Open House Highlights Refugee Services at Welcome Center 

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Estella Zavala or Jennea Moore, 225-6437 
Posted on: March 30, 2005

Services ranging from one-stop registration to community service information for prospective TUSD students and their families will be featured at an open house for the new TUSD Refugee Welcome Center from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 31 at the Welcome Center, 75 N. Park Ave. 

The Refugee Welcome Center will be an additional service provided by the TUSD Welcome Center and will serve as a first step toward registering non-English speaking students identified as refugees. In addition, the center will assist parents with a variety of services including appropriate evaluation and educational placement of their children. Moreover, assistance with accessing needed social services will be provided. An interpreter will be available at the center to help parents with forms and help with their transition into TUSD. Families can stop by or call for an appointment at 225-6400.

There are approximately more than 200 refugee students at several TUSD schools including Blenman Elementary School, Roberts Elementary School, Catalina High Magnet School, Doolen Middle School, Naylor Middle School and Rincon High School. The number is expected to increase over the next several years. Social service agencies such as Catholic Social Service Migration and Refugee Services, Jewish Family and Children Services, Lutheran Social Ministry of the Southwest, and International Rescue Committee will work closely with Refugee Center employees to support these families and assess needs. Representatives from these agencies will be at the open house to answer questions. 

Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer will welcome the attendees. Pamela Fine, director of School Community Relations, Welcome Center employees and Kathy Rucker, TUSD’s director of School Health Services and Early Childhood Programs, will explain the services to be provided by the center.

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