Schools prepare for more refugees

This school district are welcoming more than 100 refugees from Burma. It is expected that they will add much to their new community. DP

Additional Burmese expected in Rome, Utica school districts

By REBECCA CRONISER, Observer-Dispatch

uticaod.com: More than 100 new Burmese refugees will enter the Utica City School District this fall, and another 15 are expected in Rome.

To prepare, both districts are working to accommodate the needs of students — who do not speak English — as they look for more funding and new ways to teach the curriculum.

The influx is something the Utica schools are used to. Since 1979, officials have seen refugees entering the district from the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.

The refugees have been good for the school district, Utica Superintendent Marilyn Skermont said.

“They bring a rich culture to the district,” Skermont said. “The diversity helps children learn tolerance and about differences in culture.”

About 1,200 refugee and immigrant students are enrolled in Utica’s ESL program, district ESL director Betsy LaPorte said, and about two-thirds are refugees.

Most are from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. That’s the largest group since the Bosnian refugee movement in the 2000-01 school year, LaPorte said.
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