The White House is standing by the decision from local officials to provide in-person schooling to migrant teenagers in San Diego before children in the county’s public school system return to classrooms.
The San Diego County Office of Education will start as early as this week teaching about 700 migrant girls, age 13 through 17, in English and the arts while they are being sheltered at the San Diego Convention Center.
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San Diego public school children will not receive hybrid instruction until next month after a year of online classes, and parents of the roughly 13,000 affected students are rankled by the county’s decision. But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that “context is important” to the complaints.
“These kids are going back to school for hybrid learning,” Psaki told reporters of the San Diego children. “And I believe they’re also on spring break right now.”
It is unclear how heavily the education program, which is expected to run through July during the migrant girls’ stay, will rely on volunteers, though the San Diego Unified School District did send an email to staff to gauge interest ahead of spring break. The county would be responsible for paying teachers, if at all, a SDUSD spokeswoman told Fox News.
Psaki didn’t mention that the migrant teenagers had limited access to virtual learning opportunities.
The fracas in San Diego is playing into the Republican-led effort to recall Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom over his coronavirus response. Newsom’s response has been complicated as a surge in migrants crosses the southern border, seeking to take advantage of President Joe Biden’s more welcoming immigration policies.
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Psaki also announced during her Tuesday briefing that Biden’s administration is extending its pause on student loan interest and collection through the Federal Family Education Loan Program. She said Biden stood by his commitment to forgive $10,000 in student debt, despite growing pressure from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to write off up to $50,000.
