Refugee families facing long, frustrating waits to get their kids into Calgary's school system

For Syrian newcomers Rawa Alhamdo Alkhalil and Khaled Al Aboud, getting their four children into Calgary's school system as quickly as possible is vital to the entire family's success.

The family of seven, which includes Alkhalil's sister-in-law, came to Canada from Aleppo via Turkey in May 2022. 

At first, the family stayed in a hotel run by the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society that houses refugees brought here by the federal government.

Some families end up staying there for months while they complete paperwork and get set up to start their new lives in Canada — that includes finding a place to call home, which is more difficult than ever with rents skyrocketing in the last year.

It leaves hundreds of children waiting weeks, and in many cases months, before they can get anywhere near a classroom.

"When we arrived it was so difficult because we don't speak English and we know nothing about the system," said Alkhalil, speaking via an interpreter.

The two parents say getting their kids into school was their first priority after arriving in the city.

"This is our new country and we want them to learn and get an education so they can get ahead in life," said Alkhalil.

Khaled Al Aboud, also speaking through an interpreter, said that "going to school is not only going to help my kids, it's going to help us."

Al Aboud wants to find work as a heavy duty mechanic but he desperately needs to learn English to start work.

"They can go to school and learn and they can teach us at the same time and help us to learn English as well. That's why it's so important," he said.

It took around one month to get the family's younger children into school. They consider themselves lucky. But their oldest daughter, now 18, wasn't able to get registered at their local high school. 

After five months waiting, she was instead referred to a program through a settlement agency that is focused on developing language and life skills for adult refugees.

Saima Jamal, co-founder of the Calgary Immigrant Support Society and who works with the family, says others are waiting much longer to get their kids into the school system.

"These refugee kids and their parents are stuck in hotels with no school, no work and no funding yet. It demoralizes the the psyche when weeks become months," she said. 

Jamal says kids shouldn't have to wait to get a permanent address before they can register to attend a school.

"They need to be in a classroom rather than a hotel room," she said. "There needs to be a long-term plan and an immediate shorter-term plan. One of the biggest reasons these people come here is a bright future for their children." 

Enrolment increase a challenge for school board

The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) says it is working hard to accommodate new families, but admits there are delays.

"We've had an increase in enrolment that has been massive and more than has ever occurred, this fall, compared to previous years and before the pandemic as well," said Joanne Pitman, superintendent of school improvement.

The board needs to process registrations, determine which schools are in the best location for families and complete student assessments prior to students entering the system. 

"There absolutely have been delays in being able to register and welcome and complete assessments for this incredible increase," said Pitman. "Our staff are working very hard and doing so in a way that's supportive and welcoming for all of these families.

"It's been a challenge and we recognize the frustration that can create."

Pitman says they've added over 400 refugee students since July, not including Ukrainian newcomers and others in different streams. The CBE just cleared over 60 new government assisted refugees who can now enter its schools. It says this group had been held up by problems outside of the school system.

But finding space in existing schools for all the new arrivals is another issue for the school board.

"It's creating some definite space crunches where we've had to do some fairly emergent overflow direction to different schools," said Pitman.

"We'll continue to monitor where changes need to be made. What has contributed this year is some new situations that were unexpected with respect to the level of increase in enrolment."

Finding housing

One of the main causes of long waits for kids being able to start school is families struggling to find an affordable home in a neighbourhood with a local school. Rent and competition for housing are both high.

"This summer we've had families dealing with the uncertain housing situation, finding long-term affordable housing and because they didn't know where they'd end up they weren't proceeding with school registration," said Charlie Wang, vice-president of client services at Calgary's Centre For Newcomers.

"For kids that arrived in the springtime, some of them might have to wait until the fall semester, which means months of delay."

Wang says families who've already experienced trauma and uncertainty want to make sure when they do register with a school it's for the long-term, which can mean keeping their kids waiting.

"Affordable housing has become a big issue and this requires a much higher level intervention or system changes. But we can help with advocacy, especially with the minister of housing, to see how we can help these families," he said.

But the newcomers are not on their own. The city's settlement agencies help them navigate a new world of schools, boards and processes they'll need to understand.

The Centre for Newcomers provides their clients with education and workshops explaining the differences between the different school boards and how Calgary's system works. School years, hours and calendars here can look a lot different than in some countries, which parents also need to learn about. 

Wang says they also tackle issues like racism, discrimination and how kids might be received in the system, along with providing education for some parents who, due to different cultural factors, place more value on the education of boys than that of girls.

Catholic and public school boards in Calgary run their own reception centres for refugees.

Different wait times

Refugees come to Canada on different visas and in different streams, which means different processing times and wait times to access education. 

"We've had three big things: coming out of COVID, the refugees coming from Afghanistan and now the war in Ukraine," said Frank Cattoni, CEO of the Calgary Bridge Foundation For Youth, an organization that works with school boards to help integrate newcomer youth.

"It's putting a tremendous amount of pressure on the entire system."

According to the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society, 5,400 Afghan refugees arrived in Calgary between September 2021 and August 2022, with about a third planning to stay in this city. Another roughly 1,500 government-sponsored refugees came from other countries, including Syria, in the past year.

Then there are more than 10,000 Ukranians who have also moved to Calgary and surrounding communities since that country was invaded by Russia. 

Cattoni says Ukrainians fleeing war come here as temporary residents, rather than as refugees. That can impact how they enter the system and the money allocated to support them. 

"There's always room for improvement in any system. Can you make the transition faster? There are always things you can do, but the reality of the situation is we're facing a situation we've never faced before," Cattoni said.

The CBE says it is increasing special classes for refugee kids in grades 4-12 in a trauma-sensitive setting. It is also redirecting children to other schools in cases where their local school is full, as well as increasing staff numbers where it can afford to do so. 

The board says it is also trying to reduce the amount of times families have to make contact with the board and streamline the process to take away some of the frustration.