Billings Public Schools plans to accommodate a growing number of English learner students with its new Billings Multilingual Academy dubbed the Billings newcomer center, and it'll likely start with a group of refugee children expected to arrive in town later this spring.
The number of English learner, or EL, students within BPS has risen dramatically in recent years, and it's created a unique challenge for the district to overcome in a way that best educates all BPS students.
BPS school board trustees and administrative staff tour Newcomer classrooms with Assistant Superintendent Chris Olszewski during a recent committee meeting at Lincoln Center.
The number of identified EL students in the district rose from 25 in the 2015-2016 school year, to 245 in 2020-2021, to 348 in the current 2023-2024 school year.
The new charter school, which will be state funded and housed in SD2's Lincoln Center downtown, will act as a centrally located support for families and students to enroll and begin their time within the district.
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The newcomer center also will help support and educate students of refugee families relocating to Billings, among a growing population of English-learning students in the district.
Circumstances contributing to the rise in EL students are attributable to a variety of factors, including Billings’ population increase overall, during and after the COVID pandemic. Billings is one of the more affordable communities to live in in the state, with a variety of employment opportunities and career pathways.
Lastly, Billings was recently identified as a “Resettlement Community” by the U.S. State Department for vetted refugee families.
Billings will receive 50 new refugee families in the next six months as a result. BPS has been preparing for their arrival and how to best support and educate students of those families within the district. As part of the new Montana Accreditation, EL Programs are a state requirement within the school district’s strategic planning.
Billings School District 2 Superintendent Erwin Garcia answers questions regarding new charter schools opening in Billings and the closure of Washington Elementary School during a meeting for parents at Washington Elementary in January.
During a recent school board committee meeting discussing the topic, BPS Superintendent Erwin Garcia stated public concerns he’d received over the legal status of refugees coming into Billings, or the idea that the newcomer center is incentivizing migrants to relocate to Billings.
Garcia refuted those concerns, emphasizing during the meeting that the intent and responsibility of the school district is to educate youth.
“At the end of the day, we're not here to make that distinction, we’re not here to check on papers. When a student comes in, we have to take the student. We cannot deny any child of a free, public education,” said Garcia. “We have a responsibility, and every child that comes to our school district will be well received, well supported, and well educated.”
James Horan, the Denver-based president and CEO of Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, helped establish the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services office in Billings, after approval from the U.S. State Department last year.
Horan spoke to the legality of incoming refugees in an interview last fall. He stated that being approved for refugee status involves a complex and thorough process often taking years to complete. It involves six background checks, in-person interviews and medical examinations before entry into the U.S. They are the most highly vetted of all immigrants, he said.
By the time refugees make their way to Billings, they’ve already waded their way through a multitude of well-established bureaucratic procedures.
“We have to remember they come to us with literacy, just in a different language. Some are even multilingual,” said assistant superintendent Chris Olszewski. “Students who have limited English, are sometimes advanced in areas like mathematics and science.”
Billings’ newcomer center will provide direct services to students based on individual needs and will provide a proficiency-based alternative pathway for incoming students and families to choose from.
The newcomer center expects to open for service starting in the 2024-2025 school year.
BPS recently received approval for state funding for all three charter schools the district applied for, including the Opportunity School and the Early College School, to be housed in the Washington Innovation Center, and the Newcomer School, in the Lincoln Center.
Base funding requested by the district is approximately $350,000 per school year. Final funding will not be determined until finalization of contracts next week.
“We’re very excited for this, and what it will mean for our students,” said BPS spokeswoman Melanie Willardson.