KSHB 41 reporter Fernanda Silva covers stories in the Northland, including Liberty. She also focuses on issues surrounding immigration. Share your story idea with Fernanda.
—
Delays in H-1B visa processing are forcing some teachers at Académie Lafayette in Kansas City out of their classrooms.
The French immersion charter school relies on foreign educators authorized to teach in the United States. However, some experienced teachers who have been in the U.S. for more than three years are waiting to have their work authorization renewed.
According to the school, they filed for visa renewals about 12 months ago. Despite filing on time, their authorizations expired on Friday. Starting Monday, March 30, substitute teachers will lead the impacted classrooms.
"We have seen an unprecedented delay," Elimane Mbengue said.
Mbengue is the superintendent of Académie Lafayette. He noted it is extremely challenging to find teachers who qualify to teach French in the United States. The impacted teachers are from Burundi and Cameroon — countries where French is one of the official languages.
"They're bringing something to the country. They're giving a fantastic education to American kids," Mbengue said. "It's stressful and disappointing."
Teachers at two of their campuses, Oak and Cherry, are impacted.
At the Oak campus, parents and students gathered at the school on Friday to show support for the teachers who will not return on Monday.
"The students were crying in the classroom," Principal Heather Royce said about the students impacted on the Cherry campus. "They have a lot of questions that, unfortunately, we can't really answer yet."
Students expressed sadness over the sudden departure.
"I'm going to miss him," Dalia Krigel said.
"He's actually been a pretty good teacher," Madeline Pierron said.
Parents are also concerned about the disruption to the school year.
"These aren't issues that kids should have to worry about," Ilana Silversteine said.
"We hope that everything is in order, his visa is approved, and he can get back to teaching as soon as possible," Sam Pierron said.
School leaders contacted elected officials for help. I reached out to Sen. Schmidt, Sen. Hawley and Congressman Cleaver to ask how they are helping, but I did not hear back.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security acknowledged receiving my questions, but had not answered them at the time this story was published.
—
