Fourteen members of the Oak Park community, most of them parents of elementary and middle school students attending Oak Park Elementary School District 97 schools, made public comments at the Feb. 24 District 97 school board meeting urging district officials to take further steps to protect students from enhanced federal action targeting undocumented immigrants.
The speakers implored the district to create school based safety teams, provide school facilitated legal support for families, put up clear District 97 signage around schools informing federal agents that they are not allowed on school property without a judicial warrant, provide rapid response training to district staff, create a sanctuary policy, create a clear safety plan for transportation to and from school for vulnerable students and families, provide professional development to school staff so that they are better able to deal with the trauma that some students are feeling, and provide psychological support to help students manage their anxiety and fear.
Some of the speakers said that other school districts, such as the Chicago Public Schools and an Evanston school district, have more robust policies and practices to protect vulnerable students than District 97 seems to have.
Later in the meeting school board members discussed the issue and expressed a desire to work with parents and the community on these issues.
School board member Becky Perez, who noted that her parents were undocumented immigrants for decades before becoming United States citizens, said she thought the district was already providing some of the things that the public commenters were asking for.
“I do hope to be able to respond to the community’s request to continue to have these conversations,” Perez said.
Meghan Carter, the parent of a third grader and a first grader at Longfellow School, said that every District 97 school should have a designated point person trained to deal with federal agents and support vulnerable students and families.
“I’m here today because I’m concerned our schools are still not adequately prepared,” said Carter who is a member of Longfellow PTO. “I have no doubt that district staff, teachers, paraprofessionals and every school staff person wants to do the right thing. I want the board to equip them to do that.”
Some speakers said District 97 should provide expanded transportation for vulnerable students, expand after school programs to keep vulnerable kids and families safe and provide remote learning options for students whose families are afraid to send them to school.
“As a Mexican American woman, I have been afraid to walk my daughter to and from school by myself,” said Christina Ocon, the parent of second grader at Longfellow School and a member of the Longfellow PTO. “I make sure that I always have appropriate identification that signals my American citizenship out of fear of being profiled.”
Two current and one former District 97 teacher also spoke urging the district to do more.
An emotional Nicole Mendez, a bilingual transitional teacher at Holmes School, spoke about the impact the federal action is having on students.
“This year we have witnessed firsthand how the fear of immigration enforcement has affected our students ability to learn and feel safe at school,” Mendez said. “Recently our community lost a fifth-grade student and his family after they were detained and forced to return to their home country in the middle of the school year. We also have students across the district and family members who are currently detained. These events have had a profound impact on our school community. Many impacted families are afraid to leave their homes, leading to financial instability and the loss of work. Some parents are fearful of going to work, attending appointments and going to school events.”
Mendez said the impact on students has been noticeable.
“In our classrooms we are seeing increased absenteeism, heightened anxiety and a noticeable decline in focus and academic engagement,” Mendez said. “Students have expressed a strong need to process and talk about their feelings. However, a Spanish speaker social worker who was hired for this job was asked to work for a leave at a different school. Therefore, that person has limited availability to meet with the students.”
Mendez called for the district to offer more consistent social work services for threatened students and families, specifically having a Spanish speaking provider of these services.
“Every child in District 97 deserves to feel safe, supported and protected at school,” Mendez said.
School board member Jung Kim said that the school district could not require staff to undergo rapid response training but could offer it to those staff members who are interested.
“We can’t have the district ask people to put themselves potentially in harms way, right, but if people are asking for this training we can facilitate that,” Kim said.
Board member Venus Hurd Johnson said she was very impressed with the public comments and said that the district was already doing some of the things that were asked for. But she said that the district wouldn’t be able to do everything that was asked for.
“We’re not going to be able to allay all their concerns and we’re also not going to be able to do everything that was asked,” Hurd Johnson said.
Board member Gavin Kearney said he would like the district to host a town hall to discuss the issues and for the district to communicate clearly what it is already doing.
Like other board members Nancy Ross Dribin said she was impressed with the specificity of the asks by the public commenters and how they tied their demands to specific district policies.
In a newsletter the district sent to parents after the meeting the district said it was already addressing student safety and other concerns in the wake of the federal activities.
“District leadership and the board of education are aligned in the importance of strong, well-established safety practices,” the district’s newsletter stated. “Throughout this school year, our team has been actively reviewing and strengthening protocols designed to guide our response to a wide range of situations and support safe school environments for all students.”