It's the Bryan Lair Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, class. Today is the

first day of school in New York City, and our first math lesson of the term involved

numbers that indicate the challenge and the glory of welcoming New York's newest students. Our

education reporter Jessica Gould has a story that begins with the fact that last week the

Adams administration estimated 19,000 new kids entered the school system since last year

from the current wave of asylum-seeker families by this week that estimate jump from 19,000

to 21,000. Jessica reports the 2,500 new students enrolled just this summer. So as we change periods

now, instantly from math to social studies, the first essay question of the year is, how does

the school system serve 21,000 newly arrived students who've just entered not just the school

system, not just the city, but the country? WNYC and Gothamist Education reporter Jessica Gould

joins us now along with Michael Eisenrooney, reporter for the Education News website, chalk

beat, hijes, and Michael, thanks for coming on WNYC today. Hey, Bryan. Hey, Bryan. And let me say,

class, right off the bat, that I don't want to frame this discussion merely as a problem. I think

a lot of media are doing that. It's a challenge, of course, but I think it's an amazing point of

pride that the biggest city school system in the country, which has helped so many generations

of immigrants from so many countries assimilate, in the good sense of that word, into American life

and up the intellectual and economic ladders, and we're doing it again for a new generation.

Schools Chancellor David Banks had a news conference yesterday. Here's a minute of the Chancellor

on some big picture context. You know, if you read the papers, you would think this chaos that's

happening in our schools, 20,000 migrants students have come in. Well, first of all, over 18,000

already came in last year. We've already, they've already been assimilated into the schools

and the work that has been happening with them has been so phenomenal because of the great

...