NYC students head back to school amid expanded shelter limits

Over 900,000 New York City public school students will go back to school Thursday as the new academic year begins, but for children from migrant families subject to the city’s 60-day shelter limits, uncertainty looms. Again. 

“We should be filled with hope and pride as children start a new school year,” Randi Levine, Advocates for Children policy director, said at a rally Wednesday to protest the shelter limits. “Instead, we are standing here concerned about the disruption to the education of children caused by the city’s decision to expand shelter limits to an even greater number of newcomer families.” 

It’s the second school year impacted by the controversial policy requiring asylum-seeker families with children to reapply for a new shelter placement every 60 days. While the Adams administration has argued the rule is necessary to create more space in the shelter system and to encourage families to move out, advocates and elected officials have slammed the change, arguing it has uprooted vulnerable students, disrupted their education and compounded the trauma many have faced. Legal protections give families the choice to stick with the same school throughout the year if they wish, but that decision often comes with trade-offs like longer, more complicated commutes.

Melissa Aviles-Ramos, education department deputy chancellor of family and community engagement and external affairs, acknowledged the challenges of helping migrant families stay in the same schools. Still, the education department is there to help with transportation and coordination.

“The families are entitled to stay in their schools and they are entitled to bussing,” she said at a back to school town hall streamed by ABC7.

Advocates' concerns are only heightened going into this school year after state officials recently granted the city permission to issue 60-day notices to many of the roughly 30,000 migrant parents and children living in Department of Homeless Services shelters – expanding what had initially only applied to families staying in the city’s network of emergency shelters.

Advocates, the United Federation of Teachers and elected officials including City Comptroller Brad Lander, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and a handful of City Council members gathered Wednesday in protest against the expanded policy. 

For the first time in eight years, enrollment in city public schools didn't go down last academic year. Final data released in July by the New York City Department of Education found that 912,000 students were enrolled – up from 906,000 in the year prior.

The arrival of tens of thousands of migrant students over the past two years played a consequential role in making that happen. While it’s difficult to know the precise number as city schools don’t ask families their immigration status, around 40,000 students living in temporary housing enrolled over the past two years. More are expected this year. 

“Creating chaos among vulnerable families does nothing to make our city a better place,” Council Member Alexa Avilés, chair of the Committee on Immigration, said in a statement. “This failed and traumatizing policy has already uprooted tens of thousands of people, and is ultimately the mayor’s choice. He holds the power, and, with the stroke of a pen, he could put an end to it.”