An influx of migrants into New York City is placing a strain on the public schools in that city. About 19,000 migrants were recently bused to New York City from Florida and Texas.
Tent shelters were being erected on Monday on Randall's Island in New York City to house waves of migrants, including those sent by Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, a Republican. The influx led Democrat Mayor Eric Adams to declare a state of emergency and call on other officials, including those in El Paso, to stop sending people, The New York Times reported.
On Friday, Adams said that 5,500 migrant kids have been enrolled in the city's public schools, the New York Post reported.
An official tally by Community Education Council District 2 lists 50 migrant students in PS 33 in Chelsea, which is a neighborhood that has million-dollar condos as well as Public Housing projects.
A PS 33 Chelsea Prep teacher said that the count was far too low, the New York Post reported. "There's way more than 50 migrant students. It's at least 90 right now," the teacher said.
The Manhattan public school has just one certified bilingual teacher.
"We're overwhelmed," one frustrated teacher at PS 33 Chelsea Prep said. "We've all got migrant students in our classrooms. The teachers don't speak Spanish. There's no resources helping us out right now — it's a very challenging situation."
Some parents are trying to get their children enrolled in other schools in New York, the Post reported.
The Department of Education decides where migrant kids can attend school, based on factors including the proximity of the shelters where their families have been placed by the city and the availability of seats in area schools.
"It is a challenge, to say the least, to have this many new families, many of them who do not speak English," said New York Schools Chancellor David Banks. "We already had a shortage of bilingual educators."
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