Nyssa SD 26 presents migrant-student program update, names new engagement specialist

Miss Murray, who presented the district's migrant-student report, told the board the program currently enrolls 154 students, of whom 46 are designated ‘‘priority for service.’’ "This is a slide showing our total number of students in the migrant program, 154 and of those 154, 46 of them are priority for service students," Miss Murray said.

The presentation, drawn from the recruiter’s fall report, broke the 154 students into grade-level and school-site counts: roughly 15 in preschool, 57 at the elementary, and 41 each at the middle school and high school. Miss Murray said the recruiter had enrolled 31 new students since August for the current school year.

Why it matters: the district described the program as a targeted intervention for students who recently arrived or who have not yet met English-language development benchmarks. Attendance and targeted supports were central to the report: at the middle school, 15% of migrant students were below the district’s 90% attendance threshold (compared with 13% overall at that school). At the high school, 11% of migrant students were below 90% compared with 18% districtwide.

Services and staffing: Miss Murray outlined the after-school academic-intervention program (first through twelfth grade, offered three days a week) and described it as "high dosage tutoring" with a maximum student‑to‑teacher ratio of 8:1. She said the program provides pre- and post-assessments to track progress and reported approximately 20% of the migrant-student population was participating in the after-school program. The presenter also introduced Alejandra Gonzales as the district’s new family engagement specialist, who will work with elementary students and in the after-school program.

Miss Murray described additional supports including leadership opportunities (4‑H camp and Treasure Valley Community College summer programs), targeted guidance interventions (calls to families, parent meetings and lunchtime check-ins) and monthly superintendent migrant-student forum lunches where students can discuss concerns with district leadership.

Communications: the district will publish a quarterly migrant-family bulletin listing services, staff biographies and important dates; Miss Murray said the first edition will be distributed to migrant families and posted on the district website. When a board member asked whether the bulletin would go only to migrant parents, Miss Murray confirmed it was intended for those families.

What’s next: the presenter asked for board feedback on the program’s supports and said staff will continue tracking attendance, enrollment and program participation. The board did not take formal action on the presentation.

(Attributions: Miss Murray; board questions and comments paraphrased from meeting record.)