By ANITA SNOW
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) - At so-called newcomer schools, children from around the world are learning English skills and American classroom customs they need to succeed.

In Phoenix, students from Myanmar, Eritrea, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Cuba and other countries have attended Valencia Newcomer School since fall 2018. They get an extra year of attention before transferring to mainstream schools.

This year’s kindergarten through eighth-grade students come from 21 countries and speak 15 languages.

Valencia is among a handful of U.S. public schools dedicated to helping some of the thousands of children who arrive in the country every year.

It comes as the Trump administration has proposed pushing down the annual cap for refugees to a historic low of 18,000. No refugees were settled in the U.S. last month.

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