Future of MPS International School Uncertain

Milwaukee Public Schools administration building. Charles Edward Miller (CC-BY-SA)

The International Newcomer Center program at Milwaukee Public Schools‘ Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language accommodates approximately 80 middle-school level refugee students with two teachers and two specialists in English as a Second Language (ESL). When Urban Milwaukee wrote about the Newcomer Center in September 2021, the largest number of refugees coming to the center were Afghan children after the fall of the central government in Afghanistan.

MPS enrolled dozens of immigrant and refugee children in the past ten years as families fled their troubled countries and sought a new life. Today, students come from countries all over the world, including Myanmar (Burma), Afghanistan, Tanzania, Malaysia, and Thailand. Teacher Erin Sivek talked with Urban Milwaukee about the students there: “We have a family from Sudan who first resettled in Ethiopia. We continue to get more Rohingya families – out of India, Bangladesh, and Mylasia… Always getting Congolese families.” Students usually stay up to 2 years, a few longer depending upon their growth and English proficiency.

These are not undocumented students. Rather they have been vetted through UN High Commission of Refugees (UNHCR). Its website states, “Refugees are people who have fled their countries to escape conflict, violence, or persecution and have sought safety in another country.” Until January, the United States accepted refugees identified by the UNHCR. That has now changed under President Donald Trump.

Sivek says “some of the newest families are really struggling to adjust to America and the language. I don’t know if they have had the realization or the fear of it (the changes under Trump) because they are just trying to get through each day, making sure that their kids get to school, making sure that they have some food security, trying to get jobs.”

She has also seen her students blossom. “One of our students is Rohingya who came to us through Mylasia. She started here last school year. If you are asked a question, even a basic question, she would just smile. She didn’t have any of the basic English language yet. She was a very extroverted little girl. She really blossomed in her English. At home she is always practicing schooling. She wants to talk to everybody; she wants to help everybody.

“She makes it such a welcoming place. Some of our newest students are from Tanzania, are Swahili speakers. Some of these kids from Tanzania who lived in the camp probably have never seen someone in a hijab, who is white skinned or Asian, but this person is helping me, and the new kids adjusting.” All these kids from different countries pray together during recess forming a community with their religion in common.

Sivek gives another example: “A student who was my first student ever from central Africa… He has earned multiple master degrees, and he will get an incredible job with a nice salary. But he is working as a case worker helping refugee families resettle. So, he has come to our school for some of our new families. He tells them, ‘I was a student here. This was my teacher. You are in a safe place.’”

But the number of students at the center has fallen since the beginning of the Trump administration from a high of approximately 100 students.

“Our newest family arrived before inauguration,” Sivek notes. “Since inauguration day [in January], no new student has enrolled with us.” That is when the Trump administration stopped accepting new refugees. The only new refugees Trump has allowed in is whites from South Africa.

In March, the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language’s principal, James Sayavong, stated that his refugee students felt safe at his school. His parents and students had “no fear about coming to school at all. At a parent meeting, we explain to them that we follow district guidelines. We have not have had any problems at all student attendance… We got just one phone call. Our staff talked to them. This was at the beginning of February. We said, ‘No, our kids will be safe at our school.’”

Part of that reassurance stemmed from the fact that their students were here legally, classified as refugee rather than undocumented. That began to change over the last few months as refugee status for many groups has been removed.

Back in March, Sivek remembers “The day after the election results, two of my students from Tanzania, have been here a little longer, have a higher level of English, asked if they were safe here. One girl asked ‘Am I illegal?’ Her family had been here a little longer, have higher English proficiency, and watch news. I explained to her, that you are on refugee status, you are legal.“ Today, Sivek can no longer reassure her students of their safety.

She reports “seeing more mobility with refugee and immigrant families as they’re seeking cities/towns they believe are safer.”

And MPS may be seen as less safe. The concentration of refugee children at this one school has family members and even school officials fearful that the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language might be an easy target for federal immigration officers. With the school year now ending, Sivek and others wonder how many refugee students will return in fall.