Lebanon schools taking in hundreds of new students displaced by hurricane

(Lebanon) — The number of children coming into Lebanon city from hurricane-ravaged areas is so great, the Lebanon School District needs the help of other organizations and the community to make sure all these children’s needs are met.

Lebanon’s city school district is averaging 10 new students per day from hurricane-affected areas, according to Superintendent Arthur Abrom. While a great percentage of those children are coming from Puerto Rico, there are also children from the Houston area and Florida. 

“We expect 200 (hurricane-affected) students (enrolled) by our Christmas break,” Abrom said Wednesday. 

The high number and the level of need are what sets this situation apart from the normal arrival and departure of transient students Lebanon has in a traditional school calendar year.

The population increase means the superintendent has capped the class size for all of the district’s elementary schools at 28 students per class. When the 28-student, 1-teacher ratio is met, no more students will be added to that class.

One exception that Abrom hopes to rectify with a new hire (with school board approval in January) is the English Language Learners classroom. As of Wednesday there are 69 students to one ELL teacher. Abrom said the administration will have to find cost savings elsewhere in the current budget to fund the additional position.

Lebanon city students are used to transient students coming in through the school year, and Abrom and Chris Danz, Ed.D., assistant to the superintendent for human resources and pupil service, say the students who have always been here are used to new classmates arriving.

“Sixty percent of the students in Lebanon School District are Hispanic,” Abrom said. “Of that (percentage), 47 percent are Puerto Rican.”

The students currently coming in from Puerto Rico are different from those who typically find themselves in Lebanon in a few ways:

• They have not been in school this year. Schools in Puerto Rico have not been open since Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 and schools will not open this year, Abrom said. Much of the island is still without power and clean water.
• These children have experienced a trauma. First the hurricane, which killed 499 Puerto Rican residents, and now the unplanned displacement.
• Some of these children were sent to the Lebanon area to live with someone else, like an aunt or uncle, whom they have never met.

“It’s the type of student coming in,” that’s different for the district, Abrom said.

The district has two family involvement coordinators at this time, and they work with transient children and their families for “speed and need,” Abrom said. Normally those two staffers work with a handful of students at a time, not dozens of them, in helping with medical assistance, housing, and other needs.

“They’re a bit overwhelmed,” Abrom said.

Hurricane-displaced students are covered by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which means some of the rules that apply to children who move into the district do not apply to these students: Enrollment is immediate (the 5-day waiting period is waived) and vaccination requirements are delayed.

Abrom said the immediate enrollment means if a family brings a child to Lebanon city schools for enrollment, they are processed immediately so they can get educated right away. The school may learn through additional steps that the child actually resides in nearby school district, but the federal act requires the school they enrolled in to keep them the remainder of the school year.

One of the reasons they show up on Lebanon Schools’ doorstep is that the family or guardian of the student most likely receives or is trying to receive other services offered in the city.

What the community should know

Abrom wants community organizations and the taxpayers to know these things regarding the student population growth from the hurricanes:

1. “We welcome all students and we do not treat them differently,” Abrom said of the nearly 200 new pupils this fall.
2. “We are out of coats,” Abrom said. These students did not need coats in Puerto Rico, and now they live in a cold winter climate. The district’s enrollment center tries to keep coats on hand. Now they are out. 
3. “We are open to any types of donations,” Abrom said, clarifying that cash can be donated to purchase supplies (see the Foundation information below), or “perhaps there’s a company that wants to donate 30 backpacks.” Physical items would go to the enrollment center where new students come in, and the money can be given to the Cedar Foundation and earmarked for hurricane victims. Abrom was clear the district does not have the means to sort through people’s bulk yard-sale leftovers or junk from the basement.

Community-wide effort

Lebanon School District was part of a community forum on Tuesday with the City of Lebanon, United Way of Lebanon County and other organizations to “discuss the increasing number of displaced individuals resettling in Lebanon County after the devastation of Hurricane Maria,” according to a United Way release.

According to the release, “Because the Lebanon community already has a high population of Puerto Ricans, the area is seeing an influx of people coming from Puerto Rico in search of new starts. With this growth, the district is seeing larger class sizes and a significant portion of the new students do not speak English.”

United Way and the city will be working on ways to centralize and streamline the process for those resettling here to have access to services.

If you know of someone settling here that needs access to service, they can dial 2-1-1 from any phone and get support 24 hours per day. Bilingual support is available on the call to help assist people in connecting with services in Lebanon County.

How businesses can help

Businesses can earn tax credits by donating to the Cedar Foundation, which benefits Lebanon School District students.  Tax credits range from 75 percent for a one-year commitment to 90 percent for a two-year commitment. While donations can be used for helping students in high school earn college credit or expose them to live theater, donations can also be earmarked for students who are victims of the hurricanes and have relocated to Lebanon schools. For more information, call 717-270-6711.

This story comes to us through a partnership between WITF and The Lebanon Daily News.