings, the schools in the zone haven’t seen much improvement in students’ academic achievement. Aurora Central High School, the district’s longest-struggling school is part of the zone and has continued to have low state ratings.

Leaders celebrate other measures of community school success

Crawford Principal Aubri Dunkin, who is new this year, said most school leaders want their schools to be hubs for the community.

“But this truly is a hub,” Dunkin said, noting that the community school model allows the school to support parents and help them navigate potential barriers so students come to school more regularly and “ready to learn.”

In Aurora, the district's six community schools have two food clinics where families can access free food and other help. A Crawford parent is one of the coordinators who helps set parents up with the help.

At Crawford, 50 parents, including Rai, regularly attend leadership meetings. The zone’s two food clinics, which provide food and connect parents to other resources, host regular events to give out local food. Last school year, they served more than 4,700 individuals in the events. Within the district, leaders say students whose families are engaged are showing better outcomes than those who aren’t.

And across the zone, “definitely more than half of our families are attending and participating in events on a regular basis,” said Elizabeth Lewis, the district’s community schools impact manager.

At Crawford, which recently received a large number of new migrant students, parent leaders want to pass on what they’ve learned to help the new migrant parents be involved for their children, Rai said.

She’s also hoping to raise another issue beyond her school: pedestrian safety. She said families who walk to the school want a new stop sign at one of the busy intersections. Parents years ago successfully lobbied the city to install one outside the school, but now there’s a need for another, she said.

Experts say it’s that kind of drive by parents that really creates sustainability, and a model that is responsive to the evolving needs of the community.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools estimates between 9,000 and 17,000 migrant students are enrolled, depending on who is counted

2024-04-18T00:03:39+00:00

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How many migrant students are enrolled in Chicago Public Schools? The exact number is hard to pin down.

The district says about 8,900 migrant students are currently attending local schools, according to CPS data. But that number climbs to more than 17,000 when using the Illinois State Board of Education’s definition for students eligible for the Immigrant Education Program — students born outside the U.S. who started attending school in this country in the past three years are categorized in this group.

An accurate picture of how many immigrant students are arriving and enrolling in local public schools is becoming more important as schools work to support newcomers from Latin America, as well as other countries around the world. A proposal in the Illinois legislature would provide money to districts faster to help new students.

But the size of the enrollment increase — and the existing resources — depends on which agency is counting students. In response to an information request from Chalkbeat for migrant student enrollment numbers, Chicago Public Schools and the Illinois State Board of Education produced different numbers, based on different definitions and methods of categorizing newly arrived students:

Chicago Public Schools says the district is currently serving 8,900 students who arrived since August 2022, including those who passed through the southern border and were bused to Chicago from Texas. The district uses five criteria to identify this cohort: students who speak languages other than English at home, have been identified as students in temporary living situations, are new to the district arriving after August 2022, were born outside of the country, or are listed on the city’s Department of Family and Support Services shelter roster.
The Illinois State Board of Education, on the other hand, says any student not born in the U.S. or Puerto Rico who has been attending school in this country for less than three years is eligible for the Immigrant Education Program. Chicago estimates roughly 17,000 students fit this definition. Chicago just started to collect this data in November 2023 and school staff are collecting the birth country and enrollment date of students.

Between 2019 and November 2023, Chicago Public Schools officials said, the district stopped gathering information on students’ birth country and the date of first enrollment in the U.S. in response to threats against immigrants and their citizenship status and as part of the implementation of sanctuary provision in the collective bargaining agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union. However, the district resumed the practice after being pushed by the state board of education.

In addition, the numbers continue to fluctuate. Last month, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez told reporters that the district has welcomed more than 6,000 new arrival students into schools this year.

Chicago Public Schools also estimates that its population of English learners – students whose first language is not English and are in need of bilingual programs and support – has increased by 12,000 students, jumping from 76,000 to 88,000 over the last year students as of April 12. English learners may include students born in the U.S.

A Chalkbeat analysis in February found that the number of English language learners in CPS grew since the end of September, with an additional 7,000 English learners enrolled in schools around the district.

Even as state and local school districts have different definitions on how to categorize students who recently immigrated to the United States, lawmakers, advocates, educators, and the Chicago Teachers Union continue to raise concerns that there are not enough bilingual staff and resources available to support students.

State Rep. Fred Crespo, a Democrat representing suburbs northwest of Chicago, has filed a pair of bills — House Bill 2822 and House Bill 3991 — that would allow the Illinois State Board of Education to create a New Arrivals Grant program to distribute funding to school districts who need more support for new arrival students.

When Crespo first filed the bill last year, he asked the general assembly to approve $35 million. Now, he is asking for $188 million because the number of students has increased.

In February, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget did not include money for newcomers requested by the Illinois State Board of Education. A spokesperson for Pritzker’s office previously told Chalkbeat that schools can access federal funding through the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act and the governor’s proposed $350 million increase for K-12 schools will help.

Local education advocates say families who have migrated from Latin America countries are transient, often moving from community to community as they look for a home to settle in. As students continue to transfer between districts, advocates say the state’s evidence-based funding formula is unable to capture the growing need of schools.

The state distributes resources to districts based on enrollment and adds additional funding based on the number of low-income students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. The state formula looks at enrollment from two points in time during the school year. With families moving between communities, the number may not capture the number of immigrant students a district has served.

Bridget Peach, executive director of Ed-Red — an organization that advocates for suburban school districts — and a supporter of Crespo’s bill, says students migrating from the southern border often leave school districts quickly.

“At the beginning of the year, the enrollment snapshot is taken,” Peach said. “Some of those students are leaving the next week, some are staying until the end of the school year, but they aren’t re-enrolling in the district.”

State lawmakers are debating whether to include Crespo’s New Arrivals Grant program in the budget. They must pass a budget at the end of the legislative session, which is scheduled for the end of May.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Think tank with ties to Trump lays out plan to deny free education to undocumented students

2024-04-09T19:33:42+00:00

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An influential conservative think tank has laid out a strategy to challenge a landmark Supreme Court decision that protects the right of undocumented children to attend public school.

The Heritage Foundation, which is spending tens of millions of dollars to craft a policy playbook for a second Trump presidential term, recently released a brief calling on states to require public schools to charge unaccompanied migrant children and children with undocumented parents tuition to enroll.

Such a move “would draw a lawsuit from the Left,” the brief states, “which would likely lead the Supreme Court to reconsider its ill-considered Plyler v. Doe decision” — referring to the 1982 ruling that held it was unconstitutional to deny children a public education based on their immigration status.

Plyler has survived challenges for more than 40 years. But some legal experts and advocates for immigrant children say the newest proposal to undermine it should be taken seriously, given Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant rhetoric, a steady drumbeat of headlines about the “migrant crisis,” and the conservative-led Supreme Court’s recent willingness to overturn established legal precedent.

“The politics right now of illegal immigration and the picture that conservatives, and even some liberals, have painted of stressing the resources of states and localities, I think that that’s a huge factor,” said Brett Geier, a professor at Western Michigan University who wrote a book about K-12 schools and the Supreme Court. “I do think that this court has the chutzpah to say: We’re going to take it on and overturn it.”

But others say the real intent is to rile up voters in an election year, and that Plyler v. Doe isn’t truly at risk.

“Every time there’s an election, all of a sudden immigration becomes a big problem, and [we hear]: ‘We have to do something about these immigrants, and get rid of them, and not pay for their schooling,’” said Patricia Gándara, a research professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education who’s written extensively about how immigration enforcement affects children and schools. “Then after the election is over, it dies away.”

Charging school tuition in Texas led to Plyler ruling

A growing share of Americans, and Republicans in particular, say immigration policy is a top concern right now. And immigration issues are getting a lot of attention in this year’s presidential race.

Trump has campaigned on a series of hardline, restrictive immigration policies, including the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and the end of refugee resettlement. He’s also falsely claimed that migrant children have displaced other kids in New York City’s public schools.

The focus on immigration comes as the country is seeing a significant increase in migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. Federal officials counted nearly 2.5 million people who reached the southern border last year. That was a 43% increase from two years earlier, though not all were admitted. A rising share are families with children.

More than three-quarters of Americans view what’s happening at the border as a major problem or a crisis, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center found. Just under a quarter of U.S. adults said they were concerned that the rise in migrants would be an economic burden on the country.

The Heritage Foundation taps into those concerns with its recent brief, titled “The Consequences of Unchecked Illegal Immigration on America’s Public Schools.” In it, the organization criticizes President Biden’s approach to immigration policy, saying it’s led to “large influxes of non-English-speaking children” enrolling in public schools.

The document cites examples of Texas schools holding lessons in hallways, and a Brooklyn high school that had students learn virtually for a day after the school housed migrant families overnight during a rainstorm.

In response, the Heritage Foundation is calling on states to prohibit schools from housing undocumented immigrants and to require schools to collect student enrollment data by immigration status “so that accurate cost analyses can be done.” States should require school districts to charge undocumented children tuition to attend public school, the brief states.

It was this exact practice nearly half a century ago — in the same state that’s defying the federal government by handling its own immigration enforcement — that led to the Plyler v. Doe ruling.

Texas passed a law in 1975 saying that public schools would not receive state funding for the education of undocumented children and that districts could bar these students from attending public school for free.

Two years later, the Tyler Independent School District started charging undocumented children $1,000 a year to attend school — a sum district officials knew would be unaffordable for the area’s immigrant families, who often worked in Tyler’s famous rose industry, along with meat-packing plants and farms.

Twenty-one years after the Supreme Court's Plyler v. Doe ruling, the Tyler Independent School District in Texas offered a Spanish-English dual language program for kindergartners and first graders.

“I don’t think any family could have paid that,” James Plyler, the district’s superintendent, told an Education Week reporter in 2007. “One thousand dollars back in 1977 was lots and lots of money, and most of those families who came in were working for minimum wage.”

Four families whose children were blocked from attending school sued Plyler and the school district, and eventually won at the Supreme Court. In the 5-4 opinion for the majority, Justice William Brennan wrote that denying undocumented children the ability to learn how to read and write would take an “inestimable toll” on their “social, economic, intellectual, and psychological well-being.” (The dissenting justices agreed it was wrong to deny undocumented kids an education, but argued it wasn’t a constitutional violation.)

Now, the Heritage Foundation says those education costs have grown too high, and states and schools should be able to recoup them. The federal government could help, said Madison Marino, a senior research associate who co-authored the Heritage Foundation brief, or parents or sponsors of undocumented students could pay.

“We really aren’t looking to deprive these kids of their education,” Marino said. “We’re calling for everyone to contribute.”

Most undocumented families today would likely struggle to pay school tuition, as they did in 1977. And federal aid seems unlikely. Congress is bitterly divided over how to fund immigration policy and whether schools need more funding in the wake of the pandemic, and the U.S. Department of Education has historically devoted a tiny fraction of its budget to educating English learners and immigrant students.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the Heritage Foundation’s proposals to challenge Plyler, but observers widely believe the think tank would play a crucial role in a second Trump administration. Elsewhere, the campaign has said that external groups do not speak for Trump or his campaign, and that policy recommendations are just that.

Migrants bused to cities spur calls for federal help

Who bears the financial responsibility for educating undocumented children has been a heated topic of debate, especially over the last two years.

In May 2022, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he wanted to challenge Plyler v. Doe “because the expenses are extraordinary and the times are different” than in 1982. He called on the federal government to cover the educational costs for undocumented students.

Since then, Abbott has bused more than 75,000 migrants to six cities led by Democrats that have certain “sanctuary” policies protecting immigrants.

Newcomer students can bring many assets, from linguistic diversity to knowledge about life elsewhere in the world, educators say, and some schools have successfully adapted to meet newcomers’ needs.

But many schools have struggled to do so. Newcomer students often do not speak English and sometimes have missed months or even years of schooling. Many experienced trauma on their journey to the U.S. or in their home country that can affect their schooling. Schools often lack bilingual teachers and mental health staff to help. And when lots of students arrive in the middle of the year, state funding doesn’t always follow right away, leaving schools to make do with the resources they have.

Many educators and local officials have called on their states and the federal government to provide additional funding to help — with limited success. Extra money for migrant students was left out of the Illinois governor’s budget proposal, and extra funding allotted in Colorado breaks down to less than half of what the state would typically spend per student.

Plyler challenge could hinge on cost questions

Challenging Plyler would be difficult, said Thomas A. Saenz, the president and general counsel at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represented the families in the original Plyler case. The ruling is now tied up with other federal law, as well as privacy protections for K-12 students.

“It’s not like: ‘Oh, let’s just tee up Plyler, and pass a law, and immediately this more conservative Supreme Court will overturn the ‘82 decision,’” he said. “That analysis is way too facile.”

But there are ways Plyler could be vulnerable, said Amanda Warner, a doctoral candidate at George Mason University who analyzed past challenges to the ruling. The current Supreme Court has favored states’ rights and an originalist reading of the constitution. And in 1973, the Supreme Court held that there is no constitutional right to an education.

That is a “glaring hole” that could be exploited, Warner said.

Another avenue to challenge the ruling could center on educational conditions and costs, and whether those have changed enough to warrant denying undocumented children a free public education.

Back in 1982, Texas argued it needed to do that to preserve resources for educating its “lawful residents.” But the Supreme Court rejected that argument. Brennan wrote that undocumented students did not impose “special burdens” on Texas’ education system, and that excluding them from school would be unlikely to improve the overall quality of education.

The Heritage Foundation brief says that unauthorized immigration, particularly among children arriving without their parents, has reached a point where a “reconsideration is warranted.”

The original ruling seems to imply “there is a bar” for a state to show that educating undocumented students is too much of a financial burden, Warner said. But it wouldn’t be enough to simply show the cost of education is higher.

Any money saved by excluding undocumented children from school would have to be weighed against the ripple effects on housing, social services, and the criminal justice system. “Costs can be borne in a lot of ways,” Warner said. “What are the costs of having all these uneducated persons in the United States?”

Whether a serious challenge will emerge remains to be seen. Marino said no state official has reached out about making the Heritage Foundation’s proposal a reality.

After Abbott raised the possibility of challenging Plyler two years ago, a Texas lawmaker introduced a bill that would have denied undocumented students a free public education, unless the federal government paid for it. But unlike in 1975, the proposal didn’t go anywhere.

Nicholas Espíritu, the deputy legal director for the National Immigration Law Center, said if such a proposal couldn’t advance in Texas, that should deter other states from trying.

“It’s our hope that even though there might be some rumblings from the Heritage Foundation and states like Texas,” he said, “that eventually politicians will come to the same conclusion and realize that this is not a position that is ultimately supported.”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Welcoming migrant students is more than a generational challenge. It’s a moral obligation.

2024-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

There’s no denying the challenges that the influx of newcomer students presents. There are testing requirements, transportation needs, and requisite Spanish-language academic and mental health supports, to name a few. As a child of immigrant parents and the leader of Colorado’s largest school district, I am confident that Denver Public Schools is meeting the moment.

Denver has the highest intake of new-to-country students per capita among all large U.S. cities not situated along the southern border. Since July 2023, Denver Public Schools has welcomed more than 3,500 migrant students.

Dr. Alex Marrero

In the past few months, I’ve walked the halls of more than 100 Denver schools and met with many of our new-to-country students, their families, and the educators dedicated to serving them. I’ve seen fear and sadness in these students’ eyes transform into sparkle and joy. I’ve watched thousands of teachers and school employees level up supports and services — hosting winter clothing drives and information sessions about the American school system. In the process, our leaders have grown, and our district has been enriched.

My own upbringing, as the child of a Cuban refugee and a Dominican immigrant, offered profound lessons in how public schools can help newcomer families thrive. Decades on, I’m proud to lead Denver Public Schools’ work to support our new-to-country scholars.

Amid teacher shortages in the area, Denver Public Schools created an International Educator Institute to recruit highly qualified international candidates who can fill critical vacancies, including for multilingual educators. To date, we’ve successfully hired 98% of budgeted teaching positions, with a focus on diverse candidates to meet our students’ varied needs.

The district’s six community hubs have been key to supporting the newcomer families as they build their lives in Denver. Launched in 2022, these hubs offer help with everything from food assistance to medical services to workforce training. While they are costly to maintain, they help ensure our students have what they need to thrive. The district is also committed to providing reliable transportation, nutritious meals, mental health support, and access to technology.

The district’s six community hubs have been key to supporting the newcomer families as they build their lives in Denver.

Recognizing this as a statewide and nationwide challenge, we are grateful for all of the school districts and leaders advocating for state and federal funding support. These efforts underscore the importance of unity and shared responsibility in addressing the educational needs of our newest community members. It is more than a responsibility; it is our moral obligation as educators.

I want to assure Denver’s new-to-country families that despite the circumstances that brought them here, every child who walks through our doors will have access to the highest-quality education. While accommodating an influx of newcomer students has presented challenges in staffing, services, and a budget impact that now totals in the tens of millions of dollars, it has also proved our resolve to uphold our mission of educational equity and inclusivity for all learners.

As long as I am Superintendent, Denver Public Schools will continue to champion this cause and uplift every child. We are committed to honoring the legacy of those who have paved the way for equity and justice, positioning our schools as drivers of opportunity and advancement for all.

Dr. Alex Marrero is the Superintendent of Denver Public Schools.

How a Humboldt Park school is helping parents learn English and gain confidence

2024-04-03T17:00:00+00:00

This story was originally published in Block Club Chicago.

All is quiet inside a Humboldt Park elementary school filled with student artwork, class pictures and flags — except for one classroom, where there’s soft chatter in English and Spanish.

