Central American Migrant Wave Tests Schools

Wall Street Journal

By Arian Campo-Flores and Miriam Jordan

August 13, 2014

Central American Migrant Wave Tests Schools 

Public schools around the country are returning from summer break to face a challenge: integrating and paying for the influx of migrant children who have streamed across the Mexican border this year.

The children, mostly from Central America, are those who have been released to sponsors—usually parents or relatives—while they await immigration proceedings that could take years to complete. As a result, they are settling in communities throughout the U.S., from large metropolitan areas such as New York to small cities like Grand Island, Neb.

The numbers are substantial. More than 37,000 children who crossed the border unaccompanied by parents were placed with sponsors between Jan. 1 and July 31, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The states that received the most children were Texas, with 5,280; New York, 4,244; and California, 3,909.

Because the children generally lack English skills, have often received limited schooling and may have suffered emotional trauma, they present schools with a host of needs that could strain resources.

With the new academic year already under way or soon to start, education officials around the country mostly have struck a welcoming tone. "We have both a legal and moral obligation to teach these kids," said Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools.

Many public schools, which must enroll children regardless of their immigration status, already have seen enrollment spikes of these recently arrived youngsters. In the Los Angeles Unified School District, a special assessment center that evaluates such children experienced a 24% increase in Salvadorans and a 21% increase in Guatemalans last school year, compared with the previous one.

The Houston Independent School District reported a 49% increase over the past two years in recently arrived children from a group of regions that includes Central America. Last year, the district enrolled 910 new students from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and it expects hundreds more this year.

While schools are accustomed to absorbing migrant children, this wave presents some distinct challenges. Many children from Central America have witnessed murder and some have been victims of abuse and rape, which has left them with psychological scars.

"We have some really traumatic stories," said Patricia Chiancone, an outreach counselor at Maryland's Prince George's County Public Schools, where new enrollment by children believed to be unaccompanied migrants jumped to 175 last school year from 65 two years earlier. She cited one case of a high-school-age brother and sister who fled Central America on their own after their mother and younger sister were killed by a gang.

In addition, many of the children have gone long stretches without any schooling. At Dalton Public Schools in Georgia, where newly arrived Central American minors began trickling in last school year, "there were 16-year-olds who really had not been in school since first or second grade," said Caroline Woodason, assistant director for student support for the district.

Such students often require a variety of services, including subsidized meals, English-language instruction, tutoring and psychological counseling, said Mr. Carvalho, of the Miami-Dade district. He said his district enrolled 300 new Central American children in the final quarter of the last school year and is preparing for hundreds more this fall.

While some districts say they can handle the new arrivals with existing resources, others are concerned about a potential financial hit. "I don't think we can handle it without hiring additional personnel," said James Meza Jr. , superintendent of Louisiana's Jefferson Parish Public School System, which has a sizeable Honduran population. "It will be somewhat of a stress point."

In Miami-Dade, the additional services will cost the district an estimated $2,000 more per pupil, Mr. Carvalho said. As a result, the county school board passed a resolution in June to request additional federal funding. The request is pending.

"If the federal government is going to make an investment to increase Border Patrol and the number of officials interviewing children, there ought to be an investment to address the additional cost of teaching them," Mr. Carvalho said.

The Council of the Great City Schools, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents urban school districts around the country, has been pressing the Obama administration and Congress for additional funding. "We're trying, but so far, without much luck," said executive director Michael Casserly.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently told reporters that the administration is "trying to figure out how we can be flexible and responsive to superintendents so they can better serve these children when they're hitting school." He said potential funding sources that could be tapped include money allotted for migrant students, homeless kids and special education.

Schools occasionally have resisted enrolling such students, said Kimberly Haynes, director of children's services at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, which has numerous programs to help unaccompanied minors. In some cases, she said, attorneys for the children have had to escort them to schools to ensure they were enrolled.

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas) says U.S. schools are being unfairly overburdened. "It is a shame that states and communities across the country now face the possibility of increased demand on already-overcrowded classrooms," Mr. Smith said. "Regrettably, American taxpayers will be asked to foot the bill."

Still, districts anticipating new enrollees are preparing in numerous ways. The Dalton school system created a Newcomer Academy housed on an existing high-school campus that will aim to transition the youngsters into a mainstream school within six months to a year. Classes will focus on English literacy, reading and mathematics.

The Internationals Network for Public Schools, a group of 19 public high schools in New York, California and the Washington, D.C., area that specialize in educating immigrant children, is developing networks of legal and social-service providers to respond to the particular needs of unaccompanied minors. That population now makes up roughly 5% to 10% of the organization's New York schools and more than 20% of its San Francisco school, said president Claire Sylvan.

The Miami-Dade district has a plan similar to previous ones directed at waves of Cuban and Haitian immigrant children. Among its provisions are the creation of reception centers to process students and conduct academic and health assessments, and the deployment of additional counselors and social-service workers to schools that need them.

The true impact of the current wave of unaccompanied youth on school systems won't become clear until classes are well under way. But "make no mistake," Mr. Carvalho said, "they will arrive."

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