Pflugerville ISD International Welcome Center gets grant to help refugee, asylee families
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - Pflugerville ISD’s multilingual department recently received a grant to help refugee and asylum families.
The grant allows the district to connect these families with social services they need to adjust to living in the United States.
"It's wanting to make sure that they feel like they have landed in a district that cares about them, that cares about their experience, that wants to look at them holistically. What does the family need," said Dr. Adelaida Olivarez, chief academic and innovation officer for Pflugerville ISD.
In the past year, the district has been able to provide services to over 600 families from all over the world.
"We also do some of the more practical things that students need anytime they matriculate into a school. Like vaccinations. Where can I go get vaccines? We do language testing so that the schools, once they receive them back at their home campus," said Dr. Olivarez.
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Moving to a new country can be difficult for children, especially for those who have already started taking classes in their home country.
Principal William Jaramillo at Westview Middle School says the newcomer academies help students build a community.
"One of the nice things that we do at the middle school campus is that we have peers who will give them a tour, follow them with their schedule so that they know exactly where to go before they go into their classes throughout the school day," said Jaramillo.
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Pflugerville ISD is a diverse school district; 34% of the district's families speak another language other than English.
"We are onboarding a new person onto the team, a new specialist that actually is proficient in several languages, including Arabic and Persi. So, I believe that a big, concerted effort of this team," said Dr. Olivarez.
To make sure families receive all that they need, the district does need help from the community.
"We would love to receive donations of hygiene products and books, children's books. They have none at home, and we all know how important that is," said center specialist Amanda Seaman.
For more information on the Welcome Center, click here.