▲ Students in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD migrant education program take an enrichment trip to Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen.
PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD
Migrant education program supports mobile students by Dacia Rivers
T
exas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley is home to a significant migrant population, as farm workers head south to harvest citrus and other crops along the border as the season allows, before moving on to the West Coast and Midwest to do similar work during their respective growing seasons. Many of these migrant workers are parents, meaning their children shuffle from one school district to another during the school year, unenrolling and reenrolling, forever being “the new kid,” unknown to teachers and administrators. In Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD, the migrant education program has evolved to support these students, following them even as they leave the
26
BRAGGING RIGHTS 2021-2022 Texas School Business
Pharr-San JuanAlamo ISD County: Hidalgo ESC region: 1 Superintendent: Dr. Jorge Arredondo 2020 enrollment: 32,403 Number of schools: 43
district so that their educational progress can stay on track. The program, which is mostly federally funded, enrolls students in the program if they have parents who engage in agricultural work that involves traveling with their children, and also has an option for older students who themselves are migrant workers. Jorge Arredondo, superintendent in PSJA ISD, says that before the program existed, some of the most vulnerable students in the district were at an extreme disadvantage. “They were really devastated in terms of what they went through, and having to move,” he says. “They
