Metro Atlanta parents, students push for school policy protecting students from ICE: “Students deserve to start the year without the fear…”
By Emily McLeod
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ATLANTA, Georgia (WUPA) — Several people came out to Monday night’s DeKalb County Board of Education meeting to discuss a proposed policy regarding immigration enforcement.
Students, parents and community activists are hoping the board enacts the policy before the first day of school in August.
The proposed policy restricts law enforcement or other government agents from questioning or removing a student from campus, obtaining student information or accessing non-public areas of school property without proper legal authority.
According to the policy, unless there is an immediate threat to the health or safety of students and staff, a judicial warrant, court order or other legally binding document issued by a court of competent jurisdiction would need to be presented and then reviewed by the District’s Office of Legal Affairs before access is granted.
The policy also says nothing in it will be construed or applied in a way that violates state or federal law requiring compliance or cooperation with lawful law enforcement activity or lawful requests for information.
Jessica Stern is a local immigration attorney and is hoping to see the policy go into effect before the start of the school year.
“Students deserve to start the year without the fear and families need to be able to send their children to school without concern of law enforcement coming in to their schools,” Stern said.
Nancy Aguilar Fuentes is a student a Sequoyah Middle School and spoke at Monday night’s meeting.
“We want a policy so ICE can’t get kids inside the schools so parents can feel safe keeping their child in school,” Aguilar Fuentes said.
Despite being in the middle of summer vacation, she felt is was important to speak at the meeting.
“They should know about what’s happening in the world and what I am going through and what other families may be in right now — in this situation they might be in right now,” Aguilar Fuentes said.
The DeKalb County School District sent CBS Atlanta a statement which said:
“The DeKalb County School District’s Policy Committee reviewed a proposed draft of Board Policy JBCF: Response to Federal Immigration Enforcement (Safe Zones) in May. The proposed policy is scheduled for a first read by the DeKalb County Board of Education during its August meeting. DCSD remains committed to providing a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment for all students.”
Back in February the DeKalb County School District posted a statement on the district’s website following a resolution that it had passed.
According to the district, the resolution reaffirmed the district’s commitment to ensuring every student regardless of immigration status, national origin or status of their parents or caregivers has access to a safe, supportive, high-quality education.
The statement also said the district does not ask for or collect immigration status, maintains strong protections for student records and has established procedures for responding to law enforcement activity.
DeKalb County’s next Board of Education meeting will take place on August 10.
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