AMHERST, New York — As thousands of Western New York students head back to class this week, two districts in our region will be welcoming as many as 115 migrant students combined into the classroom.
The students range in grade level from Kindergarten to 12th grade and most if not all have come to Western New York with their parents.
As 2 On Your Side has reported county and school leaders from the Sweet Home and Maryvale districts have spent weeks developing a plan to welcome and integrate this group of students.
And despite some early worries and initial concerns according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, some of these newest students were able to start class on Tuesday.
"I want to thank the superintendents of both school districts for the work that they've done to ensure there was a seamless process and that all these children could be registered ensure that their vaccinations were in place and ensure that they could start their first day of school," said Poloncarz.
He explained that one of those 'early worries' was that the Maryvale School District could have been overloaded if required to take in the entire sum of migrant students at once.
"That issue was alleviated when a number of the parents moved to Amherst," Poloncarz said.
As a result, the Sweet Home School District is welcoming a portion of the 115 students although the district did specify how many.
In a statement, Superintendent Mike Ginestre told 2 On Your Side:
“It was recently confirmed to our Board of Education and to the administration at Sweet Home that new students and their families would be arriving here before the start of the school year. It is the stance of the Board, and our mission at Sweet Home, that each school-age child that resides in our District is a Panther, and is welcome with open arms. All students at Sweet Home have complete access to the full array of our resources and our incredible faculty and staff. We are educators and it is our passion to ensure that “all means all,” and that every student is cared for and on a path to success.”
When asked about the need to hire additional English as a second language (ESL) teachers Poloncarz said that based on his understanding, school districts have been successful in meeting that goal. He added that while not all, most of the incoming migrant students do not speak English.
The County Executive said that assessing each student's education level and needs would be a priority but referred questions about day-to-day operations to the school districts.
"Of all the school districts in Amherst, Sweet Home is the one that has the most ESL teachers, the same for Maryvale this isn't their first rodeo," Poloncarz said.
While neither district is used to having so many non-English speaking students come at once Poloncarz explained that because Maryvale and Sweet Home are responding, they could be eligible for additional state aid down the road.
