After losing nearly 80,000 students over the last decade, the Chicago Public Schools finally added students during the last school year, thanks to the migrant crisis, a top mayoral aide said Thursday.
To ensure better educational outcomes for the new arrivals, deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration plans to open an “enrollment center” at Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School, 1147 N. Western, in time for the first day of school on Aug. 21.
The center could be the first of several to help the children of asylum seekers and their parents make the difficult adjustment, she said.
“Last year … children were being enrolled in the middle of the school year. ... There wasn’t really sufficient time to plan more resources to be able to meet the needs. The objective of setting up this pilot enrollment center is really to get in front of that,” Pacione-Zayas told the Sun-Times.
“Chicago Public Schools can better plan for the fall to discern where they can send students, assure that they have the right amount of teachers with the appropriate certification for bi-lingual education. If there’s need for special education screenings. And there will be a meeting with social workers to discern if there are additional wrap-around supports that are needed for the family.”
Pacione-Zayas called the Clemente center a “pilot.” It may not be the only welcoming center.
“We’re hoping to actually have a few more locations so that we can really get in front of this school year and be best prepared to meet the educational needs of people coming with their families from the southern border,” she said.
CPS entered the last school year with 321,981 students, down 19.6% from 400,545 students 10 years ago.
But the migrant crisis has finally stopped the bleeding, “and we can pretty much attribute that to the addition of young people” from migrant families, she said.
“That’s definitely one way for us to re-populate. But … we need to continue to double-down on practices and policy that continue to make Chicago Public Schools a space that is not only welcoming, but that is affirming for young people.”
She added: “That is really doubling down on bringing out the best in their talent and potential and assuring that our schools are resourced to meet the needs and the demands of a 21st Century education system that should be fostering critical thinking skills. That should be exploring careers and passions.”
A memo to the City Council last week said up to five new migrant shelters could open, with a combined capacity of nearly 2,500.
Pacione-Zayas said the memo was intended to keep alderpersons who felt blind-sided by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s top-down approach to the migrant crisis fully-informed of the many options under consideration.
She did not say if all five sites would be needed, just that the city will “continue to need space,” and that Chicago already is experiencing “a housing crisis that has been exacerbated by gentrification” that will get worse when COVID relief dollars expire in 2026.
More definite is the city’s plan to conduct background checks for shelter volunteers and issuing credentials to meet the city’s requirements. Screening will include “baseline training around mental and behavioral health,” Pacione-Zayas said.
