Some 30 educators, academics, activists and representatives from community-based organizations gathered together on Nov. 29 for a Summit to Support Newcomers organized by the UFT to discuss how to best assist educators confronted with the thousands of asylum-seeking children who have recently arrived in public schools.

“When a school gets 100 new students in a week — when they’re trying to clothe all those families,” the burden unfairly falls on educators and especially on bilingual teachers and paras, said Gina Cirrito, a founder of Mañana Otro Día, an organization that supports asylum seekers.

In the two-hour roundtable discussion at UFT headquarters in Manhattan, attendees shared the missions of their organizations and expressed frustration that what they had to offer newcomers and educators — services ranging from social support to legal assistance to curricula — was not getting into the right hands.

The union held the summit in response to the growing frustration with the city and the Department of Education’s failure to manage the crisis and address the needs of the newcomers.

“There has been a leadership vacuum on this issue, so we decided to reach out directly to these groups to see how we can work together with them to provide resources to our members working on the front lines in schools,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew.

The attendees met at tables of 10 grouped by mission. UFT Teacher Center representatives and academics expressed frustration that the curricula and supports they have developed to help newcomers assimilate and learn English are not being used widely in schools.

“We have a curriculum and five programs that support newcomers, but I can’t permeate the infrastructure of the city to distribute it,” said Lisa Auslander from Bridges to Academic Success, a curriculum-development and teacher-training project for multilingual learners.

“We have Teacher Centers inside 160 schools across the city, which is a good entry point,” said Roe LoMonaco, the director of the UFT Teacher Center. The UFT Teacher Center has been proactive in leading professional development for teachers suddenly tasked with assessing and educating students who often had little formal education in their home countries.

The community-based organizations also generated many ideas. Cirrito suggested the city appoint a “students in temporary housing czar” to coordinate the response in schools. Others said merely being allowed access to the shelters — which are city-contracted but privately run — to educate and inform the residents would be an enormous help. Darly Corniel, the director of education at the Consortium for Worker Education, described an “ambassador program” at a school she works with that connects established immigrant families with newcomers for social support.

All participants stressed that educators should not be asked to shoulder more of the burden.

“We need the city to step up its game,” said Liza Schwartzwald, the director of economic justice and family empowerment at the New York Immigration Coalition. “A more coordinated response by the city would get us much further than just the schools doing it by themselves.”

The participants agreed that schools could optimally be used to disseminate information and to connect families with community-based organizations that offer resources. At present, many schools do not know where to refer families for assistance with immigration questions, mental health concerns and English classes for adults, to name a few of the needs.

“We know that schools are one of the few access points we can guarantee for anybody who has a kid,” said Schwartzwald. “We have great programs that people don’t know exist.”

The summit followed the union’s Oct. 25 listening session at which UFT members discussed the challenges they are facing as a result of the influx of newcomer students in their schools.

The UFT will synthesize the findings from the summit in a report that connects the dots among the disparate organizations, educators, parents and individuals that are working hard to care for newcomer families. The report will also make recommendations for sustainable support for city schools.

“We know the people in these organizations actually get things done when they get the right access and support,” said Mulgrew.

The summit participants also decided to organize an online petition calling on the mayor to reverse his new policy to evict unhoused families from shelters after 60 days.

At the end of the day, Cirrito said, it’s not about politics. “We’re talking about children here,” she said.