Migrant students face larger challenges than most children

By DAISY MARTINEZ/VALLEY MORNING STAR

HARLINGEN — Migrant students have a bigger challenge than many students do but the school district is trying to help, officials said.

The Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District’s Migrant Education Program offers many services to students ages 3 to 21 who have relocated because of their family’s search for seasonal or temporary employment, Thelma Reynolds, HCISD director of federal programs, said.

About 900 children out of the district’s 17,000 students qualify for the MEP services, which are offered through the No Child Left Behind Act, Reynolds said.

“Migrant children face barriers that other children don’t face,” Reynolds said. “The main goal of the migrant program is to help children be successful in academics. If they’re successful they can graduate from high school and have choices for post-secondary education or employment.”

When migrant children relocate to another city or state they leave behind their homes, classes, teachers and friends, Reynolds said, and some also have a language barrier to overcome.

“It’s an interruption of their education,” Reynolds added.

The district is currently recruiting students who are eligible for MEP and the services it offers, Reynolds said. Migrant students and their families have returned to the school district or will be arriving through November, she added.

Students who have moved out of the school district with their families for agricultural, dairy or fishing work in the preceding 36 months qualify for the program.

Some of the services offered through MEP are high school migrant counselors, after-school programs, early childhood programs, summer school programs, school supplies and health services.

Reynolds said the greatest problem for migrant children is attending a new school and starting all over again. It is important that migrant students and their families are aware of the services that are available, Reynolds said.

Migrant children often don’t finish a complete school year at the district, Reynolds added, and that’s why the program tries to ensure migrant students’ success.

“The families see great value in this program,” Reynolds said.

The number of migrant students has decreased in recent years, Reynolds said, due to the higher cost of living and gas prices. Families have also had to find permanent jobs.

“Technology also has had an effect because not as many individuals are needed to pick crops.”