Third-grade teacher Beatriz Ramos Heras leads a bilingual classroom at Ashley Elementary School, located in the East Colfax neighborhood. Even as Ashley has doubled in size this year due to the rising enrollment of migrant students, the school has named a new principal who, drawing on her own bicultural experience, has responded to the challenge with grit and grace.

Last fall, after months of slogging through jungles and over rain-soaked mountain passes, a first grader from Venezuela found himself warm, well-fed, and shakily tracing the letters of his name at Ashley Elementary School in the East Colfax neighborhood. This student, like many of his classmates, had never before attended school and spoke only Spanish when he entered the United States. Ashley welcomed him with arms open wide.

Ashley teacher Miguel Fittoria explains geometric shapes in Spanish to his first-grade class. He joined the staff last fall in response to the spike in enrollment of multi-language learners.

One of the biggest advocates for the new students has been interim principal Janet Estrada, who watched the school double in size soon after she began her first year at Ashley. Since August, enrollment has vaulted from 197 students to more than 400 by the end of December; many of the new students are migrants grappling with trauma and linguistic and social barriers. As a Title-1 school that previously offered classes in Spanish for students up to second grade, Ashley did have the infrastructure and space to accept students from Central and South America this school year. But not even Estrada, who herself is bilingual and bicultural, was prepared to respond to the educational needs of the migrant crisis now facing Denver.

More than 40,000 migrants have arrived in Denver since late 2022. Mayor Mike Johnston estimates that the City will spend about $180 million in 2024 on costs associated with the crisis, including educational funding. Nonetheless, says Miguel Fittoria, Ashley teacher to the above first grader (whose name is not used to protect privacy). “While this has been an interesting year for all of us at Ashley, I can say without a doubt that it is the most challenging for our students.”

In Beatriz Ramos Heras’ third grade class at Ashley Elementary, 25 of the 31 students are newcomers to the U.S. “The majority of my students have arrived with a level of reading, writing, or mathematics much lower than what would be expected in third grade,” she notes. Yet she has much hope. “There are students who have grown academically two years in one, and that is thanks to high expectations, consistent routines, and belief in them and their capabilities.”

Janet Estrada, interim principal at Ashley Elementary, works with students in both Spanish and English. She was recently named principal for the 2024-25 school year.

At the end of the school year, Estrada will step away from her current role as interim and become the permanent principal after the school’s hiring committee, which included Ashley staff, parents, and representatives from the Luminary Learning Network, recommended her in March for the job. Superintendent Alex Marrero endorsed her for the position a week later. In a letter to families, the committee wrote, “her bilingualism and biculturalism have been invaluable assets, and her dedication as interim principal speaks volumes about her commitment to the well-being of Ashley’s students, staff, and community.

Estrada is excited to continue the work she has started at Ashley. “I see how leading a school can impact the trajectory of a kid’s life, and I hope to take at least some of the barriers away.”

Estrada has been able to draw on student count and emergency funds from Denver Public Schools and the state of Colorado, as well as educational grants, to hire new teachers, provide bilingual classes through fifth grade, and invest in classroom libraries for multi-language learners. “This was a lot to take on in my first year as principal, but being with the kids makes it all worth it,” she says.

It helps, too, says Estrada, that she can identify with her students. She was born into a “typical middle-class life in Denver” to parents who immigrated from Mexico. “That quickly shifted,” she recalls. Her mother died when she was in fourth grade, and Estrada was sent to live with relatives in a small town in Mexico—where she had to tote water buckets and missed the conveniences of fast food—before returning to Colorado and graduating from West High School. “I know what it is like to experience the barriers being new to a country brings,” she says. “We learned what it was to be poor, what it meant to struggle.” Even today, when showing slides to parents on Welcome Nights, Estrada pulls up a picture of food stamps. “I get it,” she says. “That history uniquely put me on a path to be successful here.”

Inspired by a fifth-grade teacher who stayed late with her after school, Estrada earned a degree in psychology and her elementary education certification from the University of Colorado Boulder. She went on to receive a master’s from the University of Colorado Denver and is in a doctoral program for educational leadership from Loyola University Chicago.

To support students “impacted by the trauma of their journeys,” Estrada prioritizes social and emotional learning alongside academic studies. The DPS Family and Community Engagement team engages regularly with students and teachers; counselors host support opportunities almost daily.

“We have lots of students with very high needs, coming with no prior diagnoses or medical records,” Estrada explains. She is on a “never-ending mission” to secure funding and wrap-around services for families. Ashley has held vaccine clinics and housing informational meetings, worked with the nonprofit Can’d Aid to outfit students with bicycles, and raised money for grocery cards in partnership with Central Park United Neighbors (CPUN). Teachers pull from their own salaries for classroom snacks and supplies and Estrada ensures that “grab bags of food” are stocked weekly. “It’s hard to learn when you’re thinking about your stomach,” she says.

Estrada also makes a point to visit classrooms often. “My goal is to support the kids as who and at where they are,” she says. “Those moments fill my cup, even on the days when it feels like a thankless job.”

Of the first grader who crossed mountain ranges by foot, “Now he smiles everyday he is here,” says Fittoria. “He can write his name, he is on pace with the class in math, and his reading is almost there.” He adds, “When I look at him, I sit with hope believing that when he is in this classroom, the struggles he and his family have been through melt away at least for a few hours.”

To support Ashley students, visit their Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3PYMJ6FO151A2

Front Porch photos by Christie Gosch