DOE offers up pathetic letter of guidance to teachers about influx of migrant students during ongoing NYC crisisBy Nolan Hicks, Carl Campanile, Valentina Jaramillo and Jesse O’Neill
Published Sep. 6, 2023
The start of school will be a surprise test for New York City’s teachers and principals — as the DOE has handed out only a brief memo to educators instructing them on how to deal with the influx of migrants they will face when classes begin Thursday, the Post has learned.
The nation’s largest school district gave Big Apple educators just a 415-words letter to guide them as they welcome some 21,000 migrant kids, which is 2,500 more than the number officials gave last week, the Department of Education said Wednesday.
The 2-page missive, entitled “Guidance on Project Open Arms,” tells teachers they are on their own when it comes to procuring supplies for migrants and says it’s their responsibility to find teachers who can communicate with the students, most of whom speak no English.
It doesn’t even tell local school leaders how many migrants will show up on day one.
“Principals have been preparing their schools for weeks and months and to get something two days in advance seems delinquent on the part of the DOE,” said Craig Slutzkin, a DOE parent who sits on the Community Education Council for District 2, which has saw a large influx of migrant students last year.
As Gov. Kathy Hochul warned Wednesday that migrants don’t just speak Spanish, but a multitude of other languages, the letter offers no help in bridging the language gap. It says only that principals “identify a staff member at your school who can communicate.”
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/06/doe-offers-up-short-letter-of-guidance-to-teachers-about-influx-of-migrant-students-during-ongoing-nyc-crisis/
