The Mohonasen and North Colonie school districts are preparing to welcome students from migrant families when school starts next month.
Students bused north from New York City range from elementary to high school, and most speak little or no English. About 40 students have been living at the SureStay motel in Colonie.
North Colonie Superintendent Kathleen Skeals says she's looking forward to welcoming them to the community.
“Once the students are assessed, they're placed depending on their language proficiency, and then they are getting Intensive English experiences, but they're also within regular classrooms, because they have to be with other peers so that they can start to make friends get to know the culture, the climate, but we really see them as bilingual learners. They bring so much to our school, they add so much to our school. So we're proud of our diversity in this district, and we're eager to meet new children.”
According to the district, North Colonie is the rare entity that has effectively communicated and cooperated with New York City Mayor Eric Adams' office and the city's contracted migrant handler and transporter, DocGo.
“We were able to get in touch with the engagement officer for the New York City Mayor's office, she responded to me within 48 hours," said Skeals. "And within 48 hours, I had a list of students not by name, but their ages and what languages they spoke primarily. We've also been able to talk to the site manager for DocGo, who's been very helpful. They have caseworkers who are helping us to get student appointments made so that they can register for the schools, we have been able to work with our county partners to make sure we have everything in place so that students will have everything they need to start school in the fall.”
The district says it has the facilities and funding to meet the students' needs. Skeals says this week a registration team including translators and social workers will visit the SureStay motel to enroll students. She adds students will be placed depending on language proficiency within regular classrooms. "... because they have to be with other peers so that they can start to make friends get to know the culture, the climate, but we really see them as their bilingual learners. They bring so much to our school, they add so much to our school. So we're proud of our diversity in this district, and we're eager to meet new children," Skeals said.
In Schenectady County, the Mohonasen School District last week began registering 71 migrant students. Superintendent Shannon Shine:
"The students are now being integrated at the four different levels," said Shine. "We have a primary level, elementary and middle school and high school,with the you know, the heavier loads on the elementaries. So we are currently hiring two English as a second language teachers, ENL teachers, and that should be completed by next week. We're also hiring some teaching assistants to help support, who we're hoping to get to a bilingual, meaning Spanish, specifically, TAs. And we're setting up where our children going to be, who are their teachers going to be. And we're basically in a condensed version planning for the school year. We just had a shorter amount of time to do it with the students and families. But we're on track. And we're going to have a great opening in September."
Shine says two students were proficient enough in English to be admitted into the regular stream. He assures parents that class sizes will not increase and the district expects state and federal government funding will help cover costs.
“The students have either all been accepted or in the enrollment process to receive Medicaid services through Hometown Health," Shine said. "The children would have Child Health Plus, also supported by Medicaid. So we're trying to ensure that students are immunized as quickly as possible, also getting their required physicals to go to school. The only difference for these children is that they can first be admitted without these, which does frustrate some people that the rules are different, and they are. But again, they're considered homeless under the McKinney-Vento act. It's a federal law. And there's corresponding state laws.”
Albany City School District spokesman Ron Lesko says no students are expected to be enrolled from families that have relocated to the Capital Region recently through the DocGo process.
Schenectady County Manager Rory Fluman issued another "Emergency Order Extension" Friday that prohibits "foreign municipal programs that burden the county," while disputing a newspaper report that Mayor Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul reached an agreement to send additional asylum seekers to Schenectady County.
