LCPS hosts long-delayed in-person meeting of state migrant program
Staffers and supervisors in the state’s Migrant Education Program huddle in breakout groups Thursday during their first in-person meeting in two years, held on the campus of Kinston High School.
For the first time in two years, the people who drive the state’s migrant education program in eastern North Carolina gathered in person to share ideas about meeting the challenges of their work, and they gathered in Kinston.
“Being able to meet in person means so much. There’s so much lost in translation in a virtual setting,” Dr. LaTricia Townsend, director of federal programs for the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, said Thursday. Dr. Townsend was among a group of about 50 program staffers and supervisors from counties east of Raleigh who convened at the Performing Arts Center on the campus of Kinston High School.
It was a day of sharing ideas about identification, recruitment and support of migrant families and their students – and the challenges of providing those services during a pandemic – at a scheduled fall meeting that had been relegated to the internet since 2019.
“We’re looking at the academic data of the migrant population across the state and looking at ways to close those gaps. That’s something we really want to do right now,” Hunter Ogletree, the program’s compliance coordinator, said. “We’ve talked about other components around identification and recruitment efforts so that we are identifying all families in the state who qualify for the migrant education program.
“It’s hard to do these collaborative activities on Zoom, so it’s really nice to be together in person,” Ogletree said.
The North Carolina Migrant Education Program (MEP) administers 31 district-based programs in 30 counties in addition to reaching students in non-program counties through regional recruiters.
The migrant education program offered through Lenoir County Public Schools also incorporates Greene County. About 140 students are enrolled.
Thursday’s meeting, a companion to a meeting held in Morganton for program staffers in western North Carolina on Tuesday, was hosted by LCPS and Beverly Kee, the district’s federal programs director.
“The purpose of the meeting was to bring the eastern counties together to come up with ideas on identifying and recruiting migrant students and families,” Kee said. Department of Public Instruction staff was also on hand to provide tips on meeting federal requirements for documenting student services, a necessity in the funding process.
“They’re also highlighting and showcasing different programs in different districts across the state who held events this summer due to Covid response in just trying to get that extra support out there to migrant families and those children,” Tina Letchworth, the state’s assistant federal programs director, said. “They’re sharing ideas on how they can utilize migrant ed funds so they can get the services out to the children. It’s hard right now with Covid restrictions in place, reaching and finding those families.”
Her boss, Dr. Townsend, stepped into her role just as the pandemic struck in March 2020. “My first correspondence to staff was that we would begin working remotely on Monday,” she remembered.
“While most of the staff has been working remotely to handle the administrative aspects of it, the MEP staff has never stopped being in the field. Even through the pandemic, they have continued to be in migrant camps to make sure recruitment is happening. They have provided PPE. They have provided food and all types of resources to keep our students and families safe. I can’t say enough about the dedication about the MEP staff across the state.”