It is home to Lowell Elementary School’s first English as a Second Language class, where about 15 parents and relatives of the school community meet Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

The group is a mix of new arrivals from Latin America, mothers, and relatives from other countries who wanted more opportunities to practice English, help their children with homework, and integrate into the neighborhood.

For some, learning English is also their ticket to getting a job and enrolling in college classes to further enrich their lives in Chicago, they said.

“I want to learn English so I can go to school and get a degree and acclimate here,” said Francelys Tineo, who arrived from Venezuela a few months ago and whose daughter attends Lowell. “My husband is trying to get work while I am in class, but we can’t work here yet. But I want to better communicate with people when I can get a job.”

María Taylor shows off her homework as she takes an English as a Second Language class at Lowell Elementary School.

Like many Chicago Public Schools, Lowell, 3320 W. Hirsch St., has seen an influx of migrant children enroll over the past year, growing its already high Latino student population, according to school data. The school has 304 students, 95% of whom are low-income students and 38% of whom are English learners, data shows.

Data on how many new arrivals have settled into Lowell since last year was not available, but the district has welcomed about 5,700 newcomers in collaboration with the city’s family services department, a CPS spokesperson said.

Noelia Llamas, who has lived in Humboldt Park for 18 years and is from Mexico, is on Lowell’s bilingual board and is a member of the school’s parent advisory council. She was one of the mothers who pushed the school to offer the program, she said.

As the Spanish-speaking parent group grew, they kept asking school officials what could be done to have more opportunities to learn English that fit their schedules, she said.

School liaison Maya Bral reached out to Literacy Chicago — a volunteer group that offers free English classes, digital literacy and workforce skills to adults — to see if it could send a teacher to the school.

The school began a partnership with the nonprofit in November, making Lowell one of the first CPS schools to offer the free class after the pandemic, Bral said.

“We need parents to learn and get practice writing and speaking in English so we can get more confidence, help our kids with homework and get more involved with the community,” Llamas said.

The attendance and level of engagement from parents has greatly benefited the school community, Bral said.

“Teachers are reliant on the teachers as much as the teachers are reliant on the parents, so I think (the class) has helped foster that sense of community even more and a sense of agency for the parents,” Bral said.

Wendy Hernandez and Carmelina Martinez work on their classwork.

Many who attend the class told Block Club it has helped them boost their confidence, let go of fears in pronouncing words incorrectly, and create lasting friendships and a greater sense of community.

Progressing from basic skills such as directions and letter pronunciation to more complex skills like reading and writing in English has given parents a valuable opportunity — and it’s free and accessible, parents said.

Carmen Tello, who is from Ecuador and has lived in the neighborhood for eight years, said the class has helped her come out of her shell and strengthen communication with her son.

“I need to communicate with my son and my community and with people from the school who help him, even doctors, so it’s very important to have this skill and train my English,” Tello said. “In all the jobs I have had, everyone speaks Spanish, so there has been no need to learn English, but now I want to. … I am still scared, but I try anyway. Now I have more confidence in speaking and pronouncing words correctly.”

From the other side of the classroom, teacher Marisol Guzman has seen the women blossom and feel more powerful in their language skills, she said.

Marisol Guzman (left) helps a student with a lesson on pronouns.

Through Literacy Chicago, Guzman has taught English literacy classes for three years around the city, and she has seen how the classes can empower attendees.

“There is something really powerful of just saying the words, even if it doesn’t sound right, just moving your tongue,” she said. “It’s a blessing to see them try, and putting themselves out there is powerful and very beneficial to them, as well.”

Guzman teaches all of her classes in English for a full immersion and only switches to Spanish as a last resort, she said.

“I like to challenge them and get them to work together, because I won’t always be here,” Guzman said. “If we have a new student, they may feel lost and need help, but others have been here a long time and can help, which is a good lesson and good to have a mix of learning.”

Llamas, who works with the school’s parent council to organize events at the school and the park, said the class has broadened her horizons. She hopes the class can help more parents looking to get more involved with the community and assimilate.

“I’ve been here 18 years, and it’s never too late to learn,” she said. “I know English, but this has helped with my pronunciation and confidence a lot. I am grateful.”

Migrant students in Philadelphia aren’t getting the support they need, advocacy group says

2024-03-28T18:46:11+00:00

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Zulma Guzman came to Philadelphia from El Salvador in 2019 and is a part of South Philadelphia’s Hispanic community. But she’s had a difficult time getting comfortable as the parent of three students in the city’s public schools.

She said through an interpreter that there’s been a lack of translation services in official school meetings that makes her feel unwelcome. When she and other Spanish-speaking parents have asked for interpreter services, Guzman said, they’ve often been told to “bring our students or children or another community member to interpret for us.”

In addition, she said she struggled to find people at her childrens’ schools to help make her aware of the resources available to her as a member of a newcomer family.

Guzman’s experience isn’t uncommon. In fact, it reflects complaints about significant shortcomings with how the district supports newly arrived migrants, refugees, and those seeking asylum, according to survey results collected by Juntos, an immigrant rights advocacy group, and shared with Chalkbeat.

In the 152 responses from teachers, administrators, and counselors at 56 schools, just 17% said there were sufficient Bilingual Counseling Assistants or bilingual staff members to meet students’ needs in every language they speak. Only 19% said they had received newcomer-specific training that covered more than just interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And only 33% said they believe their schools are equipped to communicate with newcomers and their families.

Philadelphia schools’ inability to provide the kind of support that immigrant students and their families want has been a problem for years, and reflects challenges schools are facing nationwide with recent increases in newcomer and migrant students.

District spokespeople were not available for comment about Juntos’ survey on Thursday, and said they would not be available to respond to Chalkbeat’s requests for comment until next week.

Philadelphia does have two “newcomer” academies at Franklin Learning Center and Frankford High School that are supposed to help these students. Students in grades 9-12 who have arrived to the U.S. within the past year can enroll in these academies. They are supposed to receive “an accelerated course of study” and unique support “so that they are able and expected” to get up to speed with their peers.

But even these academies that are tailored to help newcomers acclimate may not be enough to serve students’ needs. According to data provided by the district, Juntos said in 2023 there were 1,032 newcomer students, but only 70 were enrolled in the two newcomer programs, and that there were 120 spaces remaining. And empty seats may not be the only issue.

Ashley Tellez is a senior at Franklin Learning Center and a junior organizer at Juntos. Her family is from Mexico, but she was born and raised in South Philadelphia and has had a front seat to her school’s newcomer academy. She said in practice, students in these programs are not getting the support they need.

She said newcomer students are kept separate from the general student population, and she’s only had a class with a newcomer student once in her high school career. Tellez said these barriers that keep newcomer students apart starve them of connections with their fellow students and hamper their ability to make friends, join clubs, and fully participate in the Philadelphia student community.

“There’s so many students who come to the schools for these programs who live an hour, 45 minutes away, and aren’t given the right access to education that they are supposed to be getting,” Tellez said.

‘These systems don’t look out for them’

In 2021, the city school board unanimously approved a “welcoming sanctuary schools” resolution promising to provide training to staff on how to respond if ICE officers were to show up on school grounds, and generally how to engage with families and provide and protect newcomer students in their schools.

Guadalupe Mendez, a youth organizer with Juntos, said the group sent out the survey to follow up on that mandatory training teachers were supposed to be getting.

She said the survey results, as well as conversations she and other Juntos members have had with youth and teachers across the city, shows that training is not as robust as was promised. Juntos had spoken with some people who received the training “and they don’t take more than 20 minutes to go over it,” Mendez said.

Mendez grew up in South Philly — like Tellez, her family is from Mexico. Although she’s older than the students she works with at Juntos, not much has changed for Spanish-speaking students in the public school system, despite the “good teachers that had good intentions” who taught her.

Mendez said that, according to district data, for the nearly 23,000 English learner students in Philly schools, there are only 131 bilingual counseling assistants. These assistants provide translation services, help families get connected with resources in the city, and help non-English speaking families build relationships with their school leaders, teachers, and community.

But the relatively small number of these assistants restricts how much they can help families, Mendez said.

The students she’s talked to who’ve come to the district while still learning English “can’t believe that there are no supports. They can’t believe that these systems don’t look out for them.”

Mendez said the district defines students who have “recently arrived” as those who have come to the country within the past year. But that’s often far from enough time to learn a new language, get caught up on classwork, and feel integrated into their schools, she said.

Juntos has told the school district it should expand the newcomer definition to “any students who have recently arrived (within the last three years) to the United States, and may include but are not limited to: asylees, refugees, unaccompanied youth, undocumented youth, migratory students, and other immigrant children and youth.”

The group also wants the district to set up newcomer programs in middle schools and add at least one new high school program in South Philly, where many newcomer students live.

Students act as interpreters for newcomer students

Felipe Mejia-Cuba, a Philadelphia student and volunteer with Juntos, remembers working in a restaurant two years ago with a newcomer student when one day, in the middle of a shift the student insisted that Mejia-Cuba call a hospital to help him navigate the health care system.

Mejia-Cuba said the student, who attended Horace Howard Furness High School, told him his school wasn’t able to help, and that he needed forms and vaccinations to help him stay in school.

That’s a common experience for many bilingual young people, who are tasked with translating meetings and documents for friends and family.

“That was the first red flag that I encountered,” Mejia-Cuba said. “I found out about all the disadvantages and all the neglect that the newcomer students are facing.”

Mejia-Cuba said being a mentor for other kids his age has helped him better understand the resources available to Spanish-speaking Philadelphians and find his place in his community.

“The me that I am now would be able to help that kid in the basement of that restaurant,” Mejia-Cuba said.

He doesn’t want his newborn cousins and relatives in the public school system to have the same struggles that he did: “It’s not just a battle for who is in the schools now, it’s a battle for generations to come.

Tellez, the senior at Franklin Learning Center, said she feels lucky because she’s able to speak out when some of her fellow students may not be able to because they are undocumented or have family members who are undocumented and fear federal immigration authorities.

She and Mejia-Cuba both said though they are graduating, they want the school district to improve for those coming up behind them.

“I really grew up with these ideas of what schools can look like and what power I have as a student to achieve that,” Tellez said. “I learned that I have a voice and I can use my voice to create change.”

Carly Sitrin is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Philadelphia. Contact Carly at csitrin@chalkbeat.org.

LISTEN: Migrant students navigate a new reality

2024-03-27T10:00:00+00:00

The first episode of P.S. Weekly focuses on one of the biggest education stories in New York City this year: the arrival of thousands of migrant students.

Officials estimate that more than 36,000 migrant students have enrolled in city schools over the past two years.

What challenges are these new students facing? And what are schools doing to support them? This student-reported episode explores these questions through conversations with students, educators, and a journalist who’s been covering the issue.

The first segment features an interview with Chalkbeat reporter Michael Elsen-Rooney, as he explains how schools have been supporting recently arrived students — and what the media has gotten wrong. With the city’s recent policy limiting migrant families to 60 days in shelters, it’s been hard on schools to figure out how to help. Elsen-Rooney said school officials are grappling with questions like: “Can we figure out transportation for them, or do they leave? And then they have to start over at a new school?”

Next, Marisol Martin, a senior at Claremont International High School in the Bronx, talks about her hurdles and triumphs since coming here from Mexico a few years ago. As she’s gotten more involved with her school’s Dream Squad — a program the Education Department started in 2020 to help immigrant students and undocumented youth and is now in more than 60 schools — Martin has felt more a part of the community.

A poster for the Dream Squad at Claremont International High School.

She’s paying it forward, now as a Dream Squad leader herself, and she shares her view on how schools should better help students feel connected to one another.

“What I would tell them is to socialize with other people,” Martin said in Spanish. “When you’re alone, you’re shy, and you don’t want to talk to anyone, you close yourself in your own world, and you don’t know more about what’s happening outside.”

Finally, Sunisa Nuonsy, a former high school teacher of 10 years at International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn, talks about why she became a teacher specifically focused on immigrant students, the challenges she faced, and her advice to other teachers, especially those who are working with migrant students who may have experienced trauma. (Nuonsy is currently a doctoral student in urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center and a project researcher for the CUNY Initiative on Immigration and Education.)

Sunisa Nuonsy

“They can easily shut down and they can easily drop out,” Nuonsy said of migrant students. “So you have a very unique opportunity to be an adult in their life that is welcoming them and affirming them and showing them that they have value and that they should be here.”

P.S. Weekly is available on major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Be sure to drop a review in your app or shoot an email to PSWeekly@chalkbeat.org. Tell us what you learned today or what you’re still wondering. We just might read your comment on a future episode.

P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between Chalkbeat and The Bell. Listen for new episodes Wednesdays this spring.

Read the full episode transcript below

Dorothy: Welcome to P.S. Weekly… the sound of the New York City school system. I’m Dorothy Ha, a senior at Stuyvesant High School– and I’m super excited to be hosting the very first episode of P.S. Weekly. This show is a collaboration between Chalkbeat New York, a leading education news site– and The Bell, a leading provider of audio journalism training to high school students. It’s a pairing as natural as a bacon, egg, and cheese!

Dorothy: Each week this Spring, our team will dig into one issue affecting New York City schools, bringing you a mix of voices and perspectives that you won’t find anywhere else. Along the way, we want to hear from YOU, our lovely listeners– more on that later in the show. Right now… let’s get to it.

Dorothy: For our first episode, we chose what’s been arguably the biggest story in New York City this year.

News Clip: Parents and educators say several Manhattan public schools are overwhelmed with an influx of migrant students. CBS News’ Natalie Duddridge spoke with the Chancellor on his efforts to find solutions.

Dorothy: What challenges are these new migrant students facing? And what are schools doing to support them? We’ll hear experiences directly from students and teachers. But first! We have Mike Elsen-Rooney with us. Mike is a Chalkbeat reporter who’s been covering how schools are responding to thousands of newly arrived migrant students.

Dorothy: Hi Mike! Thanks for joining us.

Mike: Hey, Dorothy. It’s great to be here.

Dorothy: All right. So, Mike, when did the issue that some have called the “migrant crisis” hit your radar?

Mike: So I remember back in Summer 2022, when this was first hitting the headlines. I was watching a meeting, and a superintendent said, “We’re expecting a couple hundred new students to come in.” And I was like, “Whoa, that seems like a lot of kids.” And then here we are about two years later, and it’s a whole lot more than that.

Dorothy: Right, so now it’s 2024. And how many people are we talking about in total now?

Mike: So our best estimate is that about 36,000 new kids have enrolled over the past couple of years.

Dorothy: Wow. That’s a lot of students. So what can you tell us about where these new migrants are living and where they’re going to school?

Mike: Yeah. So where they’re living really depends on where the city has been able to set up shelters. We’ve seen shelters pop up in Long Island City in Queens, and Clinton Hill in Brooklyn, and lots of different parts of the city. And so where kids go to school really depends on two things. Number one is how close it is to their shelters. The second thing is what schools are really good and well-equipped to serve English language learners.

Dorothy: I can imagine that there are a lot of challenges in handling this big increase in migrant students.

Mike: Yeah, it can be really hard just getting tons and tons of new kids with a lot of challenges. And then the thing that’s been really hard recently is that there’s this new policy: families can only stay in shelters for 60 days. After that, they have to reapply, and they may end up in a shelter in a different part of the city. And so schools have to figure out, “Can we keep this kid? Can we figure out transportation for them, or do they leave? And then they have to start over at a new school?”

Dorothy: Recently, you wrote a really interesting story about how this immigration issue is impacting students and how they’re feeling at this moment. And you spoke to folks at Newcomers High School. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Mike: Yeah. So Newcomers High School is this really interesting place in Long Island City, Queens. It’s been around for 30 years, and they’re really good at accepting newcomer kids from around the world and teaching them English and helping them get acclimated to life in the U.S. And so that school is also near a bunch of shelters in Long Island City. And so when I saw a couple of kids from Newcomers High School speaking at a meeting for the Panel for Educational Policy recently, I was really surprised by what they said.

Meeting Clip: Our name stigmatizes us and condemns us to always be patronized and not having a choice because we are “new.” We are marked with the idea that we are here occupying a space that is not ours.

Mike: They said that the name Newcomers High School was, quote, putting a target on their backs.

Dorothy: And so what happened after the testimony?

Mike: After that testimony, they went through the whole process of getting their name changed, and we just actually found out that they got approved to have a new name. And the school is going to be called Atlas.

Dorothy: The situation with their name change kind of makes me think about the portrayal of migrants in the media. You know, not every journalist is as thorough as you are, Mike. So what’s been the broader media narrative?

Mike: So we’ve seen some examples where the media actually has really not captured what’s happening on the ground. And one really good example is, there was an incident recently where the city had set up basically an emergency tent shelter on Floyd Bennett Field at the Southern tip of Brooklyn. And there was a storm coming, and the city decided to evacuate them.

News Anchor 1: Mounting frustrations this afternoon in Brooklyn after the city temporarily placed asylum seekers into the gym of James Madison High School in Midwood.

News Anchor 2: While the move was to provide shelter for them from last night’s storm, but it was meant– it meant that no classes happened at the school today. And parents are really frustrated by all of it.

Mike: The city had them stay there overnight and then got them out early in the morning. But the school’s principal decided, they weren’t going to be able to get it cleaned up in time; let’s switch to remote learning for the day. When this hit the news. It turned into this huge story, especially in a lot of right-wing media. And the narrative was that New York City kids are getting pushed out by migrant families. But when a colleague of mine actually talked to students and parents there, you know, kids were saying, “Look, we sympathize with these families. We didn’t want them to be exposed to any danger of being out in the storm. And it was just a very different set of reactions than what came through if you only read the kind of media firestorm over this. And so, you know, it kind of drove home this point that what the media says doesn’t always reflect the reality on the ground.

