Immigration raids cause unexpected problem for schools
Immigration raids at many employers are causing an unexpected new problem for public schools. More accustomed to gun scares, suspicious intruders, and tornado warnings, school administrators find themselves having to orchestrate a response to a new kind of crisis. Just before the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Grand Island, Nebraska, was raided in December, Grand Island School District Superintendent Steve Joel got a call from the police chief saying “something big” was about to happen. Mr. Joel realized what that meant: Dozens of Swift workers were about to be rounded up in an immigration raid. What would happen to their children, students in his district? Would some seniors ever be able to graduate? Numerous school districts near the raided Swift plants made plans on the fly. In Marshalltown, Iowa, teachers put children on buses home and hoped there was someone to receive them. In Worthington, Minnesota, schools were flooded with calls from frantic relatives. Many administrators found themselves calling Swift in an attempt to ascertain the fate of some students' parents. In the aftermath of the highly publicized raids, some schools are making new contingency plans. Mr. Joel has been on the road to share his experience with other school administrators. “This is one more crisis you must be mentally and organizationally prepared for,” he says. Superintendent Robin Stevens of Schuyler, a town 90 miles northeast of Grand Island that is home to a large Cargill Inc. packing plant, says his staff has devised a strategy, which includes a chain of command to ensure effective communication among staff as well as a united message for students' families and the community.
In the years preceding the raid, Mr. Joel and his staff worked hard to win the support and trust of the Hispanic population, which sometimes viewed schools with the same suspicion felt for other U.S. institutions. Mr. Joel hired bilingual staff and co-founded a multicultural coalition that includes hospitals, churches, and businesses. Less than 20 minutes after learning of the raid, he issued an "urgent" email informing administrators about a major immigration operation that would have "significant impact on many students." Children might go home to find one or both parents gone, or might not be picked up from school at all, it noted. Schools tried to notify their pupils without generating a panic. Every principal enlisted teachers, social workers, and guidance counselors who could work through the night. Some schools were designated as shelters. Elementary schools received specific directives to ensure that every student be released only to relatives or a person that a child could identify. Mr. Joel worried that his "hard-gained trust was about to go down the tubes." While immigration agents usually leave schools alone, there is no rule barring them from picking up parents during morning drop-off. Mr. Joel says he got assurances from authorities that his schools wouldn't be touched. With details trickling in from the plant and fear gripping Hispanic neighborhoods, he called a 10 a.m. news conference. "The schools will be a safe haven and we will guarantee that," he said. His remarks helped generate charitable donations from local service groups and private citizens wanting to help. Some were distrustful. "How can you tell us that children will be safe when their parents are no longer here," shouted an angry Latina community leader. Undeterred, Mr. Joel reiterated his message on Spanish-language radio and TV, in fliers sent home with children, and in a simultaneous phone message transmitted to Spanish-speaking homes. By the third day, attendance levels were close to normal. Over the winter holiday break, school officials were dispatched to homes where at least one parent was still missing, delivering brown bags stuffed with tortilla chips, beans, rice, and other staples. Inside the bag, a note in Spanish and English cited a hotline to call "if you have any questions or need help after the Swift raid." According to Kerri Nazarenus, who coordinated the response, "it was a way to get in the door and make sure the kids were safe."
Wall Street Journal
By Miriam Jordan
[Full story]
[Editor’s Note: The impact of immigration raids on children more generally is explored in the news article below. Concerns over whether fear of raids would lead parents to keep their children out of school prompted the board of education of the San Francisco Unified School District last month to issue a statement, also below, restating the legal protections that apply to undocumented students.]
San Francisco Chronicle
By Tyche Hendricks
[Full story]
[SFUSD press release]