Annandale HS and Parklawn Elementary School welcome newly arrived Afghan refugees

Annandale High School Assistant Principal Sarah Eqab, English for Speakers of Other Languages Department Chair Meredith Hedrick, and AHS students from Afghanistan with backpacks and school supplies they’re donating to newly arrived Afghan refugee students.

The following article is a lightly edited version of a piece written by the news department at Fairfax County Public Schools.

Sosan Barakzai, who moved to Fairfax County from Afghanistan as a fifth grader, has a lot to share with the six Afghan refugee students who enrolled at Annandale High School since the year began.

Sosan, now a 15-year-old sophomore at Annandale, wants the newcomers to understand that many of their AHS peers at one point were in English language learner classes. She also wants them to know that it’s ok to ask teachers and other students questions. 

And she also wants them to know that Skittles and Sour Patch Kids meet halal food standards, while most American gummy bears and gummy worms don’t – but she knows where to find gummy candy that is compliant with Islamic dietary guidelines.

Related story: Afghan refugees face big challenges; volunteers help them adjust to life in the U.S.

“I feel like I know better than anybody how it feels,” says Sosan, who left Afghanistan when she was 10 years old and enrolled in Bren Mar Park Elementary School in the Alexandria area of Mason District for her final few months of fifth grade. 

Sosan was unfamiliar with going to school alongside boys, since most Afghan schools were segregated by sex. She was impressed by American classrooms, since many of hers in Afghanistan had broken windows, and she was encouraged by teachers who pushed her to participate even though she was not yet fluent in English. 

“Everything is different about school here. Some of it was quite shocking to me, but I never felt uncomfortable,” she says.

The six refugee students at Annandale High are just a fraction of the more than 80 Afghan students who have enrolled in Fairfax County Public Schools since U.S. troops pulled out of Afghanistan and planes carrying hundreds of refugee families landed at Dulles Airport. 

Many refugee families found temporary shelter at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, and some made the decision to remain in Fairfax County permanently. 

Schools across the district are adjusting accordingly. Parklawn Elementary School in Mason District has enrolled at least 19 Afghan students over the past three weeks, more than any other FCPS school.

Parklawn Principal Rebecca Forgy says her staff is prepared to serve the new students, whatever their needs may be.

“We have a strong student support team,” Forgy says, adding that counselors, the school’s family liaison, psychologist, and social worker gather at least every other week to discuss newcomers’ needs.

Parklawn staff will use what they learned in trauma-based instruction training and guidance from school psychologists to meet the unique needs of refugee students.

Staff members direct families to a free clinic to help parents who may be uninsured address medical issues, Forgy says. The family liaison welcomes every family individually and shares information about where to get assistance for food, clothing, and school supplies. Counselors are devising a plan for “minute meetings” or short, regular check-ins, as well as lunch bunches with students as they adjust.

Related story: Parklawn Elementary School recognized as a National School of Excellence 

Parklawn is placing the refugee students in classes that already have another Afghan student or at least another child who speaks the same language, Forgy says. Ninety-six of the school’s roughly 800 students were born in Afghanistan, so many refugee families are drawn to the area either through family or community ties.

“We see children holding the hands of the new students walking to the playgrounds. It is really heart-warming,” Forgy says. “Honestly, our children are so welcoming and familiar with diversity already, I am not sure they have the sense that anybody is standing out; it is just another new person joining us.”

Ahsanullah Luddin, a junior at Annandale High School who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan roughly 18 months ago, remembers who was there for him when he first started school. 

There were teachers who called him sweetheart and checked in on him at home, he recalls. “They were very motherly to me and I appreciated that,” Ahsanullah says, noting that behavior is very different from the typical Afghan teacher-student relationship.

There were also students who went out of their way to bridge the gap for him, he says. “They showed me how to do assignments, turn things in and how to even find my classes.” 

Ahsanullah remembers one student in particular, a neighbor who was a senior when he first enrolled, who would come to his house to do homework together side by side for three or four hours a night to help him understand how to meet American classroom expectations.

Ahsanullah, Sosan, and Khujasta and Husna Basiri, sisters who enrolled at Annandale after moving from Afghanistan last year, are working on a guide for staff on how best to help the newest refugee students acclimate.

“The minute someone walks through our door, we aim to have someone who escorts them and hopefully can communicate with them in their home language and make them feel welcomed,” Principal Shawn DeRose says.

“Annandale, given our diversity, given our location, we seem to be a microcosm of anything that is happening in the world,” DeRose says. 

“There are obviously academic needs, language needs that we are prepared to address,” he says, “but also so many students who come to us may have experienced some significant trauma, so we are trying to meet their social-emotional and wellness needs as well.”