Dorothy: Wow, fascinating. And on top of that, immigration has been a big issue in the presidential election so far. I can think of one presidential candidate who has been speaking about it a lot in particular. So how has that impacted New York City?

Mike: So Donald Trump just weighed in on this. He made some claims in a recent interview that New York City kids were getting pushed out by migrant students. And it just is incorrect. And the biggest reason for that is that there are actually a lot of empty seats in New York City schools. We lost enrollment during the pandemic, and so there’s plenty of space and no one’s getting pushed out.

Dorothy: So my last question for you is, for educators, and policymakers, and community members who want to better support these migrant students, what are some of the success stories that you’ve seen?

Mike: So many schools have been finding really creative and empathetic ways to support their new kids. You know, one big example we’ve seen is that a lot of schools have done coat drives because a lot of these newcomer kids have lived in the Southern Hemisphere their whole lives and have never really been through a New York winter. So it’s just those kinds of things at the community level, listening to what these families need and making it happen.

Dorothy: Mike, thank you so much for sitting down and having this conversation with us.

Mike: Thanks so much, Dorothy.

Dorothy: And now, we’re going to take a closer look at what the experience is really like after students arrive here. And how one program is helping them adjust. Our P.S. Weekly reporter Jose Santana has the story.

Marisol: Hola, mi nombre es Marisol Martin. Soy del grado 12, soy senior, mi país es México.

Jose: This is Marisol Martin, an 18-year-old high school senior.

Marisol: The biggest challenge I have is the language. I only knew how to say “thank you.” The teacher back in my country told us “thank you” in English, but beyond that I didn’t know anything.

Jose: She arrived in New York City from Mexico when NYC schools were still remote because of the pandemic.

Marisol: It was very difficult for me to learn; ninth grade was very difficult. The classes were online, and that made it more difficult for me to learn, and I didn’t understand anything. I just used a translator or something like that to see what to do.

Jose: And she’s not the only one who faces these kinds of hurdles. New York City is a city of immigrants, and its schools reflect that. Young people from all over the world come here for a multitude of reasons. Last school year, nearly one in five city students was learning English as a new language. Here’s Governor Kathy Hochul during a press conference last September.

Kathy (News Clip): We have real challenges. They’re coming in from West Africa, South and Central America. So it’s not just assuming that Spanish is going to cover everybody. It doesn’t come close. City officials…

Jose: When high school students like Marisol first arrive in New York City, the school system typically enrolls them in one of about 20 international high schools. These are schools like Newcomers– now called Atlas –that specialize in supporting recent immigrants. Marisol attends Claremont International High School in the Bronx. Nearly all of its students are low-income and English language learners. When Marisol first got there, language wasn’t the only barrier.

Marisol: Another challenge for me was to use technology that was very complicated for me because they gave me an iPad to work with my things. But it was in English, and I didn’t know where to enter, what to do, or where to paste.

Jose: Being in a new country also takes some cultural adjustment.

Marisol: When I arrived here in the United States, I entered Claremont and I kind of didn’t have much connection with the people. Different countries, different cultures.

Jose: But lucky for Marisol– and so many other immigrant students –there was help.

Marisol: Something that has helped me are some groups, like the Dream Squad. When I entered tenth grade, I was on the Dream Team. That also helped me a lot to communicate.

Jose: What is a Dream Squad? To answer that question, come with me to one of their meetings. It’s 12 p.m. on a Tuesday and I’m here at the Dream Squad’s weekly lunchtime meeting in the school’s library. The Dream Squad’s staff director Evelyn Reyes is leading the meeting with about 10 students, who are all seniors. They were discussing plans and ideas to recruit more Dream Squad members by sending emails out, flyers and directly inviting students to their meetings. Evelyn said the program started in 2019 to help immigrant students and undocumented youth.

Evelyn: Our then social worker was working around creating a space where students, regardless of immigration status, could find, you know, that empowerment where their stories were shared.

Jose: Claremont is one of more than two dozen schools around the city with a Dream Squad program. Dream Squads receive support from the non-profit ImmSchools and the DOE’s Division of Multilingual Learners. They provide notebooks, laptops, lanyards, and events for students and staff. But the most important aspect of the program is the community itself– and the knowledge that gets shared. Meeting topics vary from week to week.

Evelyn: So, mental health, we want to talk about also “know your rights.” So that our students are aware of what their rights are as immigrants. We want our students to also know that they have different options when it comes to post-secondary planning, whether that is college, whether that is trade school, whether that is a certificate program. We do try to do our best to share the information that we share with the students inside those meetings, across the school.

Jose: Dream Squad is tackling some big challenges, and it’s not without its difficulties. Language continues to be an issue.

Evelyn: Claremont is a very multilingual school, so we are a very diverse school community. And sometimes, just being able to produce or communicate a lot of the resources on students’ native language, that could be something that can be a little bit challenging.

Jose: But, despite these challenges, Evelyn makes sure to let the students know that–

Evelyn: Your background, your values, your culture, all of that is an asset. Like you have that, value that. So I do want them to feel like their story matters. Like I want them to, to feel like they’re at a community. That they’re welcome not only inside our school community, but also, you know, in this country.

Jose: And how does Dream Squad measure success?

Evelyn: Knowledge is success for me. Like, as long as we’re about to reach our students and we’re able to provide the resources, that they know how to use the resources, that they know how to access those resources. That’s how we measure success.

Jose: After benefiting from the program, Marisol became a Dream Squad leader– for 2 years now –to help other students like her. I ask Marisol how she’s adjusted since arriving in New York 3 years ago.

Jose (in Spanish): After 3 years of being here, how have you adjusted?

Marisol: I think that through time and things around me, I was able to connect more with the things in the United States. And also how the people that I met helped me too, like… like my classmates who are also migrants. So, we talk to each other and tell each other about this and this. I think that was something that helped me a lot to adapt here.

Jose: I ask her what advice she’d give to other students who have just arrived and gone through a similar experience.

Marisol: What I would tell them is to socialize with other people. That’s very good, because having a connection to more people, you can know more things versus when you’re alone, you’re shy and you don’t talk to anyone. You close yourself in your own world, and you don’t know more about what’s happening outside.

Jose: And what can the schools do to make the experience better?

Marisol: I think that giving them guidance, telling them, like, “here you can learn, here you can communicate.” The schools need to have more– like a connection with students, because many of the children don’t know what to do when they arrive the first day. They are very shy, and I think that they should have more priority with them when they immediately arrive.

Jose: There’s no doubt that the increase in new students to the city creates a difficult situation for both the city and the students. But as Marisol suggests, there are things that can be done to make the immigrant student experience better. And it all starts with a supportive community– grassroots efforts like the Dream Squad program that are making schools a safe and welcoming space for all.

Dorothy: Once again, that was Jose Santana, reporting from Claremont International High School. We’re going to take a short break, but when we return… a teacher’s perspective.

Sunisa: Sometimes, students are hopeless. Which I think to a teacher, to see a hopeless student is sad; it’s heartbreaking.

Dorothy: So stay tuned…

Salma: Hey, listeners! We hope you’re enjoying the first episode of P.S. Weekly. We’ve got an assignment for you—follow us on Instagram @bell.voices. And we want to hear from you! Reach out to P.S. Weekly at psweekly@chalkbeat.org with comments, questions, and suggestions. And… if you want more student-created content, listen up!

Student 1: On Our Minds is a podcast about the teenage experience. Made by teens, for teens.

Student 2: There’s a lot on our minds, and talking about it helps.

Student 1: On Our Minds: Season 4 is produced by PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, in collaboration with KUOW’s RadioActive Youth Media.

Student 2: Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Dorothy: In the last segment, we heard about the immigrant student experience. When it comes to helping these students overcome language barriers and navigate a new environment, that job often falls to… you guessed it… teachers. Our producer Bernie Carmona spoke to one of them.

Bernie: As a child of immigrants, I’ve thought about the experiences of migrant students navigating through school life. But who takes on the responsibility for making sure students are fully prepared for their future? What do teachers go through while navigating classrooms with migrant students? I remember speaking to my older sister, Mariana, who moved from Mexico to South Carolina in 2002 when she was about 5 years old. She didn’t know English when she arrived and struggled to adjust to the new environment. She didn’t feel supported until she came to New York City, where she experienced the diverse culture and language in schools, things she couldn’t access in South Carolina.

Bernie: Her experience made me wonder: how does all of this look from a teacher’s perspective? I spoke to Sunisa Nuonsy, a former high school teacher of 10 years at International High School at Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.

Bernie: Thank you so much for being here, Sunisa.

Sunisa: Thank you so much for having me.

Bernie: Sunisa, why did you choose to become a teacher?

Sunisa: I became a teacher, particularly for immigrant students, because of my own experience. My family came to the U.S. as refugees from Laos. And sadly to say, some of my aunts and uncles, who were adolescents at the time of resettlement here, they were not equitably served in schools, and they dropped out of school. And so I always carried that with me. And when I became an adult, and I was thinking about my career path, I was very much drawn to language and to working with immigrants just because I felt like I could connect with them.

Bernie: Can you tell me a little more about how that experience was like for you?

Sunisa: The first time that I entered the school, I was interviewing as a student teacher, and I saw the students, and the different kinds of clothes they were wearing. Some kids were like, you know, dressed very Western, some kids were wearing more cultured clothes, hearing different languages. I thought it was the coolest place ever because I was like, “Look at these beautiful kids.” They come from everywhere. But we’re in Brooklyn. They’re so fly, they’re so fresh. It’s like where roots are– are like bursting through the ground, you know, because everything is just alive. Like the ways that language comes together, right?

Sunisa: I worked at a school, I would say was mostly Dominican. So every student learned Dominican Spanish, right? Whether you were from Yemen or Guinea, everybody was like, “Que lo que.” And just the way that our students were so open with their cultures and playing with one another’s cultures and really learning with it was just this beautiful hybrid space. And I don’t want to romanticize it, but I just imagine that that’s what our world could really be like is, you know, a place where people feel affirmed in who they are, but also aren’t scared to get to know other people. But we’re trying to make the world better, right? We’re trying to make people freer, more liberated. So I love that space. I love that liminal space.

Bernie: What would you say has been the biggest challenge you face with working with migrant students?

Sunisa: Well, I can say that although I identify as an immigrant myself, it’s such a tough situation to be in, and the larger administration is not aware of that. And they’re expecting you to be this robot that just has to do their job and perform their functions. But a lot of times I’ve seen it impossible to get a student to respond to classwork because they have so many other pressing and urgent issues that are just surrounding their brain and their souls. And that can be challenging to do when you have students who don’t see a pathway to college, they don’t even see a pathway to graduation. So to work with students, try to instill in them some sense of agency and empowerment, you know, even in the smallest ways, I think is really important because sometimes students are hopeless, which I think to a teacher, to see a student hopeless is sad. It’s heartbreaking, right, because you think that you’re there to really guide them to all of these opportunities when those opportunities are inequitably distributed. Like I think about college tuition, right, and financial aid and who can access financial aid and who can’t.

Bernie: What was a difficult moment you encountered?

Sunisa: I had two amazing students who were sisters, and they wanted to go to college. And their dad, culturally, didn’t think that college was for them. And so I had just so many conversations not only with them but with their guardians, with administrators at the schools, with other teachers. And oftentimes, I would just go back to my classroom and cry out of frustration because you could feel like you’re doing all of the hard things that you need to do to support these immigrant students. And there are still things that are just out of your control. So to see these students who had come all this way, had come from this village in Yemen to Brooklyn. And really learn how to believe in themselves and have some empowerment and still not be able to make that one crucial decision about whether they can continue their educations. It’s just, you know, I don’t know, even know how to troubleshoot that.

Bernie: Do you have any advice for teachers that are currently working with migrant students?

Sunisa: My recommendation for all teachers really is to know who your students are. Get to understand their context and their experiences before you label them as anything. Because, especially immigrant students, the ones who have experienced trauma along the way, they can easily shut down and they can easily drop out. So you have a very unique opportunity to be an adult in their life that is welcoming them and affirming them and showing them that they have value and that they should be here.

Bernie: Thank you so much for being a part of this interview, Sunisa.

Sunisa: Thank you so much for having me.

Bernie: I’m Bernie Carmona, reporting for P.S. Weekly.

Dorothy: That’s it for our first episode, but before you go, we have an extra credit assignment for you! Go to chalkbeat.org/newsletters, or click the link in our show notes, to sign up for the Chalkbeat New York morning newsletter. It’s the best way to stay informed on local schools coverage Monday through Friday. And if you really want to impress the teacher, drop a review in your podcast app or shoot an email to psweekly@chalkbeat.org. Tell us what you learned today or what you’re still wondering. We just might read your comment on a future episode.

Dorothy: P.S.: We’re back next Wednesday with an episode on how the national wave of Book Bans is impacting local schools.

Preview Clip: These groups are trying to erode the trust of educators in general by placing doubt in people’s minds about what a teacher is exposing kids to, is really just trying to attack the public school system.

Dorothy: Until then… [with entire cast] class dismissed!

CREDITS

Dorothy: P.S. Weekly is a collaboration between The Bell and Chalkbeat, made possible by generous support from The Pinkerton Foundation, The Summerfield Foundation, FJC, and Hindenburg Systems. This episode was hosted by me, Dorothy Ha. Producers for this episode were Sanaa Stokes, Jose Santana, and Bernie Carmona. With reporting help from Chalkbeat reporters Alex Zimmerman and Mike Elsen-Rooney. Engineering support was provided by Ava Stryker-Robbins. Our marketing lead this week was Santana Roach. Our executive producer for the show is Joann DeLuna. Executive editors are Amy Zimmer and Taylor McGraw.

Additional production and reporting support was provided by Sabrina DuQuesnay, Mira Gordon, and our friends at Chalkbeat. Special thanks to our interns Miriam Galicia and Makenna Turner. Music from Blue Dot Sessions and the jingle you heard at the beginning of this episode was created by the one and only: Erica Huang.

Thanks for tuning in! See you next time!

Correction: The Dream Squad, which started in 2020 is now in 60 schools, up from 25.

Colorado will allow some of this year’s new migrant students to skip state tests

2024-03-22T22:39:54+00:00

Some students who are new to the U.S. and enrolled in Colorado schools after the official October count will not have to take any standardized tests this spring.

That’s according to new guidance issued recently by the Colorado Department of Education.

The department changed the guidance as school districts are seeing unprecedented numbers of new students who are new to the country. Teachers have described various challenges they’ve faced trying to educate migrant students, and the students are unlikely to do well on standardized state tests given in English. As of February, the Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton districts told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 newcomer students after October count.

Denver Public School leaders told their school board this week that in their case, the majority of students new to the country will fall into that category to be exempt from testing.

Colorado students who are identified as new to the country and have no or limited proficiency in English already are exempt from taking standardized English reading and writing tests for at least their first year of school. Before the new guidance, they were expected to take standardized math and science tests with accommodations.

This spring, if students are new to the country, have no or little English fluency, enrolled after October count, and had limited or interrupted schooling before arriving, they can also skip the math and science tests.

Limited or interrupted schooling includes not attending school for six consecutive school calendar months prior to Colorado enrollment or having two or more years of missed schooling compared to similarly aged students in the U.S. Students who had limited school options in their home country because of war, civil unrest, or needing to travel a long distance to an available school could also qualify for that designation.

Students who have not had interrupted schooling will still be expected to take math and science tests with accommodations. Their participation will count toward overall participation rates, but their scores will not be factored into school ratings for state or federal accountability systems.

Colorado tests students in third through 11th grades. CMAS English and math tests are given to students in third through eighth grade. Science tests are only given to students in fifth, eighth, and 11th grades. In high school, students take the PSAT in ninth and tenth grades, and the SAT in 11th grade.

Families can always opt students out of tests.

In Colorado, this year’s spring testing window begins April 8, after most districts come back from spring break.

Reporter Ann Schimke contributed to this report.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Amid influx of students new to the country, English development teachers in Colorado feel overwhelmed

2024-03-20T23:44:05+00:00

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This school year has been overwhelming for teachers like Joel Mollman.

As an English language development teacher at Hamilton Middle School in Denver, Mollman has had to take on more work to keep up with the growing number of students who need help learning English.

In previous years, for example, his school might have only received three students a month who needed to be screened for English fluency. This year, he screens at least three new students each week — a process that takes one to two hours per student.

“It could quickly take up two of my mornings where I could be in classrooms,” Mollman said.

Across the state, English language development teachers describe similar scenarios.

As many schools have experienced an influx of new students with limited English skills all year, their roles have been changing.

Traditionally, these teachers are tasked with screening new students, teaching English as a second language, administering English fluency tests, and coaching other classroom teachers.

Now they must also support many students who are new to the country in much larger classes than typical.

As of the end of February, seven of Colorado’s districts — Denver, Aurora, Cherry Creek, Greeley, Adams 12, Jeffco, and Mapleton — told Chalkbeat they had enrolled more than 5,600 students new to the country after October count.

Some schools, in particular ones where there haven’t traditionally been large numbers of English learners, have relied on their English language development teachers to be the main support for children new to the country. Some of the teachers describe helping students and their families navigate a new country, and even taking in a child whose family was living in a car, during a bout of chickenpox.

Often, they say, certain parts of their job have fallen to the wayside, and state advocates say that in small districts, even screening students to identify their English needs, a crucial step, gets skipped.

