Help for schools helping Haitian students
- February
- 5
U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, and U.S. Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have contacted Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting additional financial aid to school districts facing an influx of Haitian refugees, Haitian immigrants and Haitian-Americans returning to the U.S. because of the recent earthquake.
Here’s the backstory: In January, East Ramapo Schools Superintendent Ira Oustatcher first reported that he expected a significant increase in enrollment as children came to the area from earthquake ravaged Haiti. (here’s the original Perspective). Local politicians took note. Rockland Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, after speaking with Nyack schools Superintendent Valencia Douglas, contacted the region’s Congressional delegation in late January alerting them to the impact of increased enrollment on local schools. Because this region, specifically Spring Valley and Nyack, have a significant Haitian population, the schools and Rockland’s Department of Social Services expected to see many people traveling here from Haiti.
On Thursday, Engel and Gillibrand issued a press release announcing their push for increase funding for HHS’ School Impact grant program, and a one-time emergency grant program for the most heavily affected school districts, saying they are necessary for schools to properly accommodate the children.
We’ve already seen the financial impact on East Ramapo. The district has a jobs posting on its Web site, seeking four teachers and counselor to handle the expected student increase. The job descriptions specify these are “bilingual” positions — the district is looking for people who speak Haitian-Creole. This “Special Job Posting” is, the district Web site states, “in order to support our incoming Haitian refugee students and families.”



Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence opened up the conference by expressing his concerns, in both English and Creole, for the nation that has such strong ties to our region. He had spent a solid 20 minutes calling up different elected officials and community leaders, most from the Haitian community. St. Lawrence has been to Haiti several times, and he and Spring Valley Trustee Joseph Desmaret, who was also in attendance, are chairman and vice chairman respectively, of the Haitian Solid Waste Authority (St. Lawrence is chairman of the Rockland Solid Waste Authority) and he spoke in great detail about the area where the earthquake hit, and about the nearby capital, Port-au-Prince, where he had been just months before.





