Migrant parents say they can’t afford hefty list of NYC school supplies, send kids to class with limited itemsBy Georgett Roberts, Craig McCarthy and Emily Crane
Published Sep. 7, 2023
Some migrant kids were forced to show up to their Big Apple classrooms with limited supplies for the first day of school — because they couldn’t afford to pay for the hefty list of items, asylum-seeker parents told The Post Thursday.
Several parents at P.S. 143 Louis Armstrong in Queens said they only had enough cash to buy a “notebook and pencils” for their children, despite being given a list of roughly 14 items ahead of the new school year.
“They are very expensive, everything the school asks us to buy,” said a Mexican migrant mom, whose 6-year-old daughter started at the school. “It is true, I don’t have enough money to buy everything. I only buy what’s necessary – notebooks and pencils.”
“I don’t know if it will affect her learning if I don’t bring what they ask for. I’m worried about that,” she added. “I hope that the school provides some of the things they are asking for.”
A mom from Ecuador, Maria, said she, too, could only fork up enough money for pencils and a notebook for her 10-year-old son to start 5th grade.
Asked how many items she purchased from the supply list, the mother said: “A few.”
“I didn’t have enough money,” she said. “Only the notebook and pencils.”
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/07/migrant-parents-say-they-cant-afford-long-list-of-nyc-school-supplies/