Increase in bilingual students demands more bilingual teachers

It’s not enough students to hire a teacher but it's enough students that the children probably aren’t going to get the education they deserve.”

Eric Dinowitz, councilmember

The new migrant shelter at 435 W. 238 St. opened under the radar in late August, until Spanish-speaking migrant children began attending schools that were not equipped to handle their needs. 

Councilmember Eric Dinowitz said that a handful of local schools have enrolled children from the shelter, but not all schools have the resources necessary to handle the influx.  

According to Dinowitz, one of the schools struggling with its increased student body enrollment receives the standard of Fair Student Funding. This city program is the main monetary source for most schools and money is distributed according to the number of students at a school and the needs of the school. 

 Dinowitz believes the number of migrant children newly enrolled in local schools will lack resources. 

“It’s not enough students to hire a teacher, but it's enough students that the children probably aren’t going to get the education they deserve,” Dinowitz said. 

City data from 2021 states 35,969 students enrolled in the Bronx were English language learners, roughly 24% of the city public school’s student body population. Across the entire city, 61% of all English language learners are Spanish speakers.

A report from the city’s independent budget office found 1,873 bilingual teachers and additional 3,606 English second language teachers over the city’s 1,594 public schools. Meanwhile, 48,000 enrolled city public school students live in temporary housing. 

“We do not track immigration status or country of origin so all data is reflective of the number of students in temporary housing who have enrolled in our schools since July 2022,” said a city schools representative. 

Dinowitz said that he’s willing to work in partnership with the schools and do whatever it takes to get the children the help they need. 

According to Dinowitz, in 2022 a family migrant shelter opened in Wakefield, and the community was unprepared for its new neighbors. He said with the help of the city’s Department of Education, he was able to provide much-needed support for the new students, like getting them a school bus and food programs.

“What’s really important is if any school wants particular resources they know I’m going to fight tooth and nail for those resources,” Dinowitz said.  

The New york State Department of Education policies and regulations states, a bilingual education program must be established in an elementary or middle school if 15 or more english language learners speak the same language in one or two contiguous grades, also in any high school where 20 or more English language learners from one grade speak the same language. 

Earlier this month, Lehman College received an $8.4 million federal grant, to be used over five years to produce bilingual educators who can be assigned to work throughout the Bronx. The grant, funded by the National Department of Education, is meant to address the need for teachers and building leaders. 

“There is a huge teacher shortage across the city and it's more dire in the Bronx,” Tiffany Dejaynes said, associate professor of English Education at Lehman College. 

Within the college is Lehman’s School of Education which operates under the framework of Urban Transformative Education, referred to as LUTE. The newly funded multilingual program, referred to as LUTE-MULTI, aims to graduate 120 individuals, half of whom will be teachers and the other half set to be school leaders, the administration in charge of overseeing the daily operations of the building and staff, over the course of five years.

All graduating teachers are required to participate in a classroom or building residency, part of the draw to the program is a $60,000 stipend provided. The average education program includes a classroom residency of three to six months that requires unpaid full-time work. With the stipend, teachers are receiving a yearly income during this unpaid time to incentivize them to fulfill their education and join the workforce. 

Dejaynes said she is looking forward to the grant money offering support for Bronx teachers. In addition to the stipend, the building leaders and teachers are taught tools on social-emotional learning and mindfulness-based practices.  defined as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and making responsible decisions. 

Lehman’s new grant-funded program has just begun, making it at least four years away from supplying the Bronx with the bilingual teachers it needs.

“I’m looking forward to the whole package of how this can support folks who want to be teachers in the Bronx,” Deyjanes said.