Cynthia Trinidad-Sheahan, president of the Colorado Association for Bilingual Education, said districts don’t have the manpower, and often don’t know what to do.

“The expertise is lacking with some of the districts,” Trinidad-Sheahan said. “How do we get training to the teachers that are in these rural districts? And it’s not just on the paraeducators and teachers. The administrators leading these buildings do not have a clear understanding of language acquisition.”

Teachers start by testing for English fluency

When a student who is suspected of not being fluent in English is enrolled in school, the district is required to screen them to identify their language level and needs for services. That screening is supposed to happen within two weeks of enrollment.

In a typical year, that occupies time in the beginning of the school year for English language development teachers. This year, with some schools receiving new students every week, that process has taken up a lot more time.

At Hamilton Middle, where Mollman is also team lead for the school’s multilingual team, he’s taken on the role of screening all students this semester. Official state numbers show 40% of Hamilton’s 700 students have been identified as English learners.

In addition to administering the tests, Mollman has to block off a few hours per week to do the paperwork for the district. That requires entering scores and other information into the computer, and three school staff members to sign off.

Last semester, another English language development teacher on his team was sharing the load, but with so many new students, that teacher had to take on another class, giving up one of her free periods. Mollman now does all the screening.

Each Monday, he starts his week preparing for testing, double-checking the schedules given to new students to make sure they’re in the right classes, tracking down Chromebooks if they haven’t received them, and sometimes making calls as he tries to figure out what proficiency the new students have in their native language.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, said screening new students didn’t consume her job only because her school was able to get help from Aurora district leaders who stepped in to do that work.

But she recalls how many of the students arrived just before the annual testing window for ACCESS tests, the tests English learners take each year to measure their progress in English fluency. Those students had to take both tests within days or weeks.

“Every office or room was filled with testing,” Brooks said. She said it was heartbreaking to pull students and have them realize they had to take yet another English test they wouldn’t be able to do well on.

It’s hard to find time to help more students

Both Brooks and Mollman said that in their schools, giving students a block of English language instruction — a legally required practice — has not stopped.

But other help for students and staff has.

Brooks, for instance, said she used to pull groups of students such as those new to the country out of class for extra English instruction where she would let them practice speaking. She used to cater those sessions to phrases and vocabulary the students might encounter in other content classrooms such as science or social studies so they might feel more able to participate.

“All of that stopped,” Brooks said. “It came to an absolute screeching halt.”

In recent weeks, as the number of new students has slowed, she started back on a rhythm of reconvening some small groups of students.

“They are so happy,” Brooks said. “They want to learn. I taught them last week some basic advocacy: I need water. I need the bathroom. I need food.”

Still, she isn’t doing as much as she would like. And she hasn’t been able to help other classroom teachers in her school. At Tollgate, she said, about 60% to 75% of students are considered level 1 English learners, which means they don’t have any English fluency.

“We have a little over half of every classroom filled with students who don’t speak English, so half of their students are understanding what they say,” Brooks said. “Our team wants to — and should be — supporting teachers and having professional development around this. It’s just been such an overwhelming time that it’s not something that’s happening.”

Trinidad-Sheahan said districts need to allow English language development teachers to coach other teachers so the responsibilities for teaching students gets shared.

At the schools seeing an influx of emerging bilingual students, she said, instructional coaches should be teachers with experience in teaching English learners.

Mollman said at his Denver school, his team is trying to help other content teachers, but “we’re still trying to figure out the best way to do this.”

In other years, at his school teachers may have paired new students with other students who also speak the same language. But with so many new students, including some who speak Spanish and others who speak Arabic, it’s not always possible.

He’s also trying to get teachers to adapt how they grade students who don’t yet speak English. But it’s all a challenge.

“Some teachers are very good at adapting,” Mollman said. “Some have really struggled with it and we haven’t quite found the solution.”

Teachers feel unprepared for student needs

Even teachers who have experience working with students learning English as a new language say they’ve felt unprepared at times this year.

Dakota Prosch, is an English language teacher at Academia Ana Marie Sandoval in Denver, where she teaches fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students at the dual language Montessori school. In a typical year, her students are already close to fully bilingual. Because of the school model, and being a magnet school, most students by fourth grade have been in the school since kindergarten.

But this year, because of the large numbers of migrant students in Denver, the school has had to accept new students. It means Prosch is now working with students who have just arrived in the country and speak no English.

“We don’t have any materials for students who don’t speak English,” she said.

In February, the district provided some materials used at newcomer centers, but Prosch wishes she had gotten those resources sooner. For at least 30 minutes a day, she pulls aside the new students to work with them on some English development.

“There’s essentially two classes in one,” Prosch said. “I cannot deliver the same instruction.”

Most of her students are usually analyzing text. She tries to have her new students do that too, but many are just trying to learn what a sentence is and “how to put their tongue between their teeth” to learn the sounds different letter combinations make.

Still, Prosch said, “they’re really awesome kids and I’m really glad to have them.” It’s a sentiment echoed by other teachers.

Lawmakers are discussing a plan that would give some school districts additional funding for the students new to the country who have enrolled after October count when school funding is set.

Mollman agrees that more resources would help.

Right now, he said, schools like his are making tough decisions, such as choosing between bringing in a second English language development teacher or another science teacher. At his school, this year, they added a new ELD teacher to relieve a class that had more than 40 students.

“It was a pretty easy decision this year, but that then impacted one of our teams more severely than others,” Mollman said.

But, even without funding, teachers say their roles have to adapt to meet the needs of students.

“The goal is to ensure all of our students are successful regardless if they’re language learners or not,” Mollman said.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools ‘hitting the gas pedal’ on expanding dual language programs

2024-03-19T21:12:40+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools plans to hit “the gas pedal” on an expansion of dual language programs, which teach students in both English and another language, CEO Pedro Martinez said Tuesday at an event focused on Latino students.

At the event hosted by advocacy organization Latino Policy Forum, Martinez said CPS has a “significant opportunity” to expand its existing slate of dual language programs, which are designed to help students become fluent in English and another language.

The district currently has dual language programs in 37 elementary schools, three high schools, and three charter schools, according to a presentation Martinez delivered Tuesday.

Officials did not immediately share details on how soon the district wants to expand its dual language offerings, what it would cost, or where new programs would open because the district is still planning, according to a spokesperson. Martinez said Tuesday his team also wants to create more world language options.

Dual language programs are one of three types of English learner programs available in CPS; however, dual language can also serve students who are not learning English as a new language.

By state law, schools with 20 or more English language learners who speak the same native language must offer a Transitional Bilingual Program, which provides instruction in English and a child’s native language but focuses on building up the student’s English skills. Schools with 19 or fewer students who speak the same native language have a Transitional Program of Instruction, which provides instruction in English, according to CPS.

Transitional programs work to ensure that non-English speakers can speak English, but “imagine if they could keep their Spanish and go deeper,” he told the crowd at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy.

“We want biliteracy, not just transitioning out of the native language into English,” said Karime Asaf, chief of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education.

The district’s goal comes as CPS has welcomed more than 6,000 new migrant students into schools so far this year, Martinez told reporters after the event. Educators and union officials have expressed concern about a lack of staffing and resources at schools to properly support migrant students who have come to Chicago from the southern border since 2022.

CPS has struggled to provide bilingual programming to English language learners. In February, district officials said just under 6% of schools — or roughly 30 — did not have teachers with required bilingual or English-as-a-second-language credentials.

Asaf said this challenge has emerged as migrant families move out of shelters and find permanent homes through housing assistance programs in neighborhoods where the schools do not have bilingual programming or large numbers of English learners, Asaf said. The district is prioritizing helping teachers at those schools get certified to teach English language learners, if they are interested, she said. The district is also sending central staffers to help schools with students who are learning English, she said.

But even before the most recent wave of migrants, CPS bilingual programming lagged. In 2017, the Chicago Reporter found that 71% of 342 schools audited by CPS did not have adequate bilingual programming, in violation of state law.

CPS has gradually opened dual language programs over the past decade, with efforts stretching back to at least 2016 and an expansion in 2018.

Advocates for English learners have previously pushed the district to open more dual language programs. One study focused on fifth graders in Oregon found strong signs that dual language instruction can improve literacy achievement, according to a 2022 review of the research by the federal Institute of Education Sciences’s What Works Clearinghouse. However, that study and another out of Utah found no evidence that dual language instruction boosted math or science achievement, and reviewers called for more rigorous research.

Such programs can also be costly, which could make it challenging for the district to implement as it faces a $391 million deficit next fiscal year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Newly arrived young adults face challenges to NYC school enrollment

2024-03-19T20:24:30+00:00

This article was republished from City Limits, an independent, investigative news source.

The 20-year-old from Mauritania arrived in the city four months ago with the dream of graduating from high school in the United States.

”I want to make my life better. I am still a baby, and I should go to school to have more experience, to have more knowledge,” the youth—who preferred not to be identified by name, citing past experiences with other media—said in fluent English, something he quickly picked up from daily interactions, adding to the multitude of languages he already speaks. “I don’t want to lose my time.”

In only four months, he has moved from one shelter to the other: living first in Manhattan, then Brooklyn, and now the Bronx, after the city instituted a 30-day shelter limit for adult migrants in the city last year, which was extended last week to 60 days for adults under 23 as part of the city’s “right to shelter” settlement.

Over 852 single immigrant youth between the ages of 17 and 20 were in the city’s shelter system as of March 3, according to City Hall. Dozens of them have told shelter staff they want to graduate from high school, but haven’t been enrolled—even though they are entitled to do so under federal law, according to several community-based organizations (CBOs) that are trying to assist them.

Eight local organizations that provide services to immigrants and/or youth described delays and difficulties in enrolling young migrants recently. The organization with the highest number of cases was Safe Horizon’s Streetwork Project, a drop-in center for homeless youth that has been serving an increasing number of asylum seekers since last year, which says it has referred around 60 cases of migrants directly to the New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) since January.

But only six have been enrolled so far, lamented Sebastien Vante, associate vice president of Safe Horizon’s Streetwork Project in Harlem.Other organizations—Afrikana, an East Harlem community center that serves young immigrants; Artists Athletes Activists, which greets asylum seekers upon arrival and connects them with support services; the Coalition for Homeless Youth; The Door, which offers legal aid, counseling, and various support services to youth; and the New York Legal Assistance Group—told City Limits that the youth they serve have faced difficulties in school enrollment.

Some have been told there is no space, some have been put on waitlists and others said they were only given the option of taking the General Educational Development (GED) high school equivalency test, according to these groups.

When asked about these complaints, a New York City Public Schools spokesperson said the education department “does not track enrollment referrals and students are not asked to disclose how they received information about the enrollment process.”

“Enrollment does not work on a referral basis,” added the spokesperson in an email.

The department said it is working to ensure that older students who want to attend classes are afforded academic options including traditional high schools, transfer schools—which serve students who are behind in credits or need alternative forms of education—as well as adult GED programs.

“Since the inception of Project Open Arms, we have made it clear—we cannot do this work alone,” the spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the city’s initiative to offer educational support to new immigrants and asylum seekers.

But stating now that enrollment does not operate on a referral basis, advocates said, has created confusion, departing from how the city has historically enrolled unhoused young people referred by social services organizations.

“Providers have always utilized certain processes through relationships with students in temporary housing liaisons,” countered Jamie Powlovich, executive director for the Coalition for Homeless Youth. “If that process is no longer something NYC Public School supports, they didn’t tell anyone.”

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, a federal law that protects the educational rights of homeless children and youth, these young adults should be enrolled in school immediately, even in the absence of documentation such as proof of residency, immunizations, school records, or other documents normally required.

The New York State Education Law stipulates that those between the ages of 5 and 21 who have not received a high school diploma are “entitled to attend the public schools maintained in the district in which such person resides without the payment of tuition.”

Further, State Education Department guidance notes that, “Districts may not force such individuals to forego a full-time high school program to pursue this alternative option [GED test], or otherwise steer such individuals toward this alternative option.”

“I feel like almost all my clients in that specific situation—17 to 20, trying to get into high school—are almost always pushed towards the GED program,” said Salina Guzman, immigrant youth advocate at The Door. “I think very often, there are many barriers that our clients face when trying to get into high school.”

Since July 2022, about 36,000 students in temporary housing have enrolled in city schools, according to NYCPS, though the agency could not detail how many of them were aged 17-21.

To enroll, the department stated, prospective students must go through a Family Welcome Center, with locations in each of the five boroughs to handle year-round registration and admissions to traditional high schools.

But advocates say many immigrant youth have learned the hard way that they needed an appointment at these sites before showing up.

“[It] doesn’t sound like a huge issue,” said Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students Rights Project at Advocates for Children of New York. “But if you’re brand new to the country, and you’re already very confused and trying to make a lot of pieces fit together, and make the trip to the Family Welcome Center, and they tell you that you can’t be there, that you have to go back—that might be a reason alone why a family decides to just stop trying.”

A NYCPS spokesperson disputed that appointments are required at Family Welcome Centers, saying they are recommended but that walk-ins are accepted too. Welcome Centers can provide referrals to students interested in transfer schools, but for other pathways to graduation, such as adult education programs, prospective students should visit a referral center instead, the spokesperson said.

However, migrants who do make appointments at these welcome centers are sometimes told there is no space or they have to go on a waiting list, advocates say.

In an email, a NYCPS spokesperson acknowledged the presence of waitlists at some of its Welcome Centers—one in Downtown Brooklyn, for example, had less than 20 students waiting at the time of publication—but said names are taken off those lists daily thanks to rolling admissions, and that prospective students have the option of applying through other enrollment centers if their local spot is full.

But advocates say what should be a relatively smooth process now takes several weeks to a little over a month, and depends on a variety of circumstances: available seats, the type of school (transfer school, international high school, etc.), the needs of the student, and the time of year.

“The biggest problem: there’s no room in GED or high school alternatives,” explained Chia Chia Wang, NY Director of Church World Service (CWS), an organization that works with unaccompanied children who have come to reunite with their family members, which has been assisting many young people who are 17 or older with enrollment.

A CWS case manager explained that it took a month for one migrant, who will turn 18 in April and is living in a youth shelter without a guardian, to be enrolled after visiting the Family Welcome Center and being placed on a waiting list. “Despite reaching out to several transfer schools, he remained on waiting lists,” the caseworker said in an email.

“His absence from an educational environment,” the case manager added, “was starting to impact his mental well-being, as he expressed feeling down while observing his friends attending school while he remained at the shelter.”

To enroll migrants, advocates have made appointments, visited the Family Welcome Center, and called a bunch of high schools directly. “And that’s how, you know, we get students in school,” described Rodriguez-Engberg.

But according to the law, and reiterated by both the U.S. Department of Education and the NYS Department of Education, enrollment should be immediate. A U.S. Department of Education spokesperson said that anyone who meets the eligibility requirements and who is identified as homeless by a local liaison that serves students in temporary housing and their families in schools, should be able to attend classes right away.

A spokesperson for the New York State Education Department (NYSED) said that NYCPS has not reported any difficulties, delays, or problems in enrolling immigrant students in this age group, nor in failing to enroll them promptly, as required by the McKinney-Vento Act. NYSED would provide direct technical assistance to ensure compliance, added the spokesperson.

As a recipient of McKinney-Vento funds, the NYCPS has submitted proposals and annual reports ensuring compliance with the act, NYSED explained.

The New York State Attorney General’s Office encourages people who have been denied enrollment to contact its office or to file a Civil Rights Bureau complaint form.

Aging out of classrooms

An applicant approaching 18 complicates enrollment, several advocates explained. Turning 18 often makes it even harder.

“I had difficulty enrolling a client that was 17 and a half,” a Church World Service caseworker said via email. “The family was told that he was going to be 18 years old soon and that he should go to take a GED program instead of enrolling him in high school.”

The two young men City Limits spoke to during a visit to the Safe Horizons drop-in center in Harlem, one 20 and the other 18, said they had both asked staff at their shelters to be enrolled in school, to no avail. Nor were they referred to a family welcome center.

The young man from Mauritania said he did not persist or revisit the request because, under the city’s previous 30-day stay limit rules for adult migrants, it would be too difficult to fully focus on his studies without a stable place to live.

“So if I finished that one month, I should wait two weeks—three weeks, or one week, whatever—to get a shelter. I cannot sleep in a church, or sleep in a mosque, and then wake in the morning and go to school and come back tired,” he said.

CBOs told City Limits this age group easily falls through the cracks of the city’s shelter system and tends to be perceived as adults, not as young adults or unaccompanied youth.

“For newly arrived migrant youth of that age group—17 to 20—it’s rare that somebody will identify them as a [school-age] student, as a youth who needs to be in school,” Rodriguez-Engberg said. “They’re looked at as like adults, or they’re overlooked, period.”

Many young adults are entering adult shelters, where it’s harder to access the programs designed to help them.

Young people under the age of 24 are eligible for specialized runaway and homeless youth shelters under the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), but with only 813 beds, it has long been near or at capacity. In addition to school enrollment assistance, these shelters provide mental health services, access to legal aid, job training, and other services.

After two years of new immigrants arriving from all over the world, organizations say it’s hard to know the magnitude of the problem: how many young people who could be enrolled who are not in school right now, and how their lives could have been changed with such access.

“A bigger problem is the fact that we don’t really even know what the actual need is,” Rodriguez-Engberg said. “How many are there actually, who just gave up and are working or trying to do something else, because they had no idea they could be in school.”

In 2020, the Migration Policy Institute estimated that 3,800 newly arrived immigrants in New York City, ages 16 to 21, were neither enrolled in city schools nor had a diploma.

