Columbia Heights celebrates influx of migrant students, accepts challenges
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. — For migrant students starting a new life in Minnesota, school can be an overwhelming adjustment.
Columbia Heights Public Schools is just one district that's seeing an influx of migrant students.
WCCO visited Valley View Elementary School last spring to see how they were being supported. Now, Kirsten Mitchell checks back in.
We first met Henry six months ago as the 8-year-old was finishing his first year at Valley View Elementary School.
Now in third grade, his confidence is starting to shine through.
"I think it's easier, the English," he said.
Forty-nine percent of students in Columbia Heights Public Schools are English learners, a 5% increase from last school year.
"We've had a huge influx, I can't lie," Principal Jason Kuhlman said.
Kuhlman says most of the new students are coming from Ecuador. Exact numbers are hard to find as new students are quite literally enrolling at the school every week.
"A lot of schools in the pandemic started decreasing enrollment and we started increasing and we haven't stopped growing," Kuhlman said.
Most of the students come in not knowing any English. TThe school has increased its number of EL teachers, like Patrick Schulz, but could use more.
"It's great. For me, it's the reason I do this job, and it's my favorite part of my job, getting to meet kids from all over the world and sort of be the bridge between home and school for them," Schulz said.
That bridge is key for student success.
"My biggest thing is, if parents are taken care of, then they can take care of their kids as well," Kevin Centeno, a full-service school coordinator, said.
Centeno helps families adjust to life in America. One way is through a six-week parent course.
The school also has a clothing and food shelf, offers free medical and dental care and more recently has been helping translate for parents so they can apply for driver's licenses under the state's new Driver's License for All law.
"We're able to translate for those families that way they're driving legally and can still get insurance and all this information provided for them," Centeno said.
To provide all these services, they rely heavily on donations, grants, and community partners — but is the district equipped to handle this influx of students?
"That's a great question. As a public school we are open to receive all students who come," Executive Director of Educational Services Bondo Nyembwe said. "But the reality is when we serve English language learners, the state doesn't always provide all the funds because we're operating at a deficit. It's about a million dollars we don't receive from the state."
The deficit is because funding is determined based on enrollment numbers of the previous year and doesn't take into account the new students that join the district after the count, forcing them to tap into their general fund.
"Yes funding is an issue, but we are using what we have to meet the needs of our students," Nyembwe said.
What's helping this year is that Valley View Elementary was one of few schools selected for a $600,000 grant over the next three years.
"The number one [need] is always money," Kuhlman said. "But money doesn't fix everything. We need people. We need volunteers, we need partners to come together."
Despite the growing pains, nearly 83% of English learners in the district graduate.
"I think our influx of newcomers is a gift, I really do," Kuhlman said. "They are achieving equal to what our native speakers are and that's a testament to all of our teachers in Heights, I think they work hard and they celebrate our differences and all the different ethnicities that come through."
"I like the school because in the school I can learn new words," Henry said. "It's both easy and difficult at the same time."
A new language and a new life in Minnesota.
