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Q&A
Concerns about deportation fears affecting immigrant student attendance
2:27:06
ยท
5 min
Council Member Shahana Hanif raises concerns about Trump's deportation agenda affecting school attendance for immigrant students. DOE officials discuss their efforts to support immigrant families and monitor attendance trends.
- Some constituents express fear of sending their children to school
- DOE emphasizes that school policies haven't changed and schools remain safe spaces
- Officials are conducting Know Your Rights trainings and partnering with local elected officials
- Citywide attendance data shows no massive shifts, but certain subgroups (e.g., students in temporary housing) have lower attendance rates
- DOE is closely monitoring attendance trends and providing support at district and school levels
Shahana Hanif
2:27:06
I mean, this is a disappointing response because the shelter evictions I mean, these are evictions made it impossible for these new families to ever be stable, ever get a job that was permanent to be able to get out of the shelter system.
2:27:24
And I I fear that right now with, of course, Trump's mass deportation agenda, You know, I have constituents who share that they're afraid to send their kids to school, and I know our school community is one of the safest communities for families.
2:27:41
Could you share any trends in school attendance for immigrant students since Trump was inaugurated, and there any costs associated with support?
Melissa Aviles-Ramos
2:27:53
Thank you, council member.
2:27:54
And we are going to bring Flavia Bueno to sort of walk you through some of the data trends that we've seen in terms of attendance.
2:28:02
And I know that you know this and that our policies haven't changed but also for us what's important is good communication not only with the principals and superintendents on these policies which we've consistently doing, but also thinking about what are the ways that we can do better with direct communication to family, which is why we're hosting more Know Your Rise trainings, which is why we're partnering with local elected officials because we want families to understand the resources available to them.
2:28:29
So that way whatever attendance trends we're seeing, we're triaging them by district and by school.
Flavia Puello-Perdomo
2:28:35
Thank you, chancellor.
2:28:36
So I want to address that, but I also want to build upon our deputy chancellor response regarding the the shelter and what we see in terms of the movement.
2:28:47
Because part of the work that I do is also supporting that population.
2:28:51
I think that what our deputy chancellor was speaking to that with the changes with the sixty day and the limitation, yeah, there was absolutely hope and more stability in terms of keeping those families in the same location or if there was any movement looking at the district where the youngest child was enrolled.
2:29:10
However, at this time with the closures of our HIRCs, which are the humanitarian shelters that were open through health and hospital to support migrant students, that's also impacting and creating additional movement.
2:29:26
So then that has a direct implications with things like attendance, right?
2:29:29
Attendance is really and chronic absenteeism are a symptom of what we see within a community and what may happen, which ranges from access to support services to whatever it is that is going on.
2:29:43
So the good thing is that when we look at citywide data, we don't see massive shift in terms of the data.
2:29:50
So our percentage for attendance and where we are in terms of chronic absenteeism are on par at a citywide level.
2:29:57
However, we know that certain subgroups and vulnerable population like students in temporary housing, our students in foster care, students with disability have had lower attendance rates.
2:30:10
And we have to work with them more closely and be a lot more thoughtful about the interventions there.
2:30:16
So for example, immediately after some of our changes in shelters, for instance, I was looking at districts like District 22 where we saw that some of our students in temporary housing then experienced decline on their attendance as a result of some of our changes in shelter.
2:30:35
That didn't impact citywide data.
2:30:37
So what are we doing about it to make sure that we keep our fingers on the pole of what every school community, whatever district is experiencing, working closely with our superintendents, working with our principal, making sure that they have all the data that they need consistently so that they can monitor what's happening in their community, working with our CVO partners, right, so that we are helping families to understand what are their rights
Cora Liu
2:31:05
to
Shahana Hanif
2:31:06
remove And is all of that a separate kind of
Travonda Kelly
2:31:07
And
Shahana Hanif
2:31:07
I'm about to wrap up, I just want to close before you Absolutely.
Trinity W.
2:31:14
Is
Flavia Puello-Perdomo
2:31:17
because I get the opportunity in New York City public schools to lead work like community schools and to lead work like students in temporary housing and to lead work like attendance, that I look at that as like the ecosystem of support that we have for all.
2:31:32
And when we work with our superintendents and when we work with our schools, the experience of Children's is holistically.
2:31:39
So we have to make sure that all of these pieces of our agency are working together, are meeting consistently, are emphasizing to families that you belong here.
2:31:50
There's hope for here.
2:31:52
And just like many of you, we were there at one point as immigrants and you're welcome and we want you to stay in our schools.
Shahana Hanif
2:32:00
I appreciate DOE's commitment to keeping families whole and not evicting them from our communities.
2:32:10
It doesn't help that we have a mayor who is hell bent on not saying anything in response to Trump's mass deportation agenda.
2:32:20
And our schools can do as much as they want, but if the top leadership is having confusion, is confused as to what to say or not saying anything at all, it really harms our entire city.
2:32:36
And I'm also just concerned.
2:32:38
I'd love the data.
2:32:39
I'll follow-up with you.
Flavia Puello-Perdomo
2:32:41
I'd be happy to
Rita Joseph
2:32:42
do so.