While NYCPS expanded programs for new immigrants enrolled in the city’s transfer high schools in 2022, the same year that more immigrants began arriving in the city, advocates say it’s still not enough to keep up with demand.

Enrollment challenges have affected both young adults living alone in the city as well as those living with their families. “The problem that exists with the lack of options and the Family Welcome Centers referring students to GED programs, happens regardless of whether the student is here alone or they’re here with their family,” Rodriguez-Engberg explained.

The youngest, those between 17 to 19, advocates explain, have a better chance and more time to navigate the laborious enrollment process, but for older youth, time is limited, since federal law only guarantees their right to attend through age 21.

“Every beginning is hard, but in the end, it’s going to be okay, but we don’t want to lose time,” the young man from Mauritania told a City Limits reporter. “We’re not allowed to work, so we should go to school to get information. If we were allowed to work, that information can help us in the future.”

He cited his own multilingual skills as something he and many other immigrant youth can offer the local job market—if they can access it.

“Maybe, the U.S. is going to need us one day,” he said.

Editor’s note from City Limits: This story has been updated since original publication to include additional information provided by NYCPS.

Inside a Colorado bill to provide extra funding to school districts serving migrant students

2024-03-16T00:37:32+00:00

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All Colorado school districts that have enrolled any migrant students since the Oct. 1 school funding cutoff date would get extra money — between $15,000 and $750,000 per district — under a draft bill approved unanimously on Friday by the powerful Joint Budget Committee.

But districts where the new arrivals have caused a net increase in students — meaning the district has more students now than on Oct. 1 — would get the most extra money. Those districts could get as much as an additional $4,500 for every newly arrived student.

The bill allocates $24 million to be distributed by May 31 to districts that have enrolled what it calls “new arrival students,” or students who moved to the United States less than a year ago, are not proficient in English, and are attending a U.S. school for the first time.

The city of Denver alone has served more than 39,000 new arrivals from Venezuela and other South American countries since it began keeping track more than a year ago, including families with children who have enrolled in public schools.

The details of how the $24 million would be doled out are somewhat complicated. First, there is a tiered system of lump sum payments to school districts based on the number of new arrival students they’ve enrolled since the October count. Districts would get:

$15,000 if they’ve enrolled between one and five new arrival students
$30,000 if they’ve enrolled between six and 10 new arrival students
$75,000 if they’ve enrolled between 11 and 30 new arrival students
$125,000 if they’ve enrolled between 31 and 50 new arrival students
$200,000 if they’ve enrolled between 51 and 100 new arrival students
$400,000 if they’ve enrolled between 101 and 200 new arrival students
$550,000 if they’ve enrolled between 201 and 500 new arrival students
$750,000 if they’ve enrolled 500 or more new arrival students

On top of that, districts with a net increase in enrollment would get $4,500 per student. Here’s where it gets complicated: Districts with a net increase would either get $4,500 for each migrant student they’ve enrolled or $4,500 per student based on the net increase, whichever is lesser.

If the $24 million isn’t enough to cover the costs, the bill says state officials can reduce the $4,500 per student to a lower dollar amount. If calculations show there will be leftover money, state officials could increase the $4,500 to a higher dollar amount.

State Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who sits on the budget committee, said in a text message that she’s happy that the bill could provide relief for districts statewide that are dealing with a “very out of the ordinary influx of new to country students arriving.”

Lawmakers have been working on the bill for over a month, debating various ways to dole out the $24 million. Sirota said the tiered funding proposal acknowledges districts incur fixed costs to educate any and all newly arrived students.

Friday’s vote by the budget committee finalized the language of the bill, but it has yet to be filed for consideration by the full Colorado General Assembly.

“I know my colleagues, our school districts, and our educators are going to be very excited to shepherd this bill across the finish line in the coming weeks,” Sirota said.

The funding is less than what school districts get for each student enrolled on Oct. 1: $10,614 on average. However, budget committee members wanted to earmark the $24 million to provide some relief for districts struggling with the extraordinary influx — money the districts would never get otherwise. (Students who stay enrolled next year will be factored into the school funding formula, and school districts will get money for those students.)

“This sudden influx has strained existing school infrastructure and staffing, led to overcrowded classrooms, stretched resources, and increased complexity to the student learning environment,” the bill says.

The bill also acknowledges that newly arrived students may need extra services, including English language development classes, mental health support, and more. Some may have been out of school for long stretches of time and need help catching up academically.

“New arrival students face unique challenges, including language barriers, cultural adjustments, and various academic backgrounds,” the bill says. “These unique challenges require specialized resources and support services.”

How much funding districts might get under the bill

Denver Public Schools and Aurora Public Schools have enrolled the most migrant students since the October count, according to data obtained through open records requests.

Denver has enrolled an additional 2,340 newcomer students, and Aurora has enrolled an additional 1,366 migrant students. Denver’s numbers were as of March 4, while Aurora’s were as of Feb. 29. The bill uses Feb. 29 as the date to calculate the difference between October count enrollment and how many students districts are serving now.

Accounting for students who left the districts between the October count and those dates, Denver had a net increase of 1,025 students, while Aurora had a net increase of 727 students.

Under the legislation, Denver Public Schools would get a lump sum of $750,000 for the 2,340 newcomers it has enrolled. The district would also get $4.6 million for the 1,025 net increase based on the $4,500 per student formula.

In Aurora’s case, the district would also get $750,000. And the district would get about $3.3 million for its total increase of students since the October count.

Most other districts that have enrolled more than 100 migrant students since the October count had either a much smaller net increase or a net decrease.

For instance, as of Feb. 29, the suburban Cherry Creek School District had enrolled an additional 532 newly arrived students since the October count. But the district has had a net decrease of 41 kindergarten through 12th grade students since Oct. 1.

Greeley-Evans School District 6 had enrolled 488 more migrant students, but only had a net increase of eight K-12 students. Adams 12 Five Star Schools had enrolled 389 additional students, but its school population only grew by 42 students.

And Jeffco Public Schools and Mapleton Public Schools had net decreases, despite enrolling 382 and 140 more new arrivals, respectively.

The student influx creates financial challenges for schools across the state, Brett Johnson, chief financial officer for Aurora Public Schools, said in an interview before the bill text was approved.

“There’s a real and specific impact of these 1,200 kids who have enrolled in our schools in terms of hiring new staff, repurposing classrooms for those schools,” Johnson said. “And those are real costs that are being incurred in real time.”

The challenges remain even in districts that have net decreases in overall enrollment.

A Cherry Creek spokesperson said the district has hired six staff members since January to support the new arrivals. Three of those hires are in newcomer classes and three are cultural liaisons who provide interpretation and other support to families who do not speak English.

Correction: This story has been corrected to update the per pupil figure districts get from the state.

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Jason Gonzales is a reporter covering higher education and the Colorado legislature. Chalkbeat Colorado partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage. Contact Jason at jgonzales@chalkbeat.org.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

This New York City counselor used to teach math. Now she helps migrant students destress at school

2024-03-15T14:00:08+00:00

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As a middle school math teacher, Lisset Condo Dutan’s days often revolved around fractions and equations. But when the pandemic hit, her virtual classroom became a place where students came to confide in her.

“I would only see them through a screen, and they would share with me: I lost my grandma, I just lost my dad, I just lost my mom,” she said. She tried her best to listen, but she knew they needed more. “They didn’t really have the emotional support that they needed.”

Lisset Condo Dutan works with newcomer students at an elementary school in Queens through the nonprofit Counseling in Schools.

Driven by those conversations, Condo Dutan went back to school to get her master’s in counseling — while she was teaching full-time — and became a school counselor.

Last fall, she took a position with the nonprofit Counseling in Schools, which places school counselors in dozens of schools throughout New York City. Condo Dutan now works at P.S. 149 in Queens, not far from where she grew up. She was among a dozen bilingual or bicultural counselors that the nonprofit hired to meet the needs of a growing number of migrant students who’ve enrolled in the city’s schools.

Now, she spends her days popping into classrooms to see if newcomers need any help and meeting with students in small groups or one-on-one.

“Even though they went through a lot, they’re the strongest people that I’ve ever met,” she said. “I admire that.”

Condo Dutan spoke with Chalkbeat about how art therapy, breathing exercises, and sharing details from her visits to Ecuador have helped her connect with her students.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What are some of the mental health or social-emotional needs that your newcomer students have?

A lot of them have undergone some sort of trauma. Especially when they share their journey coming here to New York, either what they saw on their way here or what they saw at the detention centers at the border. It impacts them a lot.

Thankfully, a lot of the teachers pick up on these little emotions. Maybe they walk in sad one day or they look upset, or there’s a change in behavior. They’ll ask: Can you please just check up on the student? And when you check up on them, you realize that there’s a lot of things that are still bothering them.

They’ll share: You know, I had this nightmare, I’m still thinking about this. I remember when we were crossing the river. Or, honestly speaking, they’ve seen people pass away on their way here. Unfortunately, they’ve seen bodies and stuff like that. And these are third graders, second graders, fifth graders.

That’s still there for them. So, sometimes they do have days where they’re a little off. [It’s important] to provide them with that support and that safe space.

When you’re starting to build a relationship and a rapport with a student who has been through a really tough journey, what are some of the things you do to help establish that you’re a safe person and that they’re in a safe place?

I let them speak about their culture. A lot of these students are very proud of where they come from, so I give them that opportunity and that time to teach me about themselves.

Sometimes, we’ll share memories. But usually, we do a lot of art therapy. For most of them, that’s easier. Markers, crayons, glitter, pens, paints — anything that I have in the office.

They’re drawing their favorite dishes, their favorite places, or their favorite people that they left behind, as well as their pets or any traditional celebrations. For example, for Christmas, they shared that certain countries have a whole festival for like a week. They would draw bumper cars and parties, and certain cultural outfits.

What are some of the acculturation struggles that you’re seeing?

Usually, what they share is that it’s just hard overall. In their countries, they would have more freedom. There would be much more fresh air and free space for them to run around. Coming here and being in an apartment, or being stuck in school, it’s different for them.

They’ve slowly been getting accustomed to school life. It’s been a lot of teaching them how to schedule their time, time management, as well as asking them what other resources they need in order to feel comfortable.

What strategies or coping skills have you taught students that they’ve found helpful?

We’ve done a lot of breathing exercises. Sometimes [their exposure to trauma] does get them a little uneasy. They really like [an exercise called] smell the flower, blow out the birthday cake candle.

I usually ask them: If I had a flower in my hand, how would you smell the flower? And they would inhale and breathe in. And when I ask them to blow out a birthday candle, they blow out through their mouth. It teaches them how to not take quick breaths.

I’ve also done a lot of cooked spaghetti, uncooked spaghetti. I have students basically tense up every part of their body. So they’ll become very stiff, like uncooked spaghetti. And then I allow them to become like cooked spaghetti, very noodly, so they let go of everything.

It’s allowing them to take notice of what part of their body is under stress, and teaching them how to express themselves when they feel that stress.

How does being able to speak Spanish allow you to connect with the students in ways that wouldn’t be possible if you didn’t speak their language?

Instead of having to translate what they’re feeling, they’re able to just express themselves exactly how they feel.

If I don’t understand something, I do ask them: Oh, what do you mean by this? It could be because of cultural differences. I take that time to let them teach me about what they’re trying to say, or what they’re trying to get out.

Do you ever share things about yourself with the students to help make a connection with them?

My parents are Ecuadorian, and I do bring that to the table. When I go to Ecuador, I visit my grandpa, I go to the countryside, I go to the city, and I’m able to share that with them. Even if the child is not from Ecuador, they’re more open to opening up to me because they realize: She’s been outside of New York, she understands what’s going on in other countries.

Lisset Condo Dutan often shares stories about visiting her family in Ecuador as a way to connect with the students she works with.

They ask me: Have you tasted salchipapas? Have you tasted a traditional dish called tripa mishqui? I’m open to sharing that information with them, and they’re usually very happy [to talk about it].

Where my grandpa lives, it’s like a farmland. A lot of them came from farmland. So, me being able to say: You know, when I go to Ecuador, I spend a week with my grandpa, and I help him feed the cows and feed the horses. That usually sparks something in them. They look at me like: You did that? I used to do that! Little things like that have really helped me connect with them.

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Apps are helping teachers communicate with families that don’t speak English

2024-03-13T22:36:31+00:00

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Emma Gonzalez Gutierrez has struggled to communicate with the teachers of her five children for years.

She’s tried to stay engaged. She’s attended meetings, gravitated toward Spanish-speaking staff, and relied on translators, including her kids, over the years.

Now, thanks to an app that McElwain Elementary, her Adams 12 school, started using this year, she’s found opportunities to engage in new ways with her youngest child’s education.

Recently, the kindergarten teacher texted her on the app, ReachWell, which allows the teacher to text in English and parents to receive the messages in their own language. The teacher told Gonzalez Gutierrez that her daughter had won a student of the month-type award and invited her to come to the school to surprise her daughter when the award was presented. The small gesture that meant so much to Gonzalez Gutierrez.

“For me it was very exciting,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It was so valuable that she was able to let me know.”

ReachWell and similar translation apps have become more common, and for some teachers, they’ve become crucial as educators work to communicate with the rising number of families that don’t speak English. The apps often allow the communications between parents and teachers to feel personal. Some teachers say it has helped parents open up about issues their child or family is having, which then helps teachers better engage with students.

In addition to seeing text from teachers in their native language on ReachWell, parents can respond in their native language and teachers see the replies in English.

Kayli Brooks, a teacher at Tollgate Elementary in Aurora, uses the app Talking Points, which also allows her to text parents. It also translates texts between parents and educators but does not require families to download an app.

“Families will share that they’re struggling with transportation, or here’s why maybe they’re acting out, or they might text me and say ‘hey this thing happened at home and I think my child is going to be really sad at school today,’” Brooks said. “It’s a huge deal. Families want to be involved in their child’s education no matter where they’re from, no matter what language they speak.”

Brooks said that since her Aurora school began using the app in 2020, she is much more successful at collecting permission forms, for example.

With migrant families who are new to the country and are “kind of overwhelmed,” she said, texting them through the app has also helped them better understand basic information they need to get their children started in school.

Communication that feels personal, through a text, is often more manageable for families than directing parents to online forms and resources, she said.

Sara Olson, principal of McElwain Elementary, said the ReachWell translation app is “a tool that provides equitable access.”

“It’s almost mind boggling to me that some of these folks have maneuvered schools for years not having access,” Olson said. “As a parent I can’t imagine not having access to the information, to the teachers. Every child and family member has a right to have that access.”

Olson said she did not have trouble having all families at her school download the app.

Zuben Bastani created the app ReachWell after he said he saw that some families at his child’s Denver school weren’t getting all the communications. He said he saw children excluded from field trips after arriving at school, unknowingly unprepared — wearing sneakers on the day of a snowshoeing trip, for example — because their families hadn’t understood the school communications.

“It became real apparent, real fast, which families were aware and showed up and which weren’t,” Bastani said.

The app is in use in many schools and districts in the metro area and across the country in places like Pittsburgh. In addition to schools, the company is also partnering with some emergency service agencies to provide emergency notifications — such as shelter-in-place or evacuation orders during natural disasters — that non-English speaking populations can receive in their home language.

Jean Boylan, a community liaison at McMeen Elementary in Denver, also uses ReachWell at her school, but said she also has used Google’s translation app on her phone to greet parents face to face as they pick up students from school. She said staff are all looking for as many ways as possible to communicate.

In her school, concerns about whether new immigrant families have access to the internet, have led staff to start printing materials too. McMeen is one of a couple dozen Denver schools that have enrolled a significant number of new students from Venezuela and elsewhere this year.

But anytime they can communicate with the ReachWell app, it saves time and energy, Boylan said.

The app helps because there are so many languages spoken by families. She said there’s a map in her office with at least 27 countries highlighted, reflecting where the school’s current families come from.

Bastani said ReachWell has found that because parents have to download the app and self-select from more than 130 languages what their preferred language is, many schools find that they’ve been undercounting how many languages their families speak.

On average, they discover 25% more languages after a few months, ReachWell leaders said.

Boylan is now working with Bastani to build out a resource page that ReachWell offers in the app for families. It may include ways for families to access help such as for food or housing.

For parents like Gonzalez Gutierrez, the personal communications they have with teachers are the most critical.

Gonzalez Gutierrez said earlier this year, she realized her kindergartener had become frustrated with an online program the school used for kids to learn math. It was causing the child stress and fear and Gonzalez Gutierrez said she didn’t know how to talk to the teacher about it — until she realized that she could text her.

Letting the teacher know what the problem was allowed them to work together to solve it.

“It’s worth it,” Gonzalez Gutierrez said. “It’s been such a gift for me.”

This story has been updated to reflect that users do not have to download the ReachWell app to get messages through ReachWell, though the downloading the app is an option.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

NYC’s youth shelter system locks out hundreds as migrants seek entry

2024-03-12T19:10:05+00:00

This story was originally published on March 12 by THE CITY.

In the depths of January, without a coat on his back, an 18-year-old orphan from Guinea named Mamdou spent a week riding the subways, before a stranger handed him a $20 bill and led him to the Roosevelt Hotel, the city’s main intake for newly arriving migrants. He got a 30-day shelter stint in a converted office tower in Midtown and a few weeks of relative peace after a perilous journey across the world.

But his anxiety built as his eviction day neared. He’d heard about Covenant House, a special youth shelter for people under the age of 21 overseen by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, and was determined to secure a bed there.

