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Refugee families face unique struggles with online school

Virus Outbreak Refugee School
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PHOENIX — Staying connected during the coronavirus pandemic has been trying for parents and students at a Phoenix school for refugees who speak more than a dozen languages.

A teaching assistant got creative by creating group chats on a messaging app in Swahili and some of the other six languages he knows.

The struggles connecting with refugee families from 18 countries during the pandemic come amid a larger challenge for Valencia Newcomer School.

The student body shrank after the Trump administration set a historically low annual cap of 18,000 to be resettled nationwide.

What Valencia will look like in the future partly depends on the November election.

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