Nearly 70 percent of the children attending Paul and Sheila Wellstone Elementary School in St. Paul are learning how to speak, read and write English. More than 90 percent of them live in poverty. Every day, school officials work to keep the lines of communication open with parents who struggle to cope with American life.
This school of new Americans will be the one most affected by the Republican National Convention, to be held just a few blocks away, during the first week of classes this fall. The first days of school could face new disruption for families less accustomed than most to the chaos of the beginning of a school year.
Wellstone principal Christine Osorio sees the upcoming convention -- with its traffic snarls, disrupted school bus routes, protest marches and built-in civics lessons -- as a challenge. But not an insurmountable one.
"My main concern is keeping really tight communication with our families," she said.
Wellstone also is expected to pick up about 100 English language learners from Homecroft school, Osorio said.
Personal connections
Wellstone teachers make contact with every child's family before the start of the school year, Osorio said.
When so many of the families are new to the country as well as the school, it's a good practice to make those connections. With the potential complications of a national political convention, Wellstone teachers will probably start making that contact earlier in August, she said.