“I went there every day, sometimes two or three times a day. They know me there,” he said in French on a recent afternoon, two days after he’d been ejected from his Midtown shelter after his 30 days ran out, under Mayor Eric Adams’ strict limits on stays for adult migrants in shelters.

Both nights since his eviction he’d slept outside on the sidewalk. “But every day when I go there they tell me there’s no room.”

The migrant crisis is increasingly intertwined with another crisis: an explosion in the number of homeless youth. Data obtained by THE CITY shows a dramatic increase in young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 reported as having been turned away from specialized shelters that serve young people in that age bracket, with 473 youth rebuffed in the second half of 2023 — up from seven in the first six months of the year.

Last year, DYCD funded about 800 youth shelter beds, with most of those available only to those under age 21, the agency reported to the City Council.

Service providers and advocates had warned for months that the city’s migrant response does not address the needs of the many young people arriving in New York on their own. Those advocates now say the official rejection numbers don’t begin to document just how many young people are unable to find a spot in a homeless youth shelter.

“I’ve been doing this work for 20 years,” said Jamie Powlovich, the director of the Coalition for Homeless Youth, a statewide consortium of more than 60 groups. “I have never seen the level of unmet needs and young people being further traumatized and forced to endure homelessness, especially street homelessness, ever.”

The coalition tallied more than 200 young people turned away from youth shelters in a 12-day period last fall, including seven children under the age of 18, after which they stopped keeping count.

“The list was getting too long, and it wasn’t moving,” Powlovich said. “We didn’t want to add people to a list and give them false hope.”

Advocates have been pressuring the city to make some concessions for youth in the adult migrant shelter system, urging that at the very least adopting the more forgiving 60-day shelter stay limits used for families with children under the age of 18.

“We’ve been told for about four months now that that is something that they’re working on,” Powlovich said. “But it hast happened yet.”

A spokesperson for City Hall didn’t respond to a request for comment, but Mayor Eric Adams has repeatedly defended the city’s handling of the arrival of migrants from the southern border.

“This is a national problem that has been dropped in the lap of places like New York and Chicago, Massachusetts and others who have similar programs, 30‑ and 60‑day programs,” he said at a press conference this week. “We’ve done our job. New Yorkers have done their job, and we’re going to continue to do our job, but this is a national issue.”

While the city’s “right to shelter” court consent decrees are supposed to guarantee a bed that day to anyone who requests one, no legal requirement exists for teens or young adults to be placed in an age-appropriate shelter.

As a surge of teen and young adult migrants arrived last fall, they were funneled into the same tent shelters, converted warehouses and office buildings as other adult migrants without children. The city’s migrant intake centers don’t distinguish migrants in their late teens or early 20s from other adults, and the city doesn’t keep separate data about that age group.

Through the organizing of mutual aid and community groups, some newly arriving migrants have found their way into the specialized youth shelter system, which allows youth to stay longer and offers more specialized support services. But last fall, that system became overwhelmed and securing a bed within it became next to impossible, as reflected in the new city data.

After their 30 days in shelters run out, migrant youth are directed to the East Village “reticketing site” inside an old Catholic school, where they can get in line for another shelter cot, a wait which takes days or weeks. Those seeking new shelter placements are directed to spend nights in outer-borough waiting rooms where they can rest on the ground, but a city survey found that, like Mamdou, hundreds spent the night on the streets or trains instead.

THE CITY reported last month that the city Office of Emergency Management was working on plans to close the “overflow” locations.

‘A human cost’

The city’s eight youth drop-in centers, run by nonprofits, are the formal gateway into the youth shelter system, providing young homeless New Yorkers with clothing, food and showers, and linking them up with case workers who can help connect them with youth shelter beds if they become available. Those centers, too, have seen a sustained spike in usage over the past several months.

In January, 1,600 youth spent time in city drop in centers, a 28% increase from July according to monthly data reported by the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development. Case workers at those drop-in sites served 1,700 people in the first four months of the fiscal year, 300 more than the city had planned to serve in the entire year.

Yet Adams’ preliminary budget released in January proposed slashing $2 million from the $52 million allocated for runaway and homeless youth, eliminating 16 positions that help young people access permanent housing options. The Adams administration is also refusing to implement a recently passed law that would allow people in youth shelters to access CityFHEPS housing vouchers, saying the mandate is too expensive.

Mark Zustovich, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development said funding to shelters themselves remained the same in Adams’ proposed budget.

The department and the nonprofits that run shelters for homeless youth “are providing vital services to all youth who seek support — even as the number of young people accessing drop-ins has increased,” he said.

The surge in homeless youth comes a year after a controversial order by the Adams administration banning people from sleeping in 24-hour drop-in centers.

Youth who can’t find shelter are in jeopardy, advocates warn.

“A young woman had recently been discharged from her shelter because her 30 days was up. She didn’t know anybody in the city, spent a night on the street, and was brutally assaulted. That’s preventable,” said Joe Westmacott, a project assistant at Streetwork, which runs a drop-in center for homeless youth in Harlem, referring to an incident that THE CITY has not independently verified.

“We know from decades of research that street homelessness is expensive…. And there’s also a human cost.”

‘They want to go to school’

Many employees at youth facilities are taking the surge in new arrivals in stride, scaling up programs, deftly finding ways to communicate with hand signals in a plethora of languages, and retooling day-to-day operations like how much food they serve on site.

On a busy day before the latest surge in new arrivals, Safe Horizon’s Streetwork daytime drop-in center on 125th Street served about 50 young people a day who would pop in to use computers, eat a meal, peruse the closet of free clothing, or drop off dirty laundry.

Now the center sees about 100 people a day, almost exclusively newly arriving migrant youth who’ve learned about their services through word of mouth. Last fiscal year, the program enrolled 306 new youths into their programs. Four months into this year, they’ve enrolled 542.

Sebastien Vante, associate vice president at Safe Horizon, said they had to halt all new intakes, unable to accommodate any more people. While they can’t connect their clients to specialized youth shelter beds, there are other ways they can support them, he said.

They’ve taken to sending advocates to the East Village reticketing center with their clients, in order to try to advocate for them to get beds in shelters closer to schools if they’re enrolled. They offer referrals to immigration attorneys, and on a recent afternoon, dozens of migrant youth crammed into a back room of the facility intently listening into a demonstration about the asylum application process held in French and Arabic.

“Right now, this is who this is who’s walking through our doors,” Vante said. “Their needs are no different. They’re looking for shelter. They want long-term housing. They want to go to school. They wanna do all these different things.”

But, Vante went on, with its staff already working at capacity, “we spend a significant amount of time managing the expectations of the young people who come into our space,” Vante said.

‘Happier families, happier students’: How Denver’s community hubs are helping migrants and others

2024-03-11T21:35:17+00:00

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While her 5-year-old son attends kindergarten at west Denver’s Colfax Elementary School, Maelka attends class too. In a trailer near the playground, she and three other moms learn English.

On a recent Thursday, the group practiced letters and numbers by playing bingo.

“B eleven,” the teacher called out.

“Eleven! Eleven!” Maelka said. Then she translated the number into Spanish — “once,” pronounced on-say — for her classmates.

The trailer at Colfax Elementary is one of Denver Public Schools’ six “community hubs,” and the English language classes are among the most popular offerings. Launched in 2022 by Superintendent Alex Marrero, the community hubs were meant to take a two-generation approach to improving students’ lives by helping both children and parents with everything from food and clothing to financial counseling and mobile medical appointments.

Now, as more than 3,500 migrant students have enrolled in DPS since the beginning of the school year, the hubs are increasingly serving their families as they build new lives in Denver. The influx has stretched the hubs’ capacity, but district leaders said they remain committed to soliciting more donations and grant money to support the work.

“I need to learn English to understand, to work — and to learn, too,” Maelka said in Spanish. “It is important to know the language in the country where you are.”

Maelka and her family arrived in Denver from Venezuela in early December. After spending time in the city’s shelters, they found a house to rent near Colfax Elementary. Chalkbeat is withholding Maelka’s last name to protect her privacy.

The free classes do more than teach English, which offers the promise of higher-paying jobs. The hubs also foster a sense of community, said Manager Jackie Bell. On Maelka’s birthday, another mom baked her a cake and brought it to class.

The hubs are also a safety net. When one of the moms showed up to class in pain with a tooth infection, hub staff scrambled to connect her with a free dental clinic. When staff saw students were walking to school without warm jackets, the hub got a grant to buy brand new kid-sized puffy coats for students. When a grandmother who’s raising a grandson with autism told hub staff he would only eat one brand of rice, they were able to stock it in their mini market.

“That’s the message to our DPS parents that says, ‘We want you here,’” Bell said.

Karen Rodriguez picks up snacks for her daughter Carely, 11 months, at the mini market inside the community hub at John H. Amesse Elementary School.

There’s ‘magic’ in the hubs’ differences

The community hubs are an expansion of a previous program called the Family and Community Engagement Centers, often shortened to FACE Centers. The hub at John H. Amesse Elementary in far northeast Denver was one of two original FACE Centers.

Marrero toured the center at John H. Amesse early in his superintendency. On her wall, Manager Carla Duarte has a framed map of the city on which Marrero scribbled his vision to have a similar center in every region of Denver. Now, two years later, the six hubs offer the same programming that the centers offered and more, depending in part on the hub’s space.

Two hubs have micro grocery stores with fresh produce and frozen meat, while others have food pantries stocked with dry and canned goods. All hubs distribute diapers, but some partner with a local nonprofit to give away car seats and strollers. At least one has a thrift store-sized used clothing boutique. Some are now partnering with Denver Health, which parks its mobile clinic on the curb and sees patients for half-hour appointments.

The hubs’ staffing differs, too. They all connect parents to programs that help pay their bills, but some have financial coaches and classes on household budgeting. Others help parents find jobs. The workforce development coordinator at the far northeast hub recently helped a migrant father who’d worked as a barber in Venezuela for 24 years get a job at a Denver barber shop.

When a hub doesn’t have a particular service, the staff refer families to one that does.

“That’s the magic of the community hubs,” Duarte said. “We’re all so different.”

The hub at John H. Amesse is among the biggest and busiest. Its spaces are sprinkled throughout the school in converted classrooms and once-empty offices.

On a recent Wednesday morning, adult Spanish-speaking students in a GED class were practicing math and celebrating with pink-frosted cupcakes a classmate who passed their tests.

In a small room off the library, two women rocked the babies of the GED students. One of the women, a refugee from Afghanistan with children in DPS, first came to the community hub seeking help paying her family’s rent. Through a translator who spoke Dari, the woman’s native language, Duarte said the woman asked an important question.

“She just looked at me and said, ‘Do you have any jobs for me?’” Duarte said.

Duarte was looking to fill a child care position, but she was unsure about the language barrier. Nearly all hub employees speak Spanish, but none spoke Dari. But DPS said yes, and the woman is now learning English through the hub’s classes — and picking up Spanish, too.

“She’s so amazing,” Duarte said. “It’s like the best thing we ever did.”

There’s a similar story across the hall, where a former participant leads a “play and learn” class for toddlers and their parents, who on this day were busy blowing soap bubbles with straws.

Many of the “play and learn” parents also attend GED or English classes at the hub. Ingrid Alemán had to stop because her 2-year-old son, Dylan, cried too much when he was separated from her in the child care room. But the mother and son still come to “play and learn.”

“He’s learning how to socialize with other kids,” Alemán said in Spanish. “And as a mom, it helps me to be with other moms who can give me advice. Because in the house —”

“You and the kids —” Duarte said.

“In the house, it’s crazy,” Alemán said, laughing.

Teacher Mayra Lagunas, right, works with students Hugo Esparza, center, and Janeth Carhuamaca, left, on math during a GED class at the community hub at John H. Amesse Elementary School.

Migrants are among the more than 4,000 families served

The hubs cost approximately $737,000 each to run, for a total yearly cost of about $4.4 million, according to Esmeralda De La Oliva, the district’s hubs director. When Marrero announced the initiative in 2022, he said the hubs would be partly funded with savings from cuts he made to the district’s central office as part of a reorganization.

In the past two years, the hubs have served more than 4,000 families, De La Oliva said. That includes more than 1,000 parents who are enrolled in adult education classes. In addition to GED and English language classes, some hubs offer classes to help parents pass citizenship tests and classes that teach Spanish to English-speaking parents.

About 350 newly arrived adults are enrolled in the classes and the hubs have served 600 migrant families this year, De La Oliva said. The GED classes are at capacity, and De La Oliva said she’s seeking more funding for the GED and English language classes, mini markets, and food pantries from private donors and nonprofit organizations including the Denver Public Schools Foundation’s newly launched New Arrivals, Students & Family Fund.

The work of serving migrant families, many of whom have harrowing stories, can weigh on the hearts and minds of hub staff, De La Oliva said, which is why the district plans to offer intensive self-care training for staff starting next month. But the work is making a difference.

De La Oliva recalled a family who came into a hub this school year looking for diapers three weeks after arriving from Colombia. Within a month, the mom was enrolled in GED and English language classes. Within two months, the dad was working for the DPS transportation department, which has been notoriously short-staffed.

The hub at Swansea Elementary in north Denver is a 15-minute walk from the Western Motor Inn, which has served as an unofficial shelter for hundreds of migrants. As of a month ago, Swansea had enrolled more than 50 migrant students — and the hub was serving their families and others who heard about it through word of mouth, Manager Sandra Carrillo said.

People would walk through the hub door, sometimes in groups of six or more family members, Carrillo said. “They were like, ‘We just arrived today.’” Hub staff jumped in, providing everything from socks and underwear to help enrolling families’ 4-year-olds in Colorado’s new free preschool program.

Among the new arrivals at the Swansea hub was a 27-year-old man who is blind, Carrillo said. He doesn’t have any documentation from Venezuela that he’s legally blind. That has led to roadblocks in getting services such as RTD’s Access-a-Ride, which provides transportation to riders with disabilities. But the hub is doing its best to clear those roadblocks for its own offerings.

The man’s goal is to eventually study economics and computer science at a university, Carrillo said. He enrolled in the hub’s English classes but all of the materials were on paper. Carrillo said the hubs’ higher-ups were quick to approve the hub working with a local nonprofit to get the man the software he needs to participate in the classes.

“When families let us know they’re going through something, it’s working with everyone in the community to see who has resources,” Carrillo said.

While the work can be complicated, the goal is not.

As Carrillo noted, “Happier families, happier students.”

Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.

Many migrant students need mental health support. Here’s why this program is a go-to for schools.

2024-03-11T09:00:00+00:00

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When thousands of Syrian families fleeing violence resettled in Canada several years ago, Ontario’s school mental health agency wanted to give schools tools to help refugee children process their traumatic journeys and adjust to their new lives.

The children didn’t necessarily need intensive support. But kids were bursting into tears and struggling to explain how they felt. Parents, too, noticed their usually social children had become more withdrawn and were struggling to make friends. That was especially common after kids had been in Canada for a few months and the honeymoon period ended.

So a team of experts in child mental health put their heads together and developed a program for newcomers that focuses on their strengths and who they can turn to for support. Known as STRONG, the program is now used across the U.S. in several cities serving lots of newcomers, including Chicago, Boston, Seattle, New York, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Little Rock, Arkansas. Many others are asking for training, as schools struggle to meet the needs of students who’ve been through difficult journeys with limited school mental health staff, and even fewer bilingual ones.

STRONG, which stands for Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups, can’t solve everything. Some kids may still need more intensive mental health support — and finding the time and staff to run these groups can be challenging. But many experts, educators, and students themselves see the intervention as a promising tool to help newcomers forge connections and head off mental health struggles before they turn into a crisis.

“They’ve just really appreciated the opportunity to connect with other kids,” said Lisa Baron, a psychologist who trains schools to use STRONG and directs the Boston-based Center for Trauma Care in Schools. “A lot of them said that they just had not really known that other kids were feeling the same way as they were.”

Why some newcomers struggle with mental health

Newcomer students can be refugees or asylum-seekers or the children of undocumented immigrants. Some arrive with families, some arrive alone. Some have been in the U.S. for just a few days or weeks, while others have been here longer. And while their experiences vary, they’ve often faced various hardships, from hunger to abuse.

Many children did not feel in control during their travels, and now crave stability and predictability.

It can also be difficult for newcomer families to access mental health services in the U.S. — driving home the importance of offering help at school. There’s often stigma around seeking treatment, and some families fear that doing so could put them at risk for deportation.

Here’s how STRONG typically works: The school identifies a group of students who are close in age and relatively new to the U.S. who could benefit from extra support. Then the school makes sure parents are on board, which can mean having careful conversations, especially if families are unfamiliar with schools offering mental health support.

The group meets for 10 sessions, usually during the school day. Early sessions help students understand that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed or stressed sometimes. Kids learn different relaxation techniques, such as curling their toes into the floor as if they were standing in a mud puddle, or visualizing the sights and smells of a favorite place.

In later sessions, they learn coping and problem-solving skills, such as how to map out steps to achieve a goal. Kids who are shy about speaking English could identify people they’d feel safe practicing with.

“The coping skills [are] what will stay with you forever,” one Ontario student told Canadian researchers for a 2019 report. “Whenever you are in a stressful situation, you will always remember what to do.”

In STRONG, students learn various problem-solving and coping skills.

What makes STRONG unique and appealing to many schools, said Colleen Cicchetti, a pediatric psychologist who helped develop the intervention, is that it takes a strengths-based approach.

“There were strengths that were inside you that you had in your home country that are still with you, here, today — how do we build on them?” said Cicchetti, who directs the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and now trains schools on how to use STRONG. “We really want young people and their parents to say: ‘This is a part of who I am and what I’ve experienced, but it shouldn’t define who I am entirely.’”

