By PETE KLEIN

Express News Staff

INDIAN LAKE - Indian Lake Central School is looking for a few good people to take foreign students into their homes.

There are students from foreign countries who would be interested in attending ILCS, but before that can happen the Board of Education needs to know there are homes ready to welcome them.

The idea was explored during an informational meeting at the school May 3. A small group listened as Newcomb Central School Superintendent Clark “Skip” Holts talked about the foreign student experience there.

Holts cautioned possible hosts, “If you’re just looking for boarders, it ain’t going to work. If you don’t want to be a parent, don’t host.”

But, he added, the rewards can be great. Holts not only found homes for foreign students but has also hosted and continues to host one or more students at his home each school year since the program began in Newcomb five years ago.

“I love them and treat them like my own,” he said.

In some cases, he said, the foreign students become so attached to their host families and the community and vice versa that they come back to visit after they have competed their studies and returned home.

Superintendent Mark Brand said ILCS’s application to admit foreign exchange students under the non-immigrant F-1 visa program is being reviewed by the federal government.

A F-1 visa allows a foreign student to come to the United States for one year of study. ILCS could be approved to teach such students in time to admit them as early as the new school year, Brand says.

“If that happens, we need to be ready to house these students,” he added.

The BOE has approved charging each foreign student $9,000 a year, with $4,500 going to the school and $4,500 to the host family for room and board.

Brand plans to ask United States senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand for their help to move the school’s F-1 visa program application forward.

Newcomb Central has bucked the trend toward lower enrollments, thanks to foreign students.

Holts said Newcomb has seen 41 foreign students from 21 countries come through its doors. Nine students graduated Newcomb last June, including five international students.

Thirteen foreign students - from Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Spain, South Korea and China - are enrolled at Newcomb this year.

Advantages don’t stop with dollars to the host family and increased enrollment for the school.

Holts said, “These students are the creme de la creme of the crop,” and their presence has spurred local students to meet the academic challenge they present.

He also noted the presence of foreign students from a variety of countries has enhanced the cultural experience of both local students and the community.

“This coming year in Newcomb, one family is taking in three foreign students,” Brand said. “You can take in more than one if you have the space and ability to provide for more than one.”

Holts added, “How many depends upon you.”

In response to a question, Holts said, “No, you don’t have to have kids of your own, but you do need to treat them as your own.”

Hosts would have to submit to a background check. A single person may be a host, but not to a student of the opposite sex.

Call Brand at (518) 648-5024 if interested in being a host family.