Thousands of asylum-seeking students in NYC spread out across more than 300 schools

New York City schools have enrolled thousands of migrant students in more than 300 schools since July, according to newly released Education Department data analyzed by Gothamist.

While individual reports have emerged across the city of school communities stepping up to embrace the newcomers, the new data offers the clearest picture yet of how thousands of new students living in homeless shelters and other temporary housing are enrolling in public schools in every borough.

The education department data shows that 369 schools have received at least a total of 5,851 students identified through Mayor Eric Adams’ Project Open Arms, which aims to connect asylum-seekers with city services. City officials confirmed that the bulk of the students are migrants.

The data shows that schools near recently opened emergency shelters and relief centers received large numbers of new homeless students. Some neighborhoods with large populations of Spanish speakers also saw surges in new students.

Queens took in the most new students, with 1,936 new enrollees across 107 schools. The Bronx followed with an additional 1,516 new students at 113 schools. Some schools that specialize in teaching newly arrived immigrants also received large numbers of students.

Experts cautioned that a precise tally of migrants who recently enrolled in city schools is difficult to determine. The city Department of Education says it doesn’t track students’ immigration status.

The list of schools receiving additional funding also does not include children attending 3-K or pre-K.

“I think we can glean from the data that there has been a significant influx of students and families into the New York City shelter who've recently arrived to this country and that many of the schools where they’re enrolled were not prepared for that influx. Nor was the shelter system,” said Jennifer Pringle, of Advocates for Children.

In addition to highlighting areas where many new asylum-seeking students are arriving, the schools data illuminates parts of the city where migrant students and other homeless kids are not attending schools in large numbers, such as the Upper East Side, Lower Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.

Last week, Adams and the education department announced $12 million in additional funding for schools that received six or more newly enrolled students living in homeless shelters.

The education department then quietly published data on its website showing a breakdown of which schools received the funding, which amounts to $2,000 per student. The department pulled the data off its site, citing safety concerns, after an inquiry from Gothamist.

Gothamist is not identifying individual schools. The map below shows the distribution of students by community district.

City Hall officials say the arrival of thousands of asylum-seekers to New York City in recent months is the main driver in the surge in homeless students so far this school year.

In the district encompassing Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea and parts of Midtown, where the city opened emergency shelters and a navigation center for asylum-seekers, schools took in at least 429 new students living in shelters and temporary housing. The Queens neighborhoods of Corona and Elmhurst took in at least 392 new students across 15 out of 25 of the area’s local schools, according to a Gothamist analysis.

“The teachers have really been stepping up,” said state Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose Queens district includes a school that enrolled nearly 100 new students living in temporary housing — the most of any in the city. There, she said, a school recently received a grant to open a food pantry and turned an old cafeteria space into a store with free clothing and supplies.

“We're talking about a new group of children who are arriving, who have survived incredible trauma to arrive [in] this country,” said Ramos.

Ramos added that some schools that received asylum-seeking students are “not fully equipped to serve children how they need to be.”

The new students are entering a system that’s already struggling to meet the needs of thousands of homeless students, education advocates say.

As of Monday, more than 20,000 children were living in city shelters, including kids not yet old enough to attend school.

While schools all over the five boroughs received the newcomers, 17 schools took on 50 students or more. In addition to the school in Ramos’ district, a Long Island City high school for new immigrants took in 89 new students.

Pringle, with Advocates for Children, said the schools and shelters that received the asylum-seekers face a daunting challenge.

“They are not funded or staffed to be refugee resettlement agencies,” she said. “So when you have a huge influx of families who don't have any support network in this country … that puts a tremendous strain on the shelter system as well as schools to meet the immediate needs of families.”

Clayton Guse contributed reporting.