What’s in a name? Students at NYC’s largest school for newcomer immigrants push for change
The name of New York City’s largest public school for immigrant students succinctly describes who it serves: Newcomers High School.
The school, located near a cluster of newly opened homeless shelters in Long Island City, Queens, has lived up to its name, enrolling perhaps more migrant students over the past two school years than any other in the city. Its roster jumped from roughly 800 two years ago to more than 1,400 now, according to Education Department records.
Often, over the school’s 30-year history, the name has served as a badge of honor, especially when Newcomers won national recognition for its academic achievement. The school is one of about 20 across the city designed to provide more targeted support and help new arrivals acclimate to life in the U.S.
But as New York City grapples with political and economic tensions surrounding the ongoing influx of migrants, the school’s student government wants a name change.
“The brand ‘Newcomers’ does not identify us anymore,” Brianna Segarra, a senior and the student government president, said at a recent meeting of the city’s Panel on Educational Policy. “We are hurt by it, by all the people in the U.S. who are against migration.”
The name, she worries, “puts a target on us.”
Changing the name of a New York City school isn’t easy. It involves securing the approval of the Parent Association and principal, soliciting public comment at a community education council meeting, and getting a final sign-off from the chancellor.
Students pushing the name change at Newcomers are still in the early stages. They haven’t come up with a replacement name and haven’t yet begun the process of gathering input from all kinds of people with a stake in the school, said teacher and student government adviser Aixa Rodriguez.
Read the full article here: https://www.chalkbeat.org/newyork/2023/12/05/newcomers-high-school-students-want-new-name-amid-anti-migrant-tensions/
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