Читать книгу Immigration Stories from Upstate New York High Schools - Группа авторов - Страница 16

Toward the end of the summer of 2020, just as we were completing the essays for publication, we learned that two of the schools featured in the book—Bilingual Language and Literacy Academy in Rochester and Lafayette Newcomer Academy in Buffalo—closed permanently. Two primary reasons were given for the decision: first, federal policies reducing immigrant resettlement resulted in lower enrollment and second, overall budget concerns—the Rochester City School District was facing a $87 million deficit and to offset this, several programs were discontinued.²¹ Impacted students were transferred to new programs and schools beginning in fall 2020.

After the initial shock and the realization that it could be challenging to locate our student authors, we quickly got to tracking down the students from the closed schools. It was hard work, but we were able to locate all of the students, including one young author, Sebastian, who had moved back to Puerto Rico due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We learned that his family felt it was safer there. We are pleased to report that not only did we establish communication with him but also confirmed that he wanted to remain a part of the project.