School communities have pulled together to care for and educate tens of thousands of newcomer students. The UFT hosted a listening session on Oct. 25 to learn more about the challenges facing schools and how educators are helping these students in the absence of meaningful support from the DOE. Here are some of the initiatives that members shared.
A school clothing ‘closet’
Newcomer families often arrive in New York with nothing but the clothes on their back — and not necessarily weather-appropriate clothes. “We have a dad of four girls who is in shorts and slippers,” said Allison Niles, the social worker at PS 116 in Manhattan.
Chapter Leader Melissa Seigel in the clothing “closet” at PS 116, Manhattan.
To address that and other basic needs, the PS 116 school community has turned a classroom into a closet and storage space filled with clothes, shoes, coats, toiletries, strollers and personal items.
Families fill out a needs-assessment form, and volunteers do their best to match specific items, which have either been donated or purchased from an Amazon wish list, with the newcomers who say they need them.
“We got clothes and coats for the four girls,” said Niles, “and shoes for the father, so he can bring them to school.”
UFT members at the school, said Niles, also use their own money to buy items that families need. They are currently working on getting that father a coat.
— Leigh Anderson
A parent lounge with WiFi
Asylum seekers without stable housing also lack reliable internet access, which they need to participate in immigration hearings and register for English classes for adults. In September, UFT members and administration at PS 343 in Lower Manhattan converted an empty classroom into a “parent lounge” so families would have a warm and safe place to get online.
The parent lounge has reduced student absences, too: Families seeking asylum have to bring their children with them for online court appearances, so parents now have a place to wait, and their children can remain in class until they’re needed, said PS 343 Chapter Leader Michael Vitrano.
The parent lounge has also fostered connection among parents, who regularly step in to help one another, said Vitrano. “It’s really brought the community together,” he said.
— Leigh Anderson
Districtwide initiatives
District 4 in East Harlem has launched several initiatives to help the newcomer families in the 23 schools in the district.
Asylum-seekers and other families in need can make appointments to shop at the free District 4 Community Boutique, housed in the district’s offices at PS/MS 7 in East Harlem.
Families shop in the District 4 Community Boutique, housed at PS/MS 7 in East Harlem.
The boutique, which opened in March 2023 with the help of educators from schools in the district, is a genuinely joint effort. Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and Zeta Phi Beta sorority members helped sort through and organize donations over several Saturdays to get the store ready, and students at PS/MS 7 earn community service hours by volunteering at the boutique.
Parents can pick up clothing, school supplies, toiletries, diapers and other items. The boutique has a kids’ corner where children can sit and read while their parents shop.
District 4 also created an online resource guide for schools on how to support their newcomer students and families. Azeen Keramati, the District 4 supervisor of social workers, wrote the “living” document that includes district and community resources, contacts, referral numbers and websites. The guide also provides tips on how best to welcome families and elicit information about their needs.
— Cara Matthews
A ClassDojo page and monthly workshops
Asylum seeking families have much to learn about how to navigate New York City and its school system. Dual language 1st-grade teacher Dennis Uribe and pre-K teacher Amy Ron created a ClassDojo page called Familias Unidas, a secure online classroom management platform, to provide this information to the newcomer families at PS 112 in Long Island City.
Pre-K teacher Amy Ron with students at a community engagement event.
“We had a massive wave of students coming to us, and we didn’t know how to reach out to their families,” Ron said.
Uribe and Ron post information, such as where to find free English classes, how to use the subway system, how to communicate with teachers and other staff and how to dress children for the winter.
They also post fliers for the school’s in-person monthly Creando Puentes (Building Bridges) workshops that they lead on topics such as how to navigate the school system, how to obtain a New York City ID card and how to find mental health services. The school also invites representatives from community organizations to talk to the parents about legal services, health insurance and other useful information. The workshops end with a hot meal.
School staff keep the children entertained while their parents attend the meetings. Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens, a community schools partner, designs the fliers.
— Cara Matthews
A school thrift shop
After watching waves of students from asylum-seeking families arrive at their school in 2022 without adequate clothing, National Honor Society students at the Manhattan Academy for Arts & Language decided to open a free thrift shop in their school to help.
The shop has backpacks, notebooks, toiletries and other items in addition to clothing. Students can shop for themselves and other family members.
Teachers Zach Ash (left), a National Honor Society adviser, Laura Heredia (second from left), a former adviser, and Miriam Pinos (right), also an adviser, with National Honor Society students at the group’s thrift shop at Manhattan Academy for Arts & Language.
Some National Honor Society students said they felt a special kinship with the newcomers because their families, too, had immigrated from Latin America in previous years.
“Even though we didn’t make the same journey as them, we connect that they are here and starting again and have new opportunities in this country,” said Sarah Maldonado, a high school senior who migrated from Venezuela nearly three years ago.
The advisers of the National Honor Society are teachers Miriam Pinos and Zach Ash.
Sixty percent of the students at this small high school in Murray Hill are English language learners. “Our school is designed to make the immigrant families feel welcome,” said 12th-grader Cesar Emilio Mendez Chrinos.
The National Honor Society students are happy to lend a hand. “We feel great because we’re helping them feel comfortable and safe at the same time,” said 12th-grader Avril Rivera.
— Cara Matthews
Managing the newcomer crisis
Some 30 educators, academics, activists and representatives from community-based organizations gathered together on Nov. 29 for a Summit to Support Newcomers to discuss how to best assist educators confronted with the thousands of asylum-seeking children that have recently arrived in public schools.
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