That’s what attracted the attention of mental health and school staff in the Madison, Wisconsin area. The district tried tweaking another group that addresses student trauma to help newcomers, but realized it wasn’t quite meeting their needs.

Kids need to “talk about good memories and coping strategies, not necessarily the exposure to the traumatic event,” said Carrie Klein, a school mental health coach for Madison Metro schools, which is considering using STRONG.

For Jennifer Moorhouse, a teacher who works with English learners at Brighton Park Elementary School in Chicago, STRONG has been transformative for her and her students.

Related: Amid Chicago’s migrant influx, one school is trying to help newcomer students navigate trauma

Over the last year, Moorhouse has run four STRONG groups — known as “clubs” at her school — alongside school counselor Stephanie Carrillo. The program helped Moorhouse get to know newcomers’ families, and has made students comfortable to seek her out when they need essentials like toothpaste or body wash.

Brighton Park Elementary School threw a quinceañera for newcomer students who were sad they would miss celebrating in their home country.

The group has helped in unexpected ways, too. When kids said they weren’t eating at school because they didn’t like the food, Moorhouse figured out they did like Ritz crackers and Skinny popcorn, so she keeps those on hand. And when she found out some newcomers were crying in the bathroom, upset that they were going to miss their quinceñera back home, the group threw a big party at school, complete with balloons and empanadas.

“The students really have created this bond with Ms. Moorhouse — that’s their person,” said Cecilia Mendoza, the assistant principal. “Every student needs someone. For someone new entering the country, entering a new school, having someone is even more important.”

Brighton Park is one of 83 schools across the district that’s been trained in STRONG, with another 50 schools in line to be trained next school year.

Why talking about their journeys can help newcomers

When experts first developed STRONG, they imagined it would be delivered by social workers, school counselors and other mental health staff, since many newcomers have experienced trauma.

But given that mental health professionals are often stretched or in short supply, more schools are asking for others to be trained, too, said Sharon Hoover, a psychiatry professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine who helped create STRONG.

Now, many schools run STRONG sessions with two adults. A teacher with language or cultural skills can act as the interpreter, while the staffer with mental health training takes on tasks such as screening children for post-traumatic stress.

“We don’t want to be irresponsible with the curriculum and just throw it into the hands of anybody who has no mental health training at all,” Hoover said. “But on the other hand, we don’t want to restrict it in a way that’s going to lead to it not getting to students who might benefit.”

On a recent Tuesday morning, Hoover and Bianca Ramos, a STRONG trainer, showed what a one-on-one session that invites students to share about their journey can look like during a virtual training for two dozen school staffers.

The group, mostly social workers and school counselors from Connecticut, had gathered to learn strategies to help newcomer students from many parts of the world, including Haiti, Guatemala, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, and Ukraine.

Related: We are facing a migrant mental health crisis. More school social workers could help

In the video demonstration, Hoover sat beside Ramos in the corner of a blue-walled room. Ramos, a Chicago-based social worker, played the role of a 13-year-old girl who’d fled Guatemala without time to say goodbye to family and friends after her father was killed. Hoover explained that talking about something hard can be like stepping into cold water.

“The more we do it, slowly and gradually, usually the more comfortable we get,” Hoover said. “You don’t have to dive right in.”

In early sessions of STRONG, students learn various relaxation techniques and that it's OK to feel stress sometimes.

In the scenario, as the young girl neared the U.S.-Mexico border, robbers threatened to take her family’s few belongings. Hoover asked how she got through that time, using it as an opportunity to draw out the child’s strengths.

“I had this picture of my mom and I just remember looking at it, and trying to stay hopeful that I was going to be able to see her again,” Ramos said. And she had her little sister to watch out for: “I was like a mom to her.”

“That’s amazing,” Hoover replied, pointing out how brave and caring the child had been.

Later, Hoover asked if the girl was having trouble sleeping, reliving any memories, or feeling sad a lot. She wasn’t, but thoughts of her dad did pop into her head in class, making it hard to concentrate. Hoover made sure that wasn’t happening too much, and then kept the door open to talk more in the future if anything changed.

In Chicago, Moorhouse has seen that some kids feel relieved when they share about their journey. But she also cautions that it can be a lot for other students and teachers to take in. After one student shared details that made Moorhouse tear up later, she realized she couldn’t probe too deeply in her conversations with the student, and needed to let the school counselor step in.

“We’re not therapists,” she said. “That’s very important for teachers to realize.”

STRONG can help students, but there are challenges

STRONG is still being rigorously evaluated in the U.S. But research conducted by Western University in Canada, where STRONG was first piloted during the 2017-18 school year, has shown promising results.

Evaluations from across Ontario found the program helped kids build trust, increase their confidence, and develop a sense of belonging at school. Students reported that STRONG helped them feel more welcome and connect with their peers.

STRONG can also shift school culture and help the entire staff become more attuned to newcomers’ needs. When Moorhouse notices certain patterns of behavior, she shares that with other teachers, so they can keep an eye out.

That could be explaining why some kids may not want to take off sweaters or jackets — after border agents took everything they had except for what they were wearing at the time — or that playing certain sounds, like chirping birds or rushing water, could be upsetting to kids whose journey involved swimming or walking through the jungle.

There can be practical challenges. School leaders may be hesitant to pull kids out of class for STRONG when they are struggling academically. Elizabeth Paquette, who’s part of the team that trains school staff in Ontario, said it can be tricky to get enough kids together in smaller schools and rural communities without resorting to virtual groups that can make it harder for students to make friends.

And if groups use more than two languages, the interpretation needs can take away from the group’s conversational flow.

Still, Moorhouse said the group can be a place for kids to talk about those academic struggles, whether they’re lost in class or frustrated because they already know the content, but can’t yet express themselves. This year, especially, kids want to talk about school stress even more than their journeys.

“They were struggling with: ‘Do I give up?’” Moorhouse said. And her message was: “Let’s keep finding other ways to work through this. What are your thoughts?”

Kalyn Belsha is a senior national education reporter based in Chicago. Contact her at kbelsha@chalkbeat.org.

Donald Trump falsely claims migrants are displacing NYC students. The city has empty seats.

2024-03-05T23:12:29+00:00

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Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed this week that migrant students are displacing other children from New York City’s schools.

In fact, the city’s public schools have struggled in recent years with the opposite problem: too many empty seats.

Enrollment has ticked up slightly this school year, thanks in part to an influx of migrant students, though still remains about 9% below pre-pandemic levels. Education Department officials have said boosting school rosters is a top priority, as lower enrollment can lead to smaller budgets, mergers, and closures.

In an interview with the Right Side Broadcasting Network on Monday, Trump claimed without evidence that “we have children that are no longer going to school” because of the influx of migrants.

“I’m not blaming them,” he said. “I’m saying they put the students in the place of our students like in New York City. We have these wonderful students who are going to school — all of a sudden they no longer have a seat.”

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to a request to elaborate on his comments. There is no evidence that any students have been left without a school seat due to the arrival of new migrants, and an Education Department spokesperson said the claims were false.

“We will continue to work with students, families, and partners to ensure that newcomer students have what they need in our public schools and that our schools are well equipped to support these needs,” Education Department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein wrote in a statement.

Immigration advocates also blasted Trump’s comments.

“The idea that we somehow don’t have space or that children are being removed from schools is just completely unfounded,” said Liza Schwartzwald, director of economic justice and family empowerment at the New York Immigration Coalition.

Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president, has sought to make immigration a centerpiece of his reelection campaign and has escalated anti-immigrant rhetoric, promising to revive a ban from some Muslim-majority countries and refusing asylum claims. He has also swept discussion of education into some campaign stops, claiming at a Saturday rally in Virginia that New York schools are overwhelmed teaching students who speak languages “that nobody ever heard of.”

Since the summer of 2022, Republican governors of southern border states have sent busloads of migrants to cities with Democratic leaders, including New York. Over that period, about 36,000 children who live in temporary housing have enrolled in the city’s public schools — including 18,000 this school year — many of them migrants. (City officials do not ask for a student’s immigration status when they enroll.)

The city’s Education Department is required by law to provide a seat to any school-age child who needs one regardless of their immigration status. Many school communities have worked hard to welcome migrant students and provide appropriate instruction in English and their home language.

And while there is no evidence that migrants have displaced other students, some parent leaders and other groups have protested the new arrivals.

In January, Brooklyn’s James Madison High School pivoted to remote learning for one day after migrant families were temporarily housed there because severe wind threatened tent shelters at Floyd Bennett Field that housed newcomers. The episode generated vitriol from some families and morphed into a talking point for right-wing pundits. But several students and parents were perplexed by the outrage and noted the disruption was minor.

“The hostility towards the migrants was definitely uncalled for,” senior Zola Zephirin told Chalkbeat. “These are people, they have families, they come here and attempt to make a better life, just like many of the students at Madison.”

Schools have sometimes struggled to accommodate newcomers. The enrollment process has been bumpy for some migrant families as the city scrambled to keep up, and schools often can’t hire enough bilingual educators, a long-standing shortage area. At the same time, city officials have tweaked the school funding formula to funnel more dollars to schools with more students living in temporary housing — which benefits schools with more migrant children.

For his part, New York Mayor Eric Adams has sent mixed messages about the influx of migrants. Last year he claimed the influx of migrants would “destroy” the city, drawing outrage from immigrant groups, and has blamed them for cuts to city services. But he also celebrated the uptick in public school enrollment, fueled in part by new arrivals.

Some advocates, including Schwartzwald, see parallels between Trump and Adams’ rhetoric and worry about the climate it creates for asylum seekers, some of which has reverberated in schools. Some students at Newcomers High School, for instance, have sought a name change in part because they fear the label “puts a target on us.”

“When Mayor Adams uses rhetoric where he — just like Trump — tries to create an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ — what he’s saying is not all immigrants are New Yorkers,” Schwartzwald said. “Anyone who comes to New York to make a life is a New Yorker as far as we’re concerned.”

Alex Zimmerman is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Alex at azimmerman@chalkbeat.org.

Almost half of migrant families who got 60-day eviction notices moved out of NYC shelters

2024-03-01T19:34:40+00:00

This article is part of an ongoing collaboration between Chalkbeat and THE CITY.

Beatriz, a Venezuelan mother of two young girls, got a 60-day notice to leave their Midtown migrant shelter last November.

The next day, she said, she was out hunting for apartments.

Working under the table in an Irish pub in Hell’s Kitchen, she’d been able to save some money, pooling it with her boyfriend and a cousin and his family. It was enough for the upfront costs to rent a three-bedroom apartment in Crown Heights they would all share. By the time her 60 days ran out, Beatriz and her girls had already moved out of the shelter.

“We’re totally thankful,” Beatriz, who asked that her last name be withheld fearing immigration consequences, said in Spanish. “We’ve been given so much.”

Beatriz is among the first swath of migrant families with children to see their time in city shelters run out under a newly implemented city policy for migrant families in certain shelters. Notices started coming due in early January, and of the around 7,500 parents and children who reached their 60-day limit, half have moved out, according data through late February from the mayor’s office.

A further breakdown of the data released by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s last month on the 60-day policy found that of about 4,750 families who’d had their time expire through early February, 29% of them, or about 1,300 families, reapplied for shelter and were transferred to new shelters. The remaining 16% stayed in the same shelter where they were originally placed.

Among those who’ve gotten the notices are families like Beatriz’ who came in the fall of 2022 and had more than a year to find work and make connections in New York City.

But many who received the notices have entered the migrant shelter system since the rule has been in place, like families living at the sprawling tent facility at Floyd Bennett Field, or those at a recently opened family shelter in an old warehouse in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, who’ve had much less time to get their bearings in a new country.

Migrants leaving the Row Hotel stored their belongings on the sidewalk before heading to a new shelter, Jan. 4, 2024.

The mayor’s office didn’t return a request for additional comment on the new data, but members of the Eric Adams administration have repeatedly defended the shelter stay limits, crediting them for driving down costs. They also say the policy is keeping the number of migrants in city shelters — which hovers at around 64,000 people — from continuing to grow. The numbers have even slightly dipped in recent weeks, despite more than a thousand newcomers arriving each week.

For adult migrants who are subject to strict 30-day shelter limits, with days or weekslong waits to get another cot, many have resorted to sleeping on the streets or trains, in overcrowded mosques, or unsanctioned commercial spaces. This week, Gothamist reported on one couple living in a school bus.

The Adams administration has repeatedly said its main goal is not to have families with children sleeping on the streets. In all, city officials said they’ve given 9,100 families shelter eviction notices so far. While some like Beatriz have landed on their feet, critics of the 60-day policy say many more parents and children who can’t afford to move out have been put through unnecessary turmoil.

“The 60-day shelter limit for families with children is one of the cruelest policies to come from City Hall in generations, evicting families from shelter in the middle of winter, and displacing kids from their schools in the middle of the school year,” said Lander, who has promised to investigate the policy. He pointed out City Hall has relatively little information on what happens to migrants when they leave shelters.

“Where did those nearly 2,500 parents go? Were they in a dangerously overcrowded basement? Were they sleeping on the street? We have no idea.”

‘Families going dark’

Schools with migrant students forced to move because of the 60-day rule have been grappling with the logistical and emotional fallout of the disruptions.

“Just said goodbye to another four newcomers who are moving away after being with us for a year,” said one Manhattan principal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Lots of tears from the kids and adults.”

Upper West Side parent Naveed Hasan, who sits on the city’s school board, the Panel for Educational Policy, has been part of an informal group of parents, school staff, and local elected officials working to find students who disappear suddenly from classes.

“It’s really like families going dark and then leaving people really confused. Where are they, and how can we help them?” Hasan said. “And I think this is sort of the intended effect of a policy.”

Testifying at a City Council hearing Friday, Molly Schaeffer, the head of the city’s office of Asylum Seeker Operations, said that 90% of children who were evicted in the month of January remained in their same school, though she didn’t give specifics. “We really did prioritize education and the education of the youngest children when making these types of choices and moves,” she said, adding the office tried to keep families in the same borough as their youngest child’s school.

Migrants leaving the Row Hotel stored their belongings on the sidewalk before heading to a new shelter, Jan. 4, 2024.

Schools that recently got influxes of new students are already seeing them transferred to shelters in other parts of the city, leaving staffers with whiplash.

“In a month we had more than 50 students…and now I don’t know what’s going to happen with them,” said Carolina Zafra, a teacher at P.S. 46 in Clinton Hill, among several schools in the area that received a sudden surge in students, following the opening of a new shelter for families in a converted warehouse.

School staffers knew the new students were subject to the 60-day shelter stay limit, but were holding out hope that city officials wouldn’t enforce it, Zafra said.

The school wrote letters for families to bring back to the shelter showing they were enrolled in a nearby school in the hopes it might get them a reprieve. But when teachers came back from mid-winter break this week, they found that many of their students had already been moved. Zafra has one student who’s now commuting to the school from Manhattan and she heard about another living by JFK airport.

“I’m more concerned about all the emotional distress those children already experienced and now again moving them from something I thought was settled for them,” she said.

One mom who arrived from Venezuela in December and enrolled her two kids at P.S. 46 said her family was transferred from the Hall Street shelter to a shelter in Midtown Manhattan last week.

The mom, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said she never considered transferring her kids to a new school, even though her commute is now close to an hour.

“They have a lot of patience with the children,” she said of the school, in Spanish. “I didn’t want to change their school because they feel good there.”

Homeless students in New York City are entitled to transportation under federal law so that they can remain in the same school if they move. Kids and parents in temporary housing are eligible for free MetroCards, and younger students can also get assigned to school bus routes, though that process can take some time.

But the mom said their MetroCards are still pending, and since the family has no income to pay the fares, they often have to sneak through open emergency gates. Her husband has already received a fine for doing so.

Still, the Venezuelan mom considers herself lucky compared to other families from the school who were placed in shelters even further away, she said.

‘I felt such relief’

Among those 16% of families who’ve been able to remain in their shelters, according to the data from the comptroller, many are living at the remote tent shelter located at Floyd Bennett Field. Some describe their extended stay there as both a blessing and a curse.

Geraldine, a 38-year-old mother of three from Venezuela, who moved into Floyd Bennett Field last December, said getting used to the tents was a challenge: the long walks in the cold across a vast marshland to the nearest bus stop, the bathrooms and showers in trailers outside of the living quarters, the lack of privacy and constant cries of collicky children. The disruptions during severe weather have also been hard, like the January evening when the city evacuated thousands of residents to a nearby school due to high winds.

Venezuelan migrants Geraldine, Jhon and their daughter Yorliannys, leave the Floyd Bennett Field family shelter for the day, Jan. 25, 2024.

Still, as her eviction date approached she prayed the family would get to stay put, dreading the disruption of packing up and starting again somewhere new. The family collected their belongings the night before their mid-February move-out day, still unsure what would happen. But when her husband checked in with staff the next morning, he was told they could get another 60 days in the same cubicle.

“I felt such relief,” Geraldine said, who asked that her full name not be used to protect her family’s identity. “We didn’t have to go all the way to [Midtown] with the kids,” she said, referring to the process of reapplying for shelter at the Roosevelt Hotel. Instead their kids continued at their schools without interruption.

“The idea is to finish our time here, save up money and move out,” she said.

‘I feel good, and I’m afraid, at the same time’

Beatriz’ hunt for their new home was difficult, as it is for many New Yorkers. She fronted $500 to someone promising an apartment and spent a day standing in the rain outside what she thought was her new apartment in Astoria before realizing it was a scam.

