Mayor Eric Adams has introduced a new policy to limit families with children to a 60-day stay in shelters. Asylum-seeking families, who have already been through harrowing and traumatic journeys, will be evicted from city shelters at the start of winter. They will either have to reapply for shelter or find alternative housing.
The educators of New York City have worked to welcome and build relationships and trust with the newcomer students. To uproot these families during the coldest months of the year and interrupt their children’s educational progress will create further distress and insecurity.
Please sign this petition calling on the mayor to reverse this policy before it creates havoc in our schools and harms families who are the most in need of our support.
Managing the newcomer crisis
Some 30 educators, academics, activists and representatives from community-based organizations gathered together on Nov. 29 for a Summit to Support Newcomers to discuss how to best assist educators confronted with the thousands of asylum-seeking children that have recently arrived in public schools.
How educators are helping
School communities have pulled together to care for and educate tens of thousands of newcomer students, many of whom have arrived in New York City with little more than the clothes on their backs. The UFT hosted a listening session on Oct. 25 to learn how members are helping these students in the absence of meaningful support from the Department of Education and the challenges that public schools face. Below are some of the initiatives that educators shared at the session.