For children of asylum seekers, back to school brings additional challenges
NEW YORK - In addition to the heat, the start of the school year for city public schools Thursday brought with it another challenge: Finding spots for thousands of students from asylum-seeking families.
CBS New York's Doug Williams spent the day with a family from Colombia as their two kids returned to the classroom.
Williams had planned to meet Yenny Torres outside her shelter at the old Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown. He arrived early, just after 8 a.m., but Torres was already on the subway with her kids, 4 and 11, not wanting to be late for drop off on their first day of school.
Speaking through a translator, Torres told Williams she's happy because she's going to start seeing the progress that her kids are going to make
It was about 8 a.m. when Williams caught up with Torres. She had already dropped off her son Juan Pablo. Her daughter Emma fiercely led the way as they walked uptown to her school on the Upper West Side.
"Did she cry?" Williams asked.
"No," Torres said.
"Happy?" Williams asked.
"Yes," Torres said.
The Torres family is from Colombia, seeking asylum here after they said they received threats at home. They've been here almost a year, and both parents are not yet able to work.
After drop off, Williams accompanied Torres as she met with Project Rousseau, a nonprofit organization that supplies the migrant families with legal representation for asylum and employment applications.
One conundrum migrant parents like Torres face: Wanting their kids to speak as much English at school as possible.
The Department of Education said in a press conference Wednesday that the city employs over 3,400 English as a new language teachers, as well as over 1,700 bilingual, Spanish-fluent teachers.
Schools Chancellor David Banks discussed the challenges that the influx of asylum seekers present, but also referenced the previous five years in decreased enrollment, calling it "filling empty seats."
"I have visited several of these schools that have welcomed these students. It is New York City public schools at its finest," Banks said.
There are administrative challenges, and familiar parental ones as well. Torres said Juan Pablo was bullied so badly last year he didn't want to go back to school.
There's a lot of parents that parent their children differently and maybe haven't taught the same values that Torres has taught her child, she said through a translator.
Andres Montes, her husband and father of Emma and Juan Pablo, arrived in time for pickups. By all accounts, it was a good first day. Their housing at the Roosevelt, by definition, is temporary. But on days like Wednesday, for the Torres family, New York feels like home.
The Department of Education said they are currently processing about 140 English as a new language teaching candidates that will be added to schools in need this fall.