All Hands on Deck: Creating Immigrant Support Teams for Students in Topeka
Sarah Fladwood-Handley is the commune Unproblematic ELL Instructional Coach for Topeka Public Schools. When she responded to our Leap 2022 survey about how schools were supporting immigrant families, she shared the arroyo that her district has been using: immigrant support teams. Intrigued, we asked her if she would tell united states more and she was happy to practise and so. Acquire more about who is part of the team, their master objectives, and how the team arroyo is expanding the circle of back up for ELLs and immigrant students throughout the commune.
Tell united states of america well-nigh your role and your district.
I am the district Elementary ELL Instructional Coach for Topeka Public Schools. Topeka Public Schools has approximately xiv,000 students, 17% of which are English linguistic communication learners. The main L1 spoken in our commune is Castilian; even so, there are six other languages spoken past our families.
What has your district been doing in recent months to address the needs of immigrant families?
Our ELL Department has been working like mad to get teachers, administrators, and support/role staff upwards to speed on an consequence that we actually should take been paying more attention to and devoting more resources to for quite some time. We take adult a plan to support our students, families, and staff in different ways. 1 of the first things nosotros did as reports of ICE activities began to escalate was to manus out "Know Your Rights" information in Castilian and English to our families at Parent/Instructor Conferences with the explanation that if the information was not applicable to the parent to please pass on the information to anyone who may need it.
Tell us about the Immigrant Back up Teams.
Subsequently creating our plan and holding our initial parent sessions, with the support of district assistants, we suggested each school course Immigrant Support Teams. School-based Support Team members could include, but are not limited to: ELL teachers, administrators, social workers, counselors, interpreters, and front role staff. The Immigrant Support Team should create a plan in the event a educatee'south family member is detained, not able to exist located, or other related crunch. The Support Team would also provide support for students experiencing immigration-related crisis and/or stress. Additionally, the Back up Team could assist educate classroom teachers and staff regarding students' rights, present ideas for teachers, and be knowledgeable well-nigh resource. So far schools have received this information very well and nearly schools take begun to form their teams. Many schools are too putting immigration-related stress as a topic for discussion at mental health team meetings. Some Back up Teams accept already conducted presentations at their schoolhouse staff meetings and one school has had a parent meeting presenting this information.
We envision the school-based Immigration Support Teams to serve equally the primary ways for educating general education staff members, administration, and role staff. To provide support for schools to begin forming these teams nosotros held an optional commune professional development session called "Developing Resources and Supports for Immigrant Students." The result featured a local immigration specialist who discussed the electric current clearing climate, what families are being advised to practise legally, planning for the worst-case scenario, and what school communities tin exercise to offer support to immigrant students and families. We had a representative from every ELL school in the district nourish this coming together, with over 50 attendees. We structured the activity for twoscore minutes of presentation followed by 20 minutes for Q & A. I think information technology was an centre-opener for many who attended. The district's Coordinator of Social Workers attended and relayed that immigration trauma and stress would be put on her calendar for the next district mental health meeting.
How are your colleagues responding to these efforts?
Since there has been and so much more awareness of immigration policy among our staff these concluding few months, all of our efforts have been met with nothing but openness, positivism, and a general desire from staff commune-wide to larn more and to help our students and families whatsoever manner they can.
What steps has your school board taken to express support for immigrant students?
Our school board has approved a alter to the board policy that outlines how ICE can obtain access at schools. We also issued a statement that explicitly states Topeka Public Schools will be a safety space for all students and ICE agents will not exist allowed admission to students without a signed warrant. This was sent to all Topeka Public School employees via the district newsletter and volition exist posted on the commune website and Facebook folio in English and Spanish.
What were some of your other steps in the past few months?
We held a second district professional person learning opportunity focused on an Immigration Panel featuring a high school student with an undocumented parent, local police force officeholder, ELL para, clearing support organization, and a local clergy member. The omnipresence was limited- 10 or so per session, but we taped the session and are hoping to apply it in future professional developments.
To provide support for our families, our ELL Department besides held a family unit info nighttime that featured immigration law experts from a local constabulary school and local law and schoolhouse police enforcement personnel to reassure our families that local and school law enforcement is non involved in clearing enforcement. The family information night was very well received, though omnipresence was over again fairly limited. I recollect nosotros ended upwardly having maybe 40 families attend. We set up three rotations for the participants to wheel through. 1) Setting up a Family Eminency Plan 2) The Displacement Process iii) Local bilingual police officer answering questions about immigration and the local constabulary department. The third rotation with the local law officeholder was very helpful for parents and families as they could ask specific questions to the officeholder. After the rotations, two local immigration attorneys met with families individually.
What questions exercise your ELL teachers take for you?
The principal questions my ELL teachers have are whether schoolhouse is yet considered a "safe space." Nosotros take educated them through the Department of Education Safe Space handout, but there is however so much fearfulness and uncertainty right at present that the fear of schools losing their prophylactic space label is a question that is still paramount for our district staff and faculty. Some other question that oftentimes arises is how to brainwash administration, front part staff, and young man colleagues. The ELL Department and our district'due south legal squad are putting together an like shooting fish in a barrel to follow guide for front office staff. My hope is to have something by the start of the next schoolhouse yr. Part of it will definitely include a section about how to ask for identification west/o insisting on a social security number. We are also encouraging school-based Immigrant Support Teams to include front office staff to go part of their team.
This is an amazing example of advocacy. What do you call up has made this work successful?
Our district leadership and assistants has been supportive 100% of the way.
What would yous say to educators who want to do more than for their students but don't know where to start?
For those that want to get-go, but are unsure or overwhelmed, start with your classroom-how can you lot create a safety, depression-stress environment, where students know that they are valued. A simple activity is to start dialogue journals with your students. Students tin limited their fears or emotions in a nonthreatening style.
A 2nd pace is to look for local organizations that specialize in immigration assistance so that you can reach out to them for information, support, and to refer families to who need information.
What take you learned during this process?
Many teachers and educators did not realize the daily trauma and stress that some of our students experience because of immigration and the uncertainty and fear that tin come with information technology.
What has surprised you?
How peripheral the effect was. I will be the first to admit that I did non fully understand or grasp the enormity of the situation until I became more engrossed in it.
Has the way yous expect at your ain function changed over this past year?
My office every bit an instructional coach and consulting teacher was mostly concerned with classroom instruction, resources, and ELL programing. Acculturation and assimilation were besides part of the conversations that I would have with teachers and administrators, but would often refer socio-emotional questions to ELL social workers or school counselors. The shift that has been taking place to looking at the whole child became very apparent this past year. Students experiencing immigration-related stress and crisis often times cannot fully participate in school. Focusing on just the academics, linguistic communication, or culture of a child volition only give an educator a partial picture of the child.
What are some of the strengths that your students and families have shown?
Our families have shown resilience and conclusion. That in spite of all odds, their goal is to make sure they are providing the all-time life and futurity for their children. Students and families continue to remain positive, cheerful, and forward thinking, even as they have these uncertainties.
Why is a strengths-based approach of import in this work?
A strengths-based approach is important because it sends the message: We can handle this, we are not giving upwardly in spite of the negativity, we volition retain our dignity regardless of the circumstances.
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Source: https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/all-hands-deck-creating-immigrant-support-teams-students-topeka
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