About five years ago, St. John Paul II Catholic School in Minneapolis was challenged when an eighth grader and his family, newly arrived in the U.S. from Ecuador, came knocking in hopes of completing his elementary school education.

“We weren’t sure how to handle that,” said Tricia Menzhuber, principal. “We were just like … welcome!”

Not having journeyed with the family up to that point — and the young man in a challenging grade with a lot to learn even if English as a second language was not an issue — Menzhuber and others at the school did what it took to prepare him for high school. They succeeded, and he went on to do well at Columbia Heights High School in Columbia Heights.

Other families soon followed, drawn to the area by relatives and friends, warmly welcomed by nearby Sts. Cyril and Methodius parish and others in the community. As families arrived, three students one year joined the school straight from Ecuador. Another year, eight.

Now, English is the second language of 76% of the 177 students at the kindergarten through eighth grade school. Nearly every classroom has newly arrived immigrants in the mix, including four refugees from conflict-torn Ukraine who joined the school this fall, Menzhuber said.

St. John Paul II has served immigrant families since its founding in the 1800s, Menzhuber said. “The difference now has been we are making a name for ourselves for families just arriving.”

With a goal of properly receiving newly arrived immigrants and keeping them with the rest of their classmates as much as possible, school officials spent a lot of time last school year and over the summer setting up a support system that provides students extra help in areas they need it, while keeping up with the mainstream classroom, she said.

“It was complex. We couldn’t do it alone,” Menzhuber said, referring in part to a U.S. Department of Education guidebook titled the Newcomer Toolkit, which stresses welcoming schools and classrooms, providing cultural and linguistic integration and education, developing newcomers’ social and emotional skills, and partnering with their parents.

St. John Paul II launched its Newcomer Experience this fall. It includes a dedicated English language teacher, Judi Mikolai, a social studies course on Minnesota for middle schoolers in Spanish, and math tutoring in primary and native languages. Designed as a three-year experience, the program recognizes individual progress as it encourages gradual inclusion for all students into the regular classroom and full inclusion after the third year.

Students from countries such as Ecuador often have unique needs, such as understanding what winter is and the need for a warm coat. Aid to all students includes a City Connects program helping students meet material, social and academic needs, led by Silvia Ochoa.

This program is particularly helpful to newly arrived immigrants because it offers daily emotional-social support, both with the students’ homerooms and Ochoa, Menzhuber said.

“We do a lot of sharing,” Ochoa said. “How they are feeling, who is there to support them. I teach them to express their feelings, to ask for help in class. If they are not feeling well, to request a nurse.”

Families also want to know what is going on culturally, such as the St. Paul Winter Carnival, what sledding and tubing are, Ochoa said.

“This is a great program,” she said. “We are adjusting as we go along.”

STRENGTH IN COMMUNITY

St. John Paul II Catholic School in northeast Minneapolis is part of Ascension Catholic Academy, a consortium of elementary schools serving diverse populations including Ascension Catholic School in north Minneapolis, St. Pascal Regional Catholic School on St. Paul’s east side and St. Peter Claver Catholic School in St. Paul’s Rondo area.

JPII, Ascension and St. Peter Claver are also part of a nine-school Drexel Mission Schools Initiative of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ Office for the Mission of Catholic Education, under its 2019 Roadmap for Excellence in Catholic Education. Drexel Mission Schools must have at least 100 students, 50 percent of whom are students of color and 50 percent of whom are in a free or reduced lunch program.

Yen Fasano, associate director of Catholic Schools working with the Drexel Mission Schools Initiative, said Catholic schools welcome all families. SJPII’s program appears to be unique to the school and is another way to recognize that families need a home and trusted partners. “It will be neat to see the gifts these students bring into these schools,” she said, as they matriculate into the classroom and school community.