Migrants leaving Somerset but may still be educated in town

The Somerset Sentinel is reporting that Somerset Town Administrator Mark Ullucci has been notified by the state that the migrants located at the Orbits Inn hotel will be relocated.

Approximately 32 rooms have been housing over 100 migrants since a bus arrived overnight back in September. At that time, the town was not notified that migrants would be moving to the local hotel and the town scrambled to make connections with the new families. Within days, social workers, members of the town administration as well as school officials visited the hotel assisting with donations and enrolling school aged children in school.

Ullucci said that the migrants will be moved on December 21st, but according to Superintendent Jeffrey Schoonover, the parents of migrant children will get to decide where their children are educated.

Schoonover states that under the McKinney-Vento law, students that are homeless, in foster care, or in this instance, migrants, have the right to remain in their current school and be transported back and forth from their new residence and the original school. Schoonover goes on to say that typically, if travel exceeds an hour or so, it may not be in the best interest to travel the distance every day.

“This has several moving parts and things that still need to be learned,” said Schoonover.

According to Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the McKinney-Vento Act “works to ensure the enrollment, attendance and the opportunity to succeed in school for homeless children and youth.”

Somerset Public Schools hired an English language learner teacher as well as a social worker to accommodate the incoming migrant children. School districts were promised $104 a day reimbursement from the state for each migrant student, but it is unknown if the stipend was enough to cover the costs associated with the students. Schoonover says an update will be provided on the staffing issue, including whether or not the two staff members will remain employed by the district, when he has more information.