Migrant Education remakes itself for cherry harvest
By Tom Peterson
Migrant education is set to hit the fields this June in a best effort to provide education to hundreds of elementary students while their families work in cherry harvest.
It’s a novel idea, according to Jonathan Fost, Migrant Education Director with Columbia Gorge Education Service District.
“No one in the state is doing that - education within orchards,” he said, noting he works with Migrant Education directors weekly from around the state to come up with solutions for providing education. “We are the only ones.”
Fost knows that the plan does not fill all the gaps. He said it was the best compromise under Oregon Department of Education guidelines wrought by the threat of COVID-19.
The plan provides education but nowhere near the amount in past years because social distancing will spread teachers thin in smaller groups. His budget of $170,000 is also getting stretched due to personal protective equipment and sanitation requirements. Fost expects to have a total staff of 20 hired in days to come.
Between 300 to 600 students may need education, but Fost said hard numbers are not available until workers report in The Dalles during the next week. Last year, the number of students stood at 230.
THE PLAN
Fost said programs were put together with input from orchards around the area including Tenneson, Pink, Cooper, Polehn, Orchard View and McClaskey orchards.
Starting June 9, migrant teachers will provide education in reading and writing to groups with a maximum of 10 students on site in orchards 3 days a week. Kindergarten through 12-year-old students will be enrolled in the program in the days prior to start.
Reading and writing programs start with an assessment test. Based on the results, students are given a learning plan that teachers will augment. Studies are incentivized for students, meaning they can earn coins to play games for completing their work. Wifi hotspots will give students interactive studies as well. The day will include one hour of studies, an hour of science-based projects and an hour of physical learning, such as teacher-lead nature walks where possible. Attendance records will be rigorous, Fost said of tracking students in the event the virus is contracted. “It will not be your normal attendance.”
Migrant Education starts on the same date as the Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC) Migrant Preschool program. The intent is to increase enrollment of all students at once. In the past, program starts have staggered, which led to older students delaying enrollment because of the need to remain with younger siblings who needed supervision.
The program is slated to run through July 9. OCDC will hold registration at St. Mary’s Academy starting June 2.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided to students on class days. An additional two meals will be left with them on the final day of class during the week.
One of the main thrusts of the program is to provide education while keeping students from co-mingling with students from other orchards to stem any possible spread of COVID-19.
The idea gels well with new Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules put upon orchardists.
“This helps them comply with OSHA rules,” Fost said.. “So, this is what we landed on together. It’s a compromise…”
Fost acknowledged that smaller groupings of students in orchards create a challenge in efficiently providing education - some may receive more online instruction when teachers are unavailable.
And hours of instruction will not match those of parents working in the orchards. How students will be supervised during those times will have to be sorted. Classes will likely run from 9 a.m. to noon. Meanwhile, parents are picking cherries between 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. on many days.
MIGRANT EDUCATION FOR WASCO RESIDENTS
For the 680 migrant education students who reside in Wasco County, Fost said they would receive distance learning similar to what North Wasco County School District 21 is currently providing. Students will be given Chromebooks and will receive online education. The summer program will run from June 15 through the end of July.
Fost said the program was not ideal, but on the other hand the offering was familiar to students, and it was increased by two weeks.
“It’s not ideal not to be face-to-face, but we could not think of anything else that would work,” Fost said.
FORD FAMILY FOUNDATION FUNDS PILOT PROGRAM; GLIMPSE OF FUTURE?
Fost wrote and received a $25,000 grant from the Ford Family Foundation based in Roseburg. The grant makes a pre-kindergarten program available this summer for local migrant education students for the first time.
And it could be a precursor of how physical schools would run in the fall under the threat of COVID-19. Paramount is the prevention of students mingling outside their groups of 10.
Forty students, who need additional instruction to be ready for kindergarten, will be selected for the program. They will be divided into four classes of 10 students for three weeks starting in mid-July. Two classes would be scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday.
The school would then be sanitized again, and the second two classes would show up on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday and Friday.
Classes will not be permitted to pass each other in hallways. Meals will be taken in classrooms.
“It’s a way for us to practice a small-scale roll out of what we may need to do in the fall,” Fost said.
Cherries are starting to turn color around The Dalles as preparations for harvest are hitting a fevered pitch. Migrant Education has remade itself to deliver education to students in the fields to allow for greater social distancing during the coronavirus outbreak.
Migrant Education Director Jonathon Fost with Columbia Gorge Education Service District
