Professional development for teachers of multilingual learners? Cancelled.
Newcomer centers opened to ease immigrant students’ transition to school? Closed.
Hiring new English language learner teachers? Suspended.
These are among the tangible effects of the Trump administration’s targeting services and supports that go toward educating more than 5 million English language learners in the nation’s K-12 public schools.
And there are other, more subtle changes: Many newcomer students, in light of the president’s aggressive deportation campaign, are now too afraid to answer simple questions, the type that not only shed light on their lives but give insight into their academic needs.