When a rental finally came through, she and her daughters moved out little by little, shuttling their belongings on the subway over the course of several days. After the winter break, Beatriz pulled her kids out of school and transferred them to ones closer to their new Crown Heights home, unable to make the bi-borough commute. Her 7-year-old daughter seems to be adjusting, while her 11-year-old is having a more difficult time.

“She misses all her friends from class,” Beatriz said.

Beatriz relishes being able to cook for herself and the family again, something she couldn’t do for more than a year living in a hotel room. She’s enjoying the privacy and peace of having their own place. But she also feels the anxiety of so many New Yorkers living paycheck to paycheck, that a little disruption could lead to an inability to make rent and send her back to shelter.

“I feel good, and I’m afraid, at the same time,” Beatriz said. “And the fear, because if one of us loses our job, god willing, how would we pay rent?”

Gwynne Hogan covers Brooklyn for THE CITY.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a reporter for Chalkbeat New York, covering NYC public schools. Contact Michael at melsen-rooney@chalkbeat.org.

Detroit schools are enrolling more migrant students. Can the district meet their needs?

2024-02-26T19:29:50+00:00

As an influx of school-aged migrant and refugee children have resettled with their families in Detroit in recent weeks, schools are working to quickly adapt to meet their needs.

Some are more prepared than others.

Detroit Public Schools Community District campuses on the southwest side of the city have long served diverse student groups and have many Spanish-speaking teachers and administrators who can easily communicate with parents. But a large number of students who have recently migrated to the U.S. are being placed in available shelter beds on the city’s east side, where schools have historically served children with different needs.

“It’s no fault of the schools,” said Elizabeth Orozco-Vasquez, CEO of Freedom House Detroit, a nonprofit that supports asylum seekers and refugees. “It’s just that they’ve never had to prepare for that before. Meeting the needs of a new population of kids is a big ask to put on an already tasked school system.”

Translation services in those schools are often limited. Additionally, transportation for kids to attend schools in southwest Detroit can be difficult to arrange, advocates say. The district is required by the federal McKinney-Vento Homelessness Assistance Act to help students without a fixed address maintain school stability.

“We are seeing a lot of school-aged children come in, primarily in schools outside of southwest Detroit that aren’t necessarily prepared for children coming from other countries who don’t speak English,” said Orozco-Vasquez. “It’s a resource that has to be built.”

About 70 families who recently arrived from Venezuela enrolled their children in DPSCD, according to the district, and the number continues to grow. Administrators say they are providing language interpretation and translation, and training staff to understand new students’ unique needs. In the long term, the district is considering establishing newcomer programs, which would centralize students at specific schools to streamline services for migrant and refugee children.

Detroit hasn’t seen the large numbers of migrants and refugees arriving that large cities like Chicago and New York have in recent months. But some of the families arriving in Detroit are coming from those cities because shelters and humanitarian organizations there are overwhelmed.

DPSCD is working to meet students’ needs

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said in an email all schools in the district are now receiving support as they adapt to meet the needs of migrant students. Staff are being trained to use translation tools, to identify curricular resources to help students learn English, and to address the trauma the kids may have experienced.

The district has formed a small team of teacher training and support coordinators specializing in English language learning to deploy to schools with newcomer students, he said. DPSCD is also continuing to collaborate with community members through its Bilingual Parent Advisory Council as well as the Office of Family and Community Engagement to meet the families’ needs.

Staff can request a live interpreter and document translations, said Vitti. The district also offers over-the-phone and remote video interpreters, and students and staff are able to use Microsoft Translate.

“The district is working with all school leaders and teachers to make sure that they are fully aware of these resources and use them consistently to communicate with families who need language services,” said Vitti.

Part of the challenge, said Orozco-Vasquez, is that the newly arrived students are speaking many languages. In addition to Spanish-speakers, some speak Portuguese or French.

Some nonprofit organizations work with school districts to fill gaps in providing language support to refugee students. Samaritas, a faith-based statewide nonprofit, works with DPSCD.

“If there is no comprehensive ELL program in place, we work with the school on providing that,” Rawan Alramahi, supervisor of Samaritas’ school impact program.

Funding from a $94.4 million settlement – from a 2016 lawsuit that alleged Michigan failed to teach Detroit students to read and described inadequate education for English language learners – will likely allow the school system to hire more academic interventionists to work with English language learners, the superintendent said. A task force formed to identify how DPSCD should spend the settlement recently recommended the district do so.

The settlement funding will also be used to help the district determine whether there is a need for more newcomer programs to be developed at schools in DPSCD to “better serve first- and second-year immigrants,” Vitti said. There is one existing program at Western International High School that provides academic and social support to newcomer families.

“Through this strategy, newly arrived students with limited English skills would be assigned to these schools so we can concentrate resources for support, such as ELL teachers and [academic interventionists],” said Vitti.

The planned Health Hub at Western International, which will provide medical, dental, and mental health care, will also have a resource center with services for newly arrived families, said Vitti. Other Health Hubs, which will expand over the next three years at schools across the district, may also have the same focus, depending on need, according to the superintendent.

For migrant students who experience homelessness or are housed in shelters, the district will provide all the services guaranteed by the McKinney-Vento Act, which mandates that unhoused students be allowed to quickly enroll in schools, stay in the same school even if they move outside of enrollment boundaries, and receive transportation to their schools regardless of the distance, among other protections.

Overall, the district’s system for identifying students who need services through the act has improved, said Vitti. The need for transportation services with that funding has increased in the community across the board and is not unique to newcomer or refugee students.

“Newcomer and refugee students are not always homeless, but when they are, we are committed to providing transportation services,” said Vitti.

In the past, there were concerns about DPSCD’s ability to educate English language learners, who graduate from high school at lower rates compared to their English-speaking peers. Parents expressed a need for more language access in the district, and felt their concerns were ignored.

Inequities for ELL students is not unique to DPSCD. Michigan ranks among the lowest in the nation for funding for students who are not native English speakers, according to an analysis by The Education Trust-Midwest.

Last year, the state passed a historic school budget that provided $1.3 million more in funding for ELL students.

Some migrant families arrive from Chicago, New York, Texas

Most of Detroit’s migrant students have come from Venezuela, according to the school district.

Others are coming from Columbia, Angola, Senegal, Haiti, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Orozco-Vasquez said there is a mix of families coming from larger cities like New York and Chicago as well as various cities in Texas, where officials have struggled to keep up with the growing need for services for migrants, as well as people coming directly from their countries of origin.

Samaritas is currently serving more than 250 school-age children, and has recently seen more families coming from Venezuela and Cuba, along with families from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine.

Both Freedom House and Samaritas said most of the newly arrived school-age children they serve have enrolled in DPSCD, and some are attending charter schools in Wayne County.

The increase in the number of families migrating to Michigan isn’t expected to slow anytime soon – officials expect to see a 40% increase in refugees settling in the state this year, which would amount to more than 3,600 people. As demand for temporary housing grows, the Office of Global Michigan this week asked residents to open their homes as part of a refugee support program.

Michigan has long been a destination for refugees and asylum seekers. Though the recent influx of migrants is sizable, it’s not the largest the state has experienced.

In 2013, more than 3,400 Iraqi refugees resettled in Michigan. And after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, more than 2,000 refugees came to live in the state.

DPSCD has also previously seen influxes of migrants. More than 40 refugees from Afghanistan enrolled in the district in May 2022.

Navigating a foreign school system

Ivan Nakonechngi, 13, works on his computer at home on Wed., Feb., 21, 2024 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

In addition to DPSCD and other schools in Wayne County, refugees are also being placed and enrolling in schools in Macomb, Oakland, and Genesee Counties.

One mother, Svitlana Nakonechna, 33, arrived in the U.S. three years ago after fleeing the war in Ukraine with her son, Ivan Nakonechngi, now 13.

Nakonechna is still learning English, and she communicates with Ivan’s teachers at South Hills Middle School in Bloomfield Hills Schools through an online translator application in email and on video calls. The mother tries to keep up with Ivan’s grades and when his work is due.

“Usually, I keep track of that since she’s not really good with English,” said Ivan, who began learning English in school in Ukraine.

Ivan Nakonechngi, 13, left, poses for a portrait with his mother, Svitlana Nakonechna, 33, in their home on Wed., Feb., 21, 2024 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Nakonechna said through an interpreter that she doesn’t know much about the curriculum Ivan is being taught, but she trusts he’s learning because she sees he’s engaged in his school work.

Though her sponsors and Samaritas have been helpful in enrolling her son in school and navigating the system, Nakonechna worries what may happen if she has to move out of the housing she receives through her employer to another school district.

“If we move from this place to another city and I need to find a new school, I still will need help because I don’t know how to handle it by myself,” she said.

Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.

An existing program for migrant students can’t help schools with the current influx of new students. Here’s why.

2024-02-22T18:59:22+00:00

Some of Colorado’s most diverse school districts, including Aurora and Greeley, are used to waves of immigration bringing in new students in the middle of the year.

Recently, families from Burma have moved into Greeley, and Aurora officials recall hundreds of new students from Afghanistan after U.S. troops pulled out.

But this year, the midyear wave is even bigger, with most students arriving from Venezuela and other South American countries. And it is overwhelming some district systems.

“We’re running at 300% our normal typical average for the school year,” said Brett Johnson, chief financial officer for Aurora Public Schools, referring to the number of midyear enrollments, which are up from the typical 500 to 800 in a year.

Schools need everything from new desks and more classroom space, to more teachers, bilingual staff, and specialized teachers who can administer screening tests to determine students’ levels of English proficiency and help them learn English.

But many of the new students from South America arrived after the Oct. 1 cutoff that determines how much per-student state funding each district will get. And although government officials refer to this new group of immigrants as “migrants,” the students do not qualify for money from the federal Migrant Education Program.

What does the Migrant Education Program do?

The Migrant Education Program began in 1966 and was designed to support the children of farmworker families. To qualify for the program, students must have parents who work in agriculture, or work in the field themselves, usually in temporary or seasonal positions, and must have moved between school districts within the last three years.

Some of the children might belong to families who travel around the country following the seasonal availability of farm work. They aren’t necessarily new to the country, and many already are fluent in English. Immigration status doesn’t matter, just as it doesn’t for the students who arrived this semester. By law, all children can access free public education.

In Colorado, there were about 4,500 agricultural migrant children aged 1 through 21 this year — fewer than the thousands of new students from South America. The $7.5 million federal allocation for the state helps younger children succeed in school and focuses on keeping teens and young adults up to age 22 in school instead of dropping out to work full time.

Advocates from the program travel to farms or worksites to enroll children in the program and convince older students up to age 22 to stay in school. The program works with families, visiting their homes, supporting their mental health, and figuring out what other barriers might exist for the students to learn. The funding also pays for school supplies, tutoring, and summer programming.

“A lot of our families have needs that are pretty basic, if we just try to push education on them they’re not ready a lot of times,” said Tomás Mejia, Colorado’s director for the Migrant Education Program. “If we help them be well enough, help the parents and adults be well enough to help the kids, that can really help a lot more.”

The new South American students also need the same types of support. For both groups of students, educators say there’s a need to build trust and provide help that goes beyond the classroom.

The Greeley school district usually enrolls the largest number of agricultural migrant students in the state, and Greeley also is seeing a wave of non-agricultural migrant students. One school recently enrolled 19 new students in one day. An elementary school is now so full that teachers are starting to operate out of mobile carts, moving from room to room, instead of having a classroom.

School districts are addressing student needs

The Greeley district’s existing welcome center, which has always helped the community’s immigrant population, is playing a big role in helping the district welcome and make families feel like they belong, said Brian Lemos, director of instruction and English language development.

But the district is also relying on community partners to help families learn to use technology, learn English, and to offer help with housing or employment.

“There’s definitely unique needs,” Lemos said. “They’re new to the country. All of them have needs as far as language acquisition.”

“A lot of these students are coming to us with severe trauma,” said Theresa Myers, a spokesperson for the Greeley district. “Some of the families from Venezuela, they’ve been trying to travel for months. Our impact on our mental health services is real.”

Right now, the district has a mental health counselor at every school. But 35 counselor and social worker positions in the district were funded by ESSER dollars that won’t be available after September. Now the district is trying to figure out how to keep the much-needed positions.

Although Colorado gives school districts extra money to assist students who are learning English, most school districts say they have to use money from their general fund to cover the services they provide because that specific money isn’t enough.

And since so many of these students arrived after October 1, the districts didn’t get the money for them this year. (If students are still enrolled next fall, the districts will get money then.) In the meantime, school districts are having to hire new staff including paraprofessionals to help teachers with larger-than-normal class sizes. In Aurora, “We have several instances in which elementary schools came back from Christmas break with almost 100 more kids than before,” Johnson said.

Legislators in Colorado are drafting a $24 million proposal to give districts some funding for these midyear enrollees. It won’t be the total funding that districts usually get per student, but it might help.

State lawmakers haven’t filed the proposal, but there are promising signs it’ll pass once they do. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has said he supports sending extra funding to districts enrolling new students, and the proposal is coming from lawmakers on the powerful Joint Budget Committee, which plays a major role in how the state spends its money.

Johnson said that Aurora isn’t waiting to see that money transferred before hiring needed positions or addressing needs. He hopes the state will reimburse some of the expenses if the money does come.

While leaders say they aren’t cutting budgets or making adjustments, they are starting to think ahead. Maybe that will mean having roaming teams that can go to the schools most impacted on a short term basis to deal with the work of helping students new to the country.

“The hard part is no one knows how long this phenomenon will last,” Johnson said. “We are trying to start putting in some thought in the long-term, if there’s a better system.”

For now, schools are helping new students from South America adapt.

“When a new student enrolls who is new to the country it’s also a matter of the daily school routines — it’s also teaching them the routines of a typical school day,” Johnson said.

That can take up a lot of time for school staff. But not all schools are receiving high numbers of new students. Schools near shelters, apartments or housing where agencies have helped migrants get settled are enrolling more students.

Educators say they aren’t currently thinking about transferring students to different schools to avoid overcrowded classrooms, but Greeley leaders say they have changed enrollment boundaries when schools were getting too full in previous situations. They might consider it if the enrollment boom continues.

School educators say, still, they want kids in school, they understand that children must learn and the faster they can connect them to educators, the better.

Yesenia Robles is a reporter for Chalkbeat Colorado covering K-12 school districts and multilingual education. Contact Yesenia at yrobles@chalkbeat.org.

Colorado budget committee plans aid for schools enrolling more migrant students

2024-02-14T22:25:39+00:00

This story has been updated to include a comment from the governor.

Colorado lawmakers on the powerful Joint Budget Committee want to provide some financial assistance to schools grappling with educating an influx of migrant students this year.

The idea from state Rep. Emily Sirota, a Denver Democrat who sits on the committee, would allocate up to $24 million, to be split among school districts that have enrolled newly arrived students after the October cutoff date that determines districts’ per-pupil funding. But the funding would be far less than what the state provides to educate a student.

The budget committee, which plays a major role in how the state spends its money, voted unanimously earlier this month to draft a bill allocating the funds.

Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, an Arvada Democrat and vice chair of the committee, said she plans to co-sponsor the bill once it’s ready. The bill has not yet been introduced.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis said he’s working with the legislature on a proposal to provide additional funding for school districts that have new arrivals after the October count date.

The state annually adjusts districts’ education funding up or down during the legislative session based on each district’s student enrollment on Oct. 1. But the surge in migrant students since the official count has overwhelmed many districts and prompted calls from school leaders for more aid to teach recent arrivals.

Sirota said while the state doesn’t have an exact tally, she’s heard estimates of up to 8,000 new student arrivals statewide since October. Some schools have needed to increase class sizes and have a greater need for services that help English learners, she said.

“This crisis is being felt across our cities, counties, and the state,” she said.

The state money would be a one-time infusion for districts. Joint Budget Committee members have said they want to ensure school districts wouldn’t need to apply for the money, but instead would have to provide the state with a tally of eligible students.

How much money districts would get likely will depend on whether the committee decides to allocate the full $24 million Sirota has proposed and how many newly arrived students have enrolled statewide since the October count.

The $24 million sum is not a calculation of how much it costs to fully educate the migrant students in Colorado. Rather, it is money the state would otherwise put in its savings account for education. Increasing local tax revenue means the state needs to spend $24 million less on schools this year than anticipated.

The proposed bill would reallocate those funds, but committee members have said they want to also find other funding sources.

The extra money would help districts, but it would be less than the $10,614 per student, on average, they get for students who are enrolled during the October count.

Sirota said funding is tight this year, especially when there are many competing budget priorities. But the extra funding would help districts bearing the brunt of the costs.

“I want to help our districts better absorb the costs that they are incurring with so many new students who are new to the country that they have taken on since October,” she said.

States across the country have seen a spike in recent migrant arrivals. The Denver area has dealt with the brunt of those arrivals.

In Denver Public Schools, migrant student enrollment has ballooned by more than 3,200 of these young people since the start of the school year. Many arrived after the October count that determined state per-student funding sent by the state.

The impact has also been uneven within the district. New students are concentrated in about two dozen of Denver’s schools.

But schools and cities across the metro area and state are reporting more students arriving every day, either from families moving to find work or recently coming to the state. The influx has caused financial shortfalls and pushback from some communities.

Correction: This story has been corrected to update the per pupil figure districts get from the state.

Four square, fútbol, and phonics: A day at Denver’s Valdez Elementary with two newly arrived migrant students

2024-02-14T00:43:59+00:00