The Denver school system is tapping into a new talent pool of educators to help fill its teaching ranks and address the needs of immigrant students: Undocumented college graduates.
Through its agreement with Teach For America—which late last year announced its intentions to ramp up recruitment of undocumented college graduates—Denver will expand its hiring of immigrant teachers, Superintendent Tom Boasberg told the Associated Press.
For the current school year, the district had already hired undocumented teachers through TFA who had qualified to work legally under the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhoold Arrivals policy, or DACA. That policy allows certain qualified immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children to receive temporary reprieve from deportation and permission for employment.
Boasberg told the AP that the district has struggled to hire bilingual educators and that this talent pool would open up a new stream of teachers to fill that need. He also said that immigrant students in the district would draw inspiration from teachers who’ve had similar experiences.