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Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD
▲ Students in the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD migrant education program take an enrichment trip to Quinta Mazatlan in McAllen.
by Dacia Rivers
Texas’ 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 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
Pharr-San JuanAlamo ISD
County: Hidalgo ESC region: 1 Superintendent: Dr. Jorge Arredondo 2020 enrollment: 32,403 Number of schools: 43
had to reenroll in other schools that didn’t have their background information. Migrant workers and their kids really suffered because of that mobility.” Now, once those students are enrolled in PSJA ISD, the district serves as a home base for them. Teachers and administrators keep extensive records on migrant students’ academic progress and needs, communicating with any districts these students travel to so they can reengage in their new schools quickly and effectively. “We stay in contact, and we get text messages and calls from other states,” says Yolanda Gomez, migrant education program director in the district. “We collaborate with other districts to make sure the students continue and have that connectivity to instruction no matter where they’re at.” In the past, switching school districts during the school year often meant students would wind up in a new place only to wait for a few weeks while their new schools figured out which classes might best suit them. PSJA’s migrant education program aims to prevent that, in part by preparing withdrawal packets for students to take with them to their new schools. “We serve as a conduit, a liaison, to make sure we advocate for them,” Arredondo says. “And then we provide support during that time, because we know they will come back to us.” Currently, 639 students are enrolled in the district’s migrant education program. Arredondo says that COVID-19 and environmental challenges hit these students hard, with many ▲ Currently, 639 students are enrolled in PSJA ISD’s migrant education program.
families losing access to their regular employment opportunities. PSJA stepped up to offer assistance to these students. When classes went remote, the district was able to give each student a laptop to use for continuing their education. PSJA ISD has also been able to provide students with devices and hotspots that they can use even when traveling to and enrolling in other school districts. “Some of our most vulnerable students were devastated by what they went through and having to move,” Arredondo says. “We have wraparound services that the department looked at in terms of seeing if they had issues with electricity and water bills. We were able to do that because we know students cannot focus on education when they’re worried about where food is going to come from or having shelter.” Gomez says that assessing traveling students has been challenging in the past, but in her time in the district she has watched these students’ performance-based assessments and test results improve, with some outperforming their non-migrant peers. “Our schools are doing a great job, our principals are doing a great job, and our teachers are constantly in communication,” she says. “I believe it’s all of those collaborative efforts that have helped our students make progress and close achievement gaps.” Arredondo agrees, and credits leadership at the school board and campus levels as well for supporting the initiative, stating that the district has both trustees and principals who themselves came from migrant-working families. “At the same time, we know for that cycle to end, we have to give everything we can to their children, so they can receive that quality education,” he says. To this end, the district provides dual-credit and dual-language classes, to best prepare PSJA ISD students for the future. The migrant education program is not new to the district, but it’s always expanding and evolving, changing to meet students’ unique needs. Recently, the program added a social and emotional learning piece to the program, so that a traveling student’s new school not only receives information on that student’s performance, but on any attendance, intervention or discipline needs. Teachers will include notes about classroom methods they’ve found that best reach a student. With these detailed notes, a student’s new teachers and principal are prepared before the student even sets foot on their campus. It’s a collaborative, comprehensive program that provides next-level support to students who were often overlooked in the past. “Everything can happen if we do it together,” Gomez says. “It really takes a village.” For Arredondo, the program is an investment in the community — a move to aid in the pursuit of happiness, for everyone. “We’ve heard the adage about how a student’s zip code should not dictate what quality of services they should get,” he says. “I would go even further to say that neither should their family circumstances. These are hard-working families. They’re doing everything they can. They came here for a better future for their children. We want to bring that multi-generation prosperity to these children and their parents.”
DACIA RIVERS is editorial director of Texas School Business.
