City Hall is putting together a “formal plan” to help migrant children transition to Big Apple public schools when they reopen in a few weeks, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday.
Adams said officials are working to ensure that school-aged asylum seekers enrolling in the system have a “smooth transition.”
“They are going to roll out a formal plan to let everyone know exactly what we will be doing,” the mayor said at an unrelated press conference in the Bronx.
Adams, when asked by The Post, did not provide a count of how many migrant students he expects will register citywide.
Officials estimate thousands of migrants have sought asylum in New York City in recent weeks.
Hizzoner said Schools Chancellor David Banks initiated a meeting with his office about the issue, and had a “great conversation” with Deputy Mayor for Health & Human Services Anne Williams-Isom on Friday.
“They are coordinating together to make sure that these children can have a smooth transition, because we want to make sure there’s not a disruption in their education,” Adams said.
It was not immediately clear whether schools are ready to receive those students with the proper resources and staffing — from bilingual teachers to shelter-based staff — in just three weeks.
New York City has a shortage of bilingual teachers, advocates said, and many DOE employees working in shelters work on 10-month schedules that exclude the summer season.
Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of the Immigrant Students’ Rights Project at Advocates for Children, said that the recent arrivals who are learning English and living in shelters “will need targeted support in school, including programming to help them learn English and participate in class.”
“It’s important for city agencies to work together on a coordinated effort to ensure that every newly arrived immigrant student is placed in a school that can meet their needs by the start of the school year,” Rodriguez-Engberg said.
Advocates also warned that the city needs to ensure principals aren’t left scrambling to recruit bilingual teachers, and that students aren’t forced to later transfer schools.
City Hall did not provide a timeline or further details of the plan.
But a district source told The Post that kids will likely be placed in under-enrolled schools, such as District 2’s PS 111 elementary school and City Knoll middle school in Hell’s Kitchen.
The school district includes Midtown Manhattan — where The Post revealed Monday the city plans to convert a famed Times Square hotel into an intake center and shelter for as many as 600 migrant families.
The DOE said seat availability is only one factor staff considers when registering students, and that kids are being enrolled in programs that meet their language needs and are “reasonably” nearby.
The agency is also providing principals and district superintendents with resources and guidance, officials said.
Adams said last month that the city’s shelter system was being overwhelmed by asylum seekers from Central and South America — some of whom were sent on buses by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to protest the Biden administration’s border policies.
“We are going to provide these families with the dignity that the Texas governor failed to do,” Adams said at the Monday press conference, which announced a $18.6-million federal grant to prepare students for careers in industrial and construction industries, with a focus on cash assistance recipients and public housing residents. City Hall said it would have more to announce soon to ensure they are “well-prepared” before the school year starts on September 8.
