The Philomath School Board unanimously approved a resolution during its Jan. 9 meeting that outlines the school district’s protocols for Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to schools.
Concerns have surfaced across the country about how communities and schools will respond if ICE ramps up deportation efforts as a new administration settles into the Oval Office.
“We know that there is a potential for there to be a big hue and cry in a lot of places to be able to deport undocumented individuals,” Philomath Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday told board members at the meeting. “In essence, what this is saying is ‘you’re not coming into our schools and randomly asking questions.’”
The school district does not inquire about immigration status when students enroll and even if the child’s status would become known, the information would not voluntarily be given to ICE, the district stated.
“We wanted to be real clear to reiterate really what we’ve been doing for years,” Halliday said. “It’s really not new but it puts things back in perspective.”
The resolution states that any ICE official intending to enter a school must first notify the superintendent or designee in person with adequate notice so legal counsel can be consulted and other steps can be taken to prepare. The agent’s credentials and written legal authority must be supplied as well.
If Halliday is not available and such a situation presented itself, the staff member designated to handle the process would go to Kelsey Greydanus, student services director.
“It’s not about trying to skirt around the law, we just want to make sure that we’ve got the right way of being able to do that,” Halliday said.
Halliday said the school district talked about the protocol back in 2016-17 but apparently nothing was adopted. No issues have occurred in the years since but Halliday wanted the formality of a resolution.
“It’s really about staff in our schools knowing that you don’t have to take somebody into your school, you don’t need to answer their questions, you’ve got Kelsey and I that are the gatekeepers in being able to do that,” Halliday said.
Halliday also wanted to bring the issue completely into the open as a reminder that the district is committed to providing a positive, supportive and safe learning environment for all students.
“We wanted to bring this forward in full transparency of recognizing all of our students, all of our staff and really being transparent, too, with our families to be able to say ‘we’ve got you and your kids and are going to do right by them.’”
The School Board approved the resolution on a 5-0 vote.
