After several South End schools were ordered to shelter-in-place earlier this month following unsubstantiated reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was in their neighborhood, Seattle Public Schools (SPS) Interim Superintendent Fred Podesta and Seattle School Board members got an earful from parents and teachers.
This week, during a special board meeting held Wednesday, district leaders announced updated guidance for school principals and other leaders on how to handle unverified reports.
The district has had a clear policy for more than a year on what individual school leaders should do if ICE comes on campus: they are not to provide any information about students, families, or employees, and they are not to allow agents into the building unless and until SPS legal counsel verifies the agents have a valid warrant or court order.
Under the new protocols announced this week, staff who hear of an ICE presence in their area must contact their school principal and the SPS Safety and Security Office. If that office confirms a threat, a central response team will convene to decide what action to take, if any.
At the recent board meeting Podesta once again admitted the district had been unclear with school leaders about ICE rumor control—reiterating his comments at the Jan. 21 school board meeting one day after the schools were locked down.
“We’d been really clear about what to do if law enforcement agencies show up on your campus,” Podesta said. “What you do when you are hearing about (immigration) enforcement in the area, we were less clear about. And so we think we need a more unified, systemic response instead of a building-by-building response.”
He also told the board that the Seattle Police Department will inform the district if it becomes aware of an ICE presence near schools. Read the new SPS protocols.
