What School Is Really Like For Some Migrant Children Separated From Their Parents
Canada Goose online Serious challenges, including a lack of experienced teachers, may be undermining the buy canada goose jacket federal government’s efforts to educate undocumented children in its care, according to five former employees of Southwest Key Programs, a nonprofit network of shelters the government pays to take care of migrant children. Canada Goose online
Although many teachers and staff at Southwest Key facilities deeply care about the kids, it’s not clear how much students are learning, and teachers sometimes serve more as babysitters than educators, the ex employees said.
Southwest Key shelters thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children on behalf of the federal government until they are released to a sponsor, such as a relative. The government, which is legally required to https://www.canadagoosestorevip.com educate undocumented kids, requires organizations like Southwest Key to provide the children with at least six hours of age appropriate education a day, Monday to Friday, in basic academic areas canada goose coats on sale like science, math and reading.
canada goose black friday sale Like many other shelter organizations, Southwest Key Canada Goose sale has witnessed an influx of children in recent months as the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy on illegal border crossings led to thousands of children being separated from their families. canada goose black friday sale
Canada Goose Outlet But at a Southwest Key shelter for migrant children in Channelview, Texas, teachers canada goose uk shop acted almost like a cross between prison guards and babysitters, said Julie Minerbo, who worked as a therapist at the center in February and March 2018. Minerbo was terminated after managers said her Spanish was inadequate Canada Goose Coats On Sale a claim she disputes. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose Minerbo and the other former employees cited in this article didn’t have access to curriculums. But they witnessed students of all ages sitting in the same classrooms together. They often seemed to be lacking books or materials, with a teacher serving to make sure no one hurt themselves or ran away, she said. canada goose
canada goose clearance sale “It never really seemed like there was much education,” Minerbo added. canada goose clearance sale
Canada Goose Jackets A spokesman for Southwest Key directed all questions to the Department of Health and uk canada goose Human Services, which did not reply to HuffPost’s request for comment. Canada Goose Jackets
canada goose store The kids barely learn anything; they’re watching number videos, listening to reggaeton and Canada Goose Parka coloring. canada goose store
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Southwest Key emphasizes that its shelters are not detention centers. Children are also only supposed to live in government funded shelters for relatively brief periods of time before being reunited Canada Goose Online with family members. (The average length of stay for an unaccompanied minor in the program is about 57 days, the government says.)
canada goose clearance Salvador Cavazos, Southwest Key’s vice president over education services, said that details of their education services are proprietary information, according to the Dallas Morning News. Southwest Key and HHS did not tell HuffPost why a publicly funded education service is proprietary. canada goose clearance
Canada Goose sale It’s also not yet clear how the influx of kids under the zero tolerance policy will affect education services. Overall, Juan Sanchez, president and CEO of Southwest Key, told NPR last month that they were “caught off guard by it ramping up so quickly. And we’ve hired now all the staff we need, but it took us a while to be able to do that.” Canada Goose sale
canadian goose jacket Migrant shelters are complex and challenging educational environments. Children come in with different education levels, and many have dropped canada goose black friday sale out of school at a young age or been unable to safely attend schools in their home countries, said Ftima Menndez, legislative attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. counterparts in school, shesaid, and may have had limited access to education in their home countries. Children may also speak indigenous languages other than Spanish that require specific instruction and spend varying amounts cheap Canada Goose of time at the shelters before they are released. And they may arrive at the canada goose clearance sale shelters deeply traumatized by their journeys across Canada Goose Outlet the border. canadian goose jacket
Staff members might not know whether a child would be in the facility for 15 days or 12 months before being placed with a sponsor, explained Irma Gonzalez, who worked as an assistant lead case manager for Southwest Key in canada goose store Texas from January to May 2017. Gonzalez wasn’t privy to individual lesson plans. Staff intentions were good,shefelt, but she nonetheless saw kids “just sitting there coloring, the teacher standing there babysitting.”
Teachers are “really trying” and “working hard,” but they don’t have resources, echoed Antar Davidson, who was a youth care worker at the Estrella del Norte shelter in Tucson, Arizona, before quitting earlier last month. “The kids barely learn anything; they’re watching number videos, listening to reggaeton and coloring,” Davidson said.
This environment would be a challenge for any teacher, but according to some former staffers, Southwest Key only required minimal experience in education.
buy canada goose jacket cheap A Southwest Key job posting for a teacher in Phoenix asks that candidates be least 21, have a bachelor’s degree in education or a related field, and 1 2 years of paid or unpaid experience working with youth. Teachers are expected to maintain a grade book and implement daily instruction in “all core subject areas,” including ESL, physical education and vocational courses. A posting for a lead teacher in Houston, Texas requires a combination of a bachelor’s degree with a state certificate, or a master’s degree. buy canada goose jacket cheap
Public school teachers in Texas, by comparison, are required to have a bachelor’s degree, to complete an approved teacher preparation program involving experience in the classroom and to pass teacher certification exams. In Arizona, a bachelor’s degree is cheap canada goose uk also required to be a secondary school teacher, along with completion of a teacher preparation program canada goose clearance or 30 semester hours of education courses and a specific license. At the same time, both states are currently suffering from teacher shortages.
canada goose coats A Southwest Key spokesman told ProPublica the canada goose outlet nonprofit has “rigorous hiring standards” and that staffers undergo a minimum of 80 hours of classroom and on the job training before they can supervise a child, with additional Canada Goose online mandatory training each year. canada goose coats
canada goose deals Jose Elias Martinez was hired for a teaching job in a Southwest Key shelter in June. He studied engineering canadian goose jacket in college and spent some time tutoring younger kids and college students, but had never formally worked as a teacher before getting hired at Casa Phoenix, he told HuffPost. He had to leave the job after several Canada Goose Jackets weeks of training because his background check raised red flags. He is still hoping to return to a Southwest Key classroom. canada goose deals
buy canada goose jacket “I was kind of going through a job transition,” said Martinez, 27, who learned about the job through buy canada goose jacket cheap a LinkedIn advertisement. “I was intrigued by the fact that it was all over the news.” buy canada goose jacket
Outside of the classrooms, too, students moved in a highly restricted environment that seemed like a mix of high school and prison culture, Martinez said. Other staff members had described it in a similar way.
Southwest Key would take kids on field trips and celebrate holidays,Gonzalez said. canada goose uk black friday Job postings say there are activities for Cesar Chavez Day and the Fourth of July, and that there are visits to museums and a water conservation center.
Canada Goose Parka At BCFS Health and Human Services, another nonprofit, kids could decorate a Christmas tree and receive little presents, recalled Gonzalez, who previously worked for the group in Harlingen, Texas. uk canada goose outlet But she canada goose uk outlet noted that staffers were “very careful not to give them anything that could be turned into a weapon.” Canada Goose Parka
House Democrats sent a letter to Trump administration officials last week seeking additional information on how the government is ensuring that canada goose coats educational standards for unaccompanied minors are being met, and about the credentials and experience of teachers. They requested a response by Friday.
