The Philomath School Board reviewed a pair of safety-related proposals at its March 12 meeting — one addressing how staff handle questions and requests related to students’ immigration status and another outlining emergency response protocols for a range of threatening scenarios, including the possible presence of federal immigration authorities on campus.
Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday shared an information sheet adapted from the Beaverton School District that outlines what district staff can and cannot do in connection with students’ immigration status.
The policy affirms that the Philomath School District is committed to providing a safe, welcoming and inclusive learning environment for all students, staff and families. Under the document’s guidance, staff are directed to follow district policies and procedures for enrolling immigrant and refugee students, safeguard student rights and interrupt and address discriminatory behaviors — including joking, teasing or speculating about immigration status.
On the “cannot do” side, the policy makes clear that staff are prohibited from asking or requiring any student to share or demonstrate their immigration status. Staff are also prohibited from violating laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act when responding to external requests for student or family information, and from discriminating against any student, family or staff member based on any perceived component of identity, including immigration status.
Halliday also shared the district’s standard response protocols, a K-12 emergency response framework developed by the “I Love U Guys” Foundation. The protocol outlines five core response actions — hold, secure, lockdown, evacuate and shelter — and provides specific guidance for both students and adults in each scenario.
Those protocols would come into play if federal immigration actions were to encroach on Philomath campuses.
“We wanted to go to something that was a real standard that matched the language of what it is we’re doing already in terms of protocol,” Halliday said.
A draft document includes a definition of a “secure” — an action that goes into effect when students and staff need to be safeguarded within the school building.
“If outside, all are to get inside as quickly and organized as possible,” Halliday said. “The action can be used to protect students and staff from a wide range of outdoor threats, including severe weather, dangerous people — aka ICE as one — aggressive animals or a hazardous materials incident.”
Board Chair Tom Klipfel asked Halliday to include specific language related to unannounced immigration enforcement or law enforcement in the rundown of outdoor threats listed under the “secure” definition.
Halliday said work remains on the communication piece and noted that some procedural details would not appear in the public-facing document.
“There’s some of the things that we’re not choosing to put in a public document just because we want to be thoughtful about that, but this feels like the key information we want to get out there,” she said.
The development of the safety procedures originated with a request from teachers, Halliday said.
“What they really want is what is my step-by-step if something happens?” she said. “And so we thought, let’s pull it back into protocols we already have and define it within that series of protocols. So there’s not new learning, it’s really about how do we label it in things that we’ve already got.”
The review came against a backdrop of heightened federal immigration enforcement activity across the country. Halliday said the district had not received any inquiries from the federal government about students’ immigration status as of last week, but acknowledged the broader climate is affecting families.
“We know that across the state, that is hindering attendance, especially in some high Hispanic or other ethnicity (populations) … they’re really seeing some families that are not coming to school,” Halliday said. “Some of them are putting students online again if they can. Some families are saying, ‘I give up, I’m leaving.’ Other folks are carrying passports.”
Halliday said the school district stays in touch with immigration families. She also mentioned that the district’s Emerging Bilingual Advisory Committee periodically meets to discuss best ways to support families.
The Oregon Legislature has passed House Bill 4079, which requires public school districts to alert staff, students and families when there is confirmation that immigration authorities are on school property, and Senate Bill 1538, which protects students from being discriminated against based on their immigration status. Halliday said the district was awaiting policy samples from the Oregon School Boards Association and Oregon Department of Justice before moving forward.
Last year, the board approved a resolution — reaffirmed in January — that outlines the rights of undocumented students and protocols for ICE, including a provision that the superintendent or student services director must be consulted before access is granted to anyone seeking information about students.
Neighboring districts are taking similar steps, Halliday said.
“There’s others that are doing policies,” she said. “In Lincoln County, they have a safety protocols book … we’re adapting from them and being able to pull from that — that’s a big part of our superintendent’s conversations. We have a regional superintendents group and it’s always on the agenda to be able to have conversations about who’s doing what.”
The issue will return to a future board meeting agenda. Halliday anticipates providing an update in April after gathering feedback from staff.
From the article about PSD and immigration: “The action can be used to protect students and staff from a wide range of outdoor threats, including severe weather, dangerous people — aka ICE as one — aggressive animals or a hazardous materials incident.”
It is appalling to lump federal law enforcement in with dangerous animals and hazardous materials. It reveals a disdain for the rule of law. It is a particularly poor example to set for Philomath students.
It is reasonable to give guidance on how to properly interact with law enforcement officers and agencies. It is not reasonable to include them in such a list.