NORWALK — More than 1,700 students displaced from Puerto Rico have been enrolled in Connecticut schools, with hundreds more arriving every week.
As of November, Connecticut had welcomed the second highest number of families from the hurricane-damaged U.S. territory, only behind Florida, putting pressure on the state’s school districts to make room for new students, according to the Puerto Rico Department of Education.
“Right now wherever the kids end up when they get to Connecticut, whether they’re staying with family or in a shelter, they’re enrolled in that district,” said Peter Yazbak, spokesman for the State Department of Education. “We sent out a survey to the districts, asking what are some of the unique challenges they’re seeing, what are some of the ways they’re dealing with several hundred new students they hadn’t planned for, and eventually we’ll figure out a way to help them cover costs and coordinate resources to absorb these students, but every week, we’re getting at least several hundred more.”
While school districts like Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport have received the majority of displaced students, many smaller districts like Norwalk have also received a handful of new students and are anticipating more as the larger districts near capacity.
“Hartford has the most and they really can’t take on many more kids,” Yazbak said. “So I just noticed that West Hartford now has 11. We’ve been reaching out to districts in some of the surrounding cities, helping them coordinate transportation for the kids as districts become full.”
Norwalk has received a total of 11 students, though two have already returned to Puerto Rico, said Patty Foley, director of school improvement and the district’s homeless liaison to the state.
“Norwalk really has fared well,” Foley said. “We do what we need to do for the kids that come in, we have placed them, we give them a backpack, to get them settled. The anticipation is that there will be more coming ... We could be getting more but right now we’re doing fine. We’re able to get the kids in, we have enough room. We don’t know if they’re going back or not, but we’re educating while they’re here, of course.”
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act requires that students arriving from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands or any affected storm area who are identified as homeless or unaccompanied youth be provided immediate access to school and services they may need. This includes students who may seek entry to school but lack health records or immunization documentation.
“Whichever town or city the family is referred to or an unaccompanied minor is placed by DCF determines where the children will enroll in school,” Yazbak said.
While most families coming into the state have friends and family connections, they are still considered homeless because the places they are staying are not permanent. Those without connections are referred to the appropriate social services agencies. Yazbak said unaccompanied minors will ultimately be referred to the Department of Children and Families.
“Families with no connections can call 2-1-1 which has been operating as the referral point-of-contact,” Yazbak said. “If they have applied for FEMA assistance and are eligible for TSA then we can direct them to a hotel and make them aware of the welcome centers and basic need supports. For families that are not eligible and are literally homeless 2-1-1 would refer them to disaster case management to work with the family and discuss options. As a very last resort, 2-1-1 could refer a displaced family to the CAN homeless system.”
State and federal assistance for districts
In September, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Commissioner of Education Dianna Wentzell issued guidance to school districts regarding enrollment of displaced children from Puerto Rico and the educational rights of students displaced by disasters.
Yazbak said the state department of education will continue to be responsive to the needs of districts as they work to enroll and stabilize displaced children, including coordinating with other state agencies, FEMA and Connecticut’s congressional delegation to participate in the Hurricane Relief Evacuee Support Planning Group convened weekly by the state Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
The state Department of Education also created and distributed a one-pager titled “Connecticut Welcomes Educators Displaced by 2017 Hurricanes” to Connecticut’s welcome/resource centers, and distributed a survey to school districts to gather more detailed information regarding the students recently enrolled in their district, how their district is serving this new population, unique challenges they’ve encountered and costs associated with absorbing and serving the displaced students.
Ultimately, the information gathered will help CSDE determine how best to provide support and technical assistance to districts, Yazbak said.
At the federal level, the Office of Management and Budget requested Congress approve an additional $44 billion in disaster aid for FY 2018. A portion of that $44 billion request would provide about $1.2 billion to the U.S. Department of Education for a Hurricane Education Recovery account, which would “provide funding to school districts and post-secondary institutions receiving displaced students.”
Yazbak said the state department of education is working with congressional leaders to support the funding request to ensure school districts receiving displaced students will be able to obtain fiscal support.
kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt