Summer is the busiest time for Clackamas ESD’s Migrant Education Program — not only do we coordinate a summer school program, but we also visit the farms, fisheries, canneries, nurseries, logging sites, poultry plants, beef processing plants and dairies where migrant families work to enroll more children in educational programs and share information about the wrap-around services available to them, such as help accessing food, clothing, extended day care, dental care and accident insurance.
The Migrant Education Program gives migrant students pre-K through age 21 access to year-round educational experiences and support at every level of need. The program focuses on four learning goals — reading, mathematics, school readiness and graduation — achieved through bilingual instruction, cultural activities like music and dance, and wrap-around support.
Clackamas ESD’s four-week, federally funded summer migrant education program served 200 students this summer. While some students attended summer school in person, most students were served online, due to families’ continuing concerns about exposure to COVID-19.
This year, the summer migrant education program in Gresham provided in-person instruction to 14 students from Fresno, California who traveled to Oregon with their families for work opportunities. This particular program was provided in partnership with the Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC). At their end-of-school celebration, students tie-dyed tee-shirts, shook maracas along to folk songs in a virtual visit from binational teacher Fatima Flores and cooled off on the playground with squirt bottles. Programs at other sites will continue through mid-August.
In addition to this collaboration with OCDC, the Migrant Education Program is delivering virtual and in-person instruction this summer in partnership with Canby, Molalla River, Oregon City and Oregon Trail school districts, with wrap-around services provided in partnership with OCDC.
