Tucson schools to rely on patchwork of policies to protect against promised deportations

Tucson school districts have mostly remained mum about how they would handle mass deportations President-elect Donald Trump says will begin soon after he returns to the White House on Monday, but a patchwork of laws and district policies will come into play should students or their families be taken into custody.

“We strongly believe that our practices are in full alignment with the letter and spirit of long-standing Supreme Court precedent that guarantees that a student’s immigration status does not stand in the way of their public education,” the Tucson Unified School District said in a statement Friday.

That precedent was established by the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, in which the court found that children not “legally admitted” to the United States have a right to enroll in school, under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“We can’t interfere with their free and appropriate educational process,” said TUSD Governing Board President Natalie Luna Rose. “That all follows the Supreme Court ruling.

“Until the Supreme Court changes that, which I don’t foresee, I think the governing board is going to just ask everybody to follow the policies.”

A statement released by Sunnyside Unified School District also alludes to Plyler v. Doe, reading: “Under federal law, our students are guaranteed access to public education and SUSD remains committed to this principle and to serving all of our students with dignity and respect.”

A statement from Vail Unified School District states, “There is a long history of legal protections for both parents and their children related to student privacy. We don’t expect that to change. As such, our focus remains on providing a high-quality education to every family we serve.”

District-level anti-discrimination policies come into play, with TUSD’s explicitly referring to discrimination based on legal status. “TUSD is a place for students to learn and thrive in a safe environment free from investigation and enforcement of immigration status.”

That policy also states: “Tucson Unified School District employees, vendors, School Resource Officers acting under a contract with TUSD, volunteers, and visitors at schools or school-sponsored events are prohibited from investigating and enforcing actions related to immigration status, and are not under any duty or obligation imposed by Federal or state law to enforce immigration law or policies.” (Except for persons seeking employment with TUSD.)

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Another area of TUSD policy, concerning student interviews, searches and arrests, states that if a peace officer comes to a TUSD campus intending to take a student into custody, office staff are to establish the officer’s identity and fill out paperwork for signature of an arresting or interviewing officer.

“The school staff shall cooperate with the officer in locating the child within the school. School officials may respond to parental inquiries about the arrest or may, if necessary, explain the relinquishment of custody by the school and the location of the student, if known, upon contact by the parent.”

The current policies, as they apply to deportations, are not hard-and-fast, Luna Rose said, and are expected to be revisited by the governing board soon, in light of the nation’s administration change.

“I think (TUSD is) being as transparent as possible for certain situations, with nobody exactly knowing what the steps of the new administration will be,” Luna Rose said.

Pima County School Superintendent Dustin Williams recalled the President-elect’s first stint in office.

“Trump’s policies were similar to what we think is about to happen,” Williams said. “It stoked a lot of fear into families. Can ICE actually come to school? Are they going to be showing up on campus?”

Luna Rose said, “I can’t even imagine thinking that my daughter’s classmates or their parents that come to campus to pick up their child are going to be whisked away by the Department of Homeland Security or border patrol agents. It’s incredibly scary.”

Williams reaffirmed that people have a right to an education, “but policies and procedures both lie solely with the school (districts). My office will do whatever we can to support them, but there’s a big waiting game to see what happens.”

In an email to the Arizona Daily Star, Flowing Wells Unified School District Superintendent Kevin Stoltzfus said, “We do not have a planned response other than to continue to serve every student who is enrolled in our system with the same level of high expectations and high support.”

Hypothetical questions persist, but for now, there are few answers. Luna Rose said, “I don’t think there’s any sort of hiding from the district about this at all. It’s a real wait and see. Here’s our policies, here’s what you should know. Then we have to wait and see what happens.”