Schools around the country are adapting to a new reality, which is the enrollment of tens of thousands of migrant children.
>>Enough fentanyl to kill 30,000 people found in southeast Ohio county
All over the nation, schools are trying to find bilingual teachers to fill the classrooms.
Some cities are using new ideas to recruit more educators.
“I’ve never had as many students as I have now,” President of New Jersey Bilingual Educators Michelle Land said.
Land is a high school teacher and said there are many children of asylum seekers who speak little or no English. And without bilingual teachers, it will be tough for these students to keep up with their classmates.
“As a teacher of language, I know, in order for a student to learn a new language, we need to have a strong foundation in the first language,” Land said.
A 2021 Department of Education report found that half of the states have a shortage of bilingual educators.
Some of the main reasons include low pay and certification issues.
Non-profit organizations are offering financial incentives in Miami, Los Angeles, and Dallas to find more bilingual teachers.
In New York, school officials are making it easier for bilingual teachers to get tenure.
>>Dayton police recruit seriously hurt in crash ‘making progress’ in recovery, rehab
“Launching that gave us access to over 500 additional teachers who are already tenured, already show proven success here in New York City schools, and who have the credentials to teach our multilingual learners,” New York City Department of Education Melissa Aviles-Ramos.
Aviles-Ramos said the city now has enough teachers to handle to influx of new students.
“It makes a huge difference…Children feel welcomed when their language is recognized in this setting,” Aviles-Ramos said.
Officials hope these new ideas will give tens of thousands of kids a foundation for a good education/
Advocates say the U.S. will need to invest more money into education to meet the demands of the growing number of migrant students.