Green Bay has a summer school to help ease Hmong kids into school. Some have never been in a school before. DP
Program eases students into Green Bay district
By Kelly McBride
GreenBayPress-Gazette.com: Back-to-school time can be stressful under the best of circumstances. There are new clothes to buy, school supplies to pick up and sleep schedules to adjust.
But for a group of students in the Green Bay School District, getting ready for that all-important first day brings a different set of challenges.
They're new-to-the-U.S. Hmong students, refugees trying to build new lives with little or no knowledge of American culture or language.
While their school-aged cohorts often take it easy during the summer, many of these students are in school, taking advantage of a six-week summer program designed to ease their transition.
For many, the program at Howe Elementary School in Green Bay marks the first time they've set foot in an American classroom. For some, it's the first time they've been to school at all.
"A lot of these children had been in school in Thailand," said former Howe and current Green Bay East High School principal Ed Dorff. "They were in situations where they were 50, 60, 70 kids in a classroom. … They had almost no real experience in school. They're smart kids, but they're behind in what we hope to see kids get out of school."
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