CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side reported last week that some school districts in Erie County are rushing to prepare for an influx of 115 school age children who are among families seeking asylum.
About half of the students will enter class in one school district that now has to add recruitment and registration to the traditional three "R's. And we found out that won't be easy right before the start of a new school year.
Maryvale School Superintendent Joe D'Angelo sums it up this way, "There are a lot of moving pieces and information changes constantly."
That is an assessment of his added extra pre-school year tasks with the recent news that 66 school age children from asylum seeker families housed in local hotels will next month be entering his district's classrooms. That will be at all levels from K through 12.
D'Angelo says there were briefings in the past week from the State Education Department and the regional BOCES extensions. And there was word that the Erie County Health Department and the Jericho Road resettlement agency will assist. The superintendent notes there will be challenges for him and his district staff.
"We've been told that these children are coming with little to no educational records. So our staff is gonna need to test them, screen them initially. But before that we have to make sure we have the health records in terms of immunization."
They will be working out extra busing from the hotels where the new incoming students are housed. And of course probably hiring more certified English language learner instructors because of the diversity of student languages including English, but also Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, and Russian.
"There is the potential that we're gonna need to hire ELL teachers and there are shortages in that area across the state and here locally as well so that could be a challenge for us that we're gonna have to deal with in the coming days," D'Angelo said.
Extra costs on taxpayer supported School Budgets are not yet known. Superintendent Michael Cornell who is President of the Erie - Niagara School Superintendents Association told us last week about background planning.
"The state, state education department, the Governor's office, the County Executive, Regional BOCES leaders and municipalities. I mean those are the major players in it right now and then school district leaders are waiting to see how all that shakes out to see how it's gonna impact us."
D'Angelo added these observations.
"Obviously we didn't budget for an influx of students and it's not just the costs of staffing, It's transportation, it's ancillary costs that we might not even be aware of at this time on what these children might need. I know it's a hot button political issue at this time and I'm gonna leave the politics to the politicians. As far as I'm concerned I have to protect the district, the taxpayers of the district. But also I wanna make sure that I provide these kids stability and the best education that we can provide them because they didn't ask to be in this situation."
We're also told that so far there will be no additional state funding for local school districts. Governor Kathy Hochul has been quoted as saying the $34.5 Billion dollars she allotted districts in this year's state budget should help cover these new students. That is even as districts had cited the need that extra money for enhanced student mental health programs and for COVD shutdown and learning recovery costs. Some state lawmakers also said they would do what they can to help but there were no commitments beyond the advice and guidance of the BOCES programs.