At a Feb. 26 Providence School Board meeting, the Providence Public School District’s legal counsel presented strategies for cooperating with immigration enforcement on school grounds. This comes after Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and the Rhode Island Department of Education released guidelines protecting immigrant students’ rights on Jan. 27.
On Jan. 20, the Trump administration rescinded previous policies that protected “sensitive locations” — including elementary and secondary schools — from Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions.
The February PPSD presentation outlined new measures to implement FERPA requirements in line with RIDE’s guidelines. Now, families have to opt in to allow the district to share student information to third parties, as opposed to the previous opt-out system. This opt-in protocol will apply to everything from online “Honor Roll” lists to media requests.
At the school board meeting, legal counsel from the PPSD stated that if ICE arrives at schools, attorneys from the PPSD will go to the schools to handle legal proceedings.
In a press release, Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Angélica Infante-Green stated that “unless there is a real public safety exigency, immigration enforcement does not belong on school grounds where it has the potential to negatively impact all students regardless of immigration status.”
RIDE’s guidelines include not disclosing student information under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and not requiring schools to collect immigration status information during the enrollment process.
According to Victor Morente, a spokesperson for RIDE, the guidelines are suggestions and local school committees can decide what guidelines to implement.
“What they choose to implement may vary from community to community,” Morente wrote. He added that “the response to immigration (enforcement) may differ depending on the number of immigration attorneys” in a district and because of variation in school building security measures
“For some schools, you have to get buzzed in or signed in to enter,” Morente explained. “For some, you don’t.”
Morente affirmed that ICE agents need a judicial warrant to enter nonpublic areas in schools. ICE administrative warrants, notices to appear and administrative subpoenas are not sufficient to grant agents access to schools.
RIDE issued their guidelines after many school districts contacted the department seeking guidance on how to respond to federal authorities if they sought access to student information, Morente said. The parameters seek to “give direction on how districts could address this (situation) if it did happen,” he explained.
Morente clarified that there have been no reported incidents of ICE agents trying to enter schools.
Anna Kuperman ’94 MAT’97, a teacher at Classical High School, shared that she still holds fears about immigration enforcement despite the city of Providence’s reassurances. She said that there is “a lot of insecurity and fear for students” among teachers, especially since they “don’t exactly know the ins and outs of what’s going to happen.”
Julianna Espinal, an organizer with OurSchoolsPVD and a 17-year-old student at Classical High School, shared that she believes state officials could do more to protect students without proper legal status, particularly in guarding their home addresses.
Morente reiterated the state’s commitment to supporting immigrant students.
“All students in the U.S., regardless of immigration status, have a right to an education,” he said.
