NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- As asylum-seeking families continue to arrive in New York City on buses from Texas, local officials are figuring out how to welcome hundreds of children into the school system this fall.
The mayor’s office unveiled its “Project Open Arms” multi-agency plan on Friday, with schools Chancellor David Banks saying the transition should be as smooth as possible after all the kids have been through.
“All of our young people deserve access to high-quality schools and the array of support that they provide,” Banks said at a news conference. “They deserve to be welcomed into our schools with open arms.”
The chancellor said they’re “literally holding hands,” walking families from shelters to schools to help them get enrolled ahead of the academic year that starts Sept. 8.
The current estimate is that at least 1,000 children will be added to the school system, though it’s a “very fluid situation,” Banks said.
The city will try to place the students at schools closest to the shelter they’re staying in, though officials haven’t ruled out busing them farther.
The chancellor insisted that there are resources for kids who don’t speak English, but the system has had trouble hiring bilingual teachers—so much so that they’ve begun recruiting in the Dominican Republic.
The Adams administration has asked the federal government for help with the asylum seekers, while at the same time cutting funding to some schools.
Schools face an uncertain future as a court case around the budget cuts continues. Banks insisted the cuts won't have an impact on education.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, has been in a weeks-long feud with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who has been sending hundreds of migrants to the city on buses this summer, saying the border state is “overwhelmed.” Officials have said some 6,000 people have arrived since the spring and strained the city’s shelter system, though the mayor’s office has vowed to “welcome newcomers with open arms.”
City officials have accused Abbott of using desperate asylum-seekers as “political pawns,” while the Texas governor has said New York and other sanctuary cities are “the ideal destination for these migrants, who can receive [an] abundance of city services and housing.”
During a radio interview Friday, Adams said the city not only has the legal obligation to shelter asylum seekers but also the moral duty to educate kids who are arriving.
“We're going to make sure the children are enrolled in schools,” the mayor said. “We are going beyond our legal duties to live up to our moral responsibility. And it's a herculean task.”
“We're going to be honest with New Yorkers. We're already dealing with a shelter system that's overburdened,” Adams added. “We reached out to the federal government and asked for their assistance as well. We're going to need help from the state. But until that help comes, we're going to fulfill our obligation.”
The mayor slammed Abbott again, saying he's been sending people on 45-hour bus trips “without proper food, medical care, without coordinating with the cities that they passed through.”
In a statement on the new education plan, State Sen. Julia Salazar said this is “the moment of truth when it comes to living up to being a sanctuary city.”
“Project Open Arms is a testament to our best interagency plan,” the senator said in a statement. “In the hour of their displacement and desperation it is up to us to ensure these families have a helping hand when arriving here. We are the city of compassion, and we were able to mobilize these wraparound programs and comprehensive response as quickly as we have.”
Related
Related
Related
