Queens high school hits capacity amid migrant influx

The influx of asylum-seeking students caused one Queens high school to overflow on the first day of class Thursday — even though, historically, city schools are reportedly only two-thirds full because of chronic absenteeism.

Newcomers High School in Long Island City felt the strain from the migrant crisis on day one of the academic year, with a line to get in that stretched around the block and some students forced to go to another building to make room.

“It’s a capacity issue,” one exasperated teacher told The Post. “They should have worked this out two days ago!”

With newly revealed data showing 36% of New York City public school students were chronically absent from class last year, according to a report from Chalkbeat, the situation at Newcomers could only get worse if the no-show students start attending class.

The influx of students at the Queens school comes a day after the DOE said it expects at least 21,000 migrant students to enroll this year.

While some of the students thronging to the school were clearly seen wearing their migrant shelter ID, it was unclear exactly how many of the kids at Newcomers Thursday were asylum seekers, as the Department of Education does not keep such records because it does not track the immigration status of students.

Chancellor David Banks, who spoke to students at PS 121 in the Bronx, said Thursday, “We are welcoming all these migrant students into our schools with open arms. We know it’s a larger political issue, and that the Mayor and others have to deal with. But when they show up in our schools, they get the best that we have.”

Teachers stood outside Newcomers early Thursday morning directing students to either or that school or another that shares the Newcomer building, Gotham Tech High School.

Unfortunately for the kids at Gotham, the number of students got so large that they were forced to leave the Newcomer’s building and head over to another nearby facility to take classes.

“The Gotham students are being pushed out to a facility across the street that the principal will be walking them over to this afternoon in groups,” a teacher told The Post. “Gotham only has three classrooms as of right now, I think.”

Another educator stood in front of the school’s entrance, yelling in Spanish, “If you have ID the left door. No ID, the right door. You pick up your program in the auditorium.”

Many of the migrant students were gleaming with excitement as they navigated the start to the day — some wearing their Queens shelter ID badges around their necks while others used Google translate to communicate with others. Others were less thrilled to see their school teeming with students.

For George Kara Lekas, a 14-year-old from Astoria starting at Gotham, the inconvenience of being crammed into a new building across the street from what should’ve been his school has him thinking about transferring.

“They gave us crap! No information! I’m getting a late start and I left early. I’m 2 subway stops away. I mean look at this?!” the teen vented while waiting for his principal to usher him across the street.

“I’m going to try to transfer into the Academy of American Studies, like as soon as I can!” he said, glancing at a long line of migrant students before adding, “Yeah, it’s because of this! I think the Academy of American Studies will be much better. I think so.”

Other students seemed more accepting of their new classmates but were concerned about how overwhelming and unorganized the situation seemed.

Alex Gonzalez, a 14-year-old who already felt anxious ahead of his freshman year, was less than thrilled by the crowds Thursday morning.

“I wanted to get here early because I’m new. I’m going to be lost and so are all of these guys? I think they should have let them come a day before,” he told The Post.

“I hate being stuck in crowds and this is definitely my worst nightmare. I’m just going to be going crazy!”