Mary Pinette, a third-grade teacher at C.K. Burns School in Saco, prepares for the school year on Wednesday, Aug. 24. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
SACO — Saco School Superintendent Jeremy Ray said he expected registrations of students new to the district would continue into the semester that began for Grades 1-8 on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Estimates show about 121 students who are living with their families at a Saco hotel for the next year will be attending classes in Saco this year, he said, with 88 estimated enrolling in PreK-grade eight. About 33 in grade nine through 12 students will be attending classes at Thornton Academy, Ray said, adding that numbers tend to fluctuate a bit.
The families of the students are asylum seekers, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. About 100 families will be living at the hotel.
Ray told the Saco School Board on Aug 24 that the school department is working with Catholic Charities to register students.
The families are being housed at the hotel by the City of Portland and Maine Housing for one year while they pursue more permanent accommodations. They have previously been living in temporary quarters elsewhere in Maine.
At a prior meeting, Ray said some students who attended classes in their former districts may opt to continue doing so — that is possible because the young people are considered homeless by statute because their accommodations are temporary.
School staff have undertaken a training program called “Welcoming Newcomers to Your School Community,” led by a member of the state DOE, among other training programs, like those that are aimed at teachers of multilingual learners.
As families move into their accommodations and students register for school, people in Saco have been offering to assist their new neighbors.
“We continue to get a lot of support from the community that has reached out to us and are trying to funnel it through Catholic Charities,” Ray said.
Assistant Superintendent Meg Parkhurst said names of about 50 people who have offered to help in a variety of ways has been assembled — something that is helpful now and that will be helpful if a need emerges later.
She said Shelley Kane, a school department employee who works on community relations, solicited donations from individuals and businesses to provide a playground at the hotel.
There was a clothing drive coordinated between the school department, Catholic Charities and Saco Police Department that provided a new school outfit for each child, a process that is ongoing as children are registered.
As well, backpacks for each student were provided through assistance from Ruth’s Reusable Resources, UNUM and others, Parkhurst said.
Parkhurst noted that Saco has a good network, developed over time, and assists children throughout the community when a need arises.
She said the staff is ready to welcome Saco’s new students, and she expects students will get to know each other.
“They’ll form friendships and expand their connections,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ray told the school board that he and Saco Mayor William Doyle were to meet with representatives of the governor’s office to see if some funding to help with costs of hiring additional staff, tuition to Thornton Academy and other expenses, may be forthcoming.
Costs of additional staff, tuition and supplies are estimated at just over $1 million in an Aug. 18 school department report.
“We’ll work with the state on the funding situation,” said Ray. “We have some ideas and are confident we’ll make it work without a special allocation from the City Council.”
Saco’s budgets had been adopted for the year when officials learned that more than 100 additional students would be attending Saco schools this fall.
At an earlier school board meeting, Ray said the department was examining the possible use of federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
Mayor William Doyle spoke about the funding matter at that same earlier session.
“The superintendent and I have been doing everything we can to find additional dollars from the city of Portland and the state,” said Doyle. While the current budget may be able to help with finances, he said, “we haven’t given up seeking additional monies.”
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