Mass. teachers vent about 'trying time' of accommodating migrant students, docs show

June 03, 2024

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (CITC) — Teachers throughout western Massachusetts are voicing frustrations as they work to accommodate an influx of migrant students to their schools, according to documents obtained by a parents' rights group.

Massachusetts is one of several Northeast states currently facing an influx of migrants. Gov. Maura Healey earlier this month signed off on a law allocating millions of additional dollars to the state's emergency shelter system, sparking protests in Boston.

More than 7,400 families are currently being housed in emergency shelters across the state, with migrants and asylum seekers accounting for more than half the amount, according to WWLP. The Springfield area alone is reportedly housing 277 families.

Emails obtained by advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE) show schools in multiple Springfield suburbs have taken in some of those migrants, putting a strain on educators. In multiple emails, employees of West Springfield Public Schools (WSPS), Hudson Public Schools (HPS) and Monson Public Schools (MPS) voiced frustrations with the added workload, as well as highlighted concerns about proficiency levels in some migrant students.

In one email, an MPS employee described a student who "started school with no English" to a co-worker, saying "teachers are struggling with him because we received no educational information from his last school."

We put him on a pass/fail for Q1, but the admin wants him graded moving forward. It is tricky for sure," the MPS employee wrote. "Teachers here do not have any experience with such a low level ELL [English language learner]."

The MPS employee said they are "running every minute" due to recently acquiring six additional students, adding "a little venting is what I needed I think." Their co-worker responded by sharing they are coordinating interpreters for many families for parent-teacher conferences, asserting "it's a full time project outside of everything else that is going on."

In multiple emails, school employees expressed a need for additional interpreters, translation dictionaries and headsets to assist migrant students with testing.

"We did not budget for this since we didn't know this was going to happen," one WPS employee wrote.

This is a trying time for some districts who aren't equipped to service newcomers, are short handed for teachers, and also don't have the right resources for curriculum," another email obtained by PDE reads.

Approximately 2,000 migrant students were added to 74 Massachusetts school districts this academic year, according to state data. Massachusetts Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler told WBZ earlier this month each district is receiving $105 per student daily.

Michele Exner, a senior adviser to PDE, argued to Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) school districts' struggles are a product of the Biden administration "ignoring their self-made border crisis."

"This is a disservice to every family impacted and worse, it was a predictable outcome, but the federal government chose to do nothing to prevent it," Exner said.

Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) reached out to each of the above school districts for comment. This story will be updated as responses are received.

Have something for the Crisis in the Classroom team to investigate? Call or text the national tip line at 202-417-7273.

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