The start of a new school year brings particular challenges for the more than 5,000 school-aged children in Massachusetts’ rapidly expanding family shelter system. For some of those children who are newly arrived immigrants, there are additional barriers to overcome — and uncertainty about the first day of classes.
Five-year-old Javier has spent his entire life on the road with his mother, fleeing unrest and a tough economic situation in Haiti. In early May, after traveling through three countries and two U.S. states, they arrived in Boston.
Cherlie Ocean, Javier’s mother, said there were terrible moments on their journey — like when Javier got stuck under a border fence. Watching her son get ready for kindergarten in the Boston Public Schools, she said, makes things a lot better.
