Last week, Vashon’s school board voted to enact a new district policy to protect undocumented students attending island schools, and also discussed a proposed plan and timeline to implement additional training for district staff on the new policy.

Such training would fully inform staff members on precise actions to be taken if Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers (ICE) arrive on school grounds.

The school board’s action on Jan. 23 came on the heels of multiple actions last week regarding immigration and citizenship taken by President Donald Trump, which included an executive order ending automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil. (The order was swiftly blocked by a federal judge in Seattle last week, and Washington’s attorney general, Nick Brown, joined by attorneys general in more than 20 other states, challenged its legality.)

The Trump administration also revoked prior guidelines, in place for the past 15 years, that have barred most immigration enforcement actions from taking place in “protected locations” including schools and churches. Other such locations include playgrounds and bus stops, hospitals, food banks, graveside ceremonies and funerals and domestic violence shelters.

And last week, Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention and deportation for any undocumented person who is arrested or charged with crimes including burglary, larceny, theft, shoplifting, and other crimes that result in death or bodily injury, without requiring that they first be convicted.

With rumors on social media swirling last week that ICE had already arrived on Vashon, the school board meeting on Thursday, Jan. 23 drew a standing-room-only crowd.

The meeting included a lengthy presentation by islander Molly Matter, a human rights attorney and district parent, who is currently advising the district on the issue.

Matter confirmed that ICE had not, in fact, come to Vashon earlier in the day, and briefly detailed current efforts in the community to develop a rapid response network, via a confidential app, to definitively confirm ICE’s presence on, or approach to, the island.

Matter’s main presentation outlined current state and federal laws as well as Supreme Court decisions affirming the right to public school education for all children, regardless of their nationality, and especially emphasized the protections afforded to undocumented students and families in the Keep Washington Working Act (KWW).

The state law, championed by then Attorney General and current Governor Bob Ferguson, was passed by the state legislature in an emergency session in 2019.

“One of the most important protective laws we have for students is the [KWW], and this is the gold standard right now,” Matter said.

Matter shared a 25-page document created in 2020 by the Attorney General’s office for Washington state schools, viewable at tinyurl.com/3suc9jn4, which provides an overview of the law as it pertains to public schools, as well as a template for policy revisions required for K-12 public schools to be in compliance with the law.

Both at the board meeting and in an email to The Beachcomber, VISD Superinendent Slade McSheehy took full responsibility that the school board, at that time, had not immediately adopted the policy, as required. But he said that in 2020, the district’s priorities had been heavily focused on responding to the COVID pandemic and mitigating its educational impacts on the district’s most vulnerable students.

“While I regret that the KWW policies were not finalized sooner, our efforts were directed to addressing the pressing and unique needs of students and families during an unprecidented time,” he said.

The Attorney General’s 2020 document also includes a five-page section on how staff members should be trained in carrying out the policy to protect undocumented students. The training recommendations include holding a public meeting to educate the broader community about the policy.

At the meeting, Matter urged immediate passage of the recommended policy to fully comply with the law — which the board voted unanimously to do later in the meeting, with only minor, clarifying changes specific to the topography of Vashon’s school grounds and the district’s use of gender-inclusive pronouns.

The policy, in part, dictates strict procedures that would prohibit almost all school staffers from giving consent to ICE or other immigration authorities to enter the district buildings or grounds. Instead, staffers are now required to direct anyone attempting to engage in immigration enforcement to the school principal or authorized designee.

The policy additionally stipulates that any immigration officer desiring to communicate with a student, enter school grounds, or conduct an arrest must first produce a court order or warrant, signed by a judge, to be verified by the district’s superintendent or legal authority prior to ICE’s entry into the building.

The policy also includes detailed instruction regarding what type of immigration-related information the district may collect from students; how the district must respond to and report requests for disclosure of student information from immigration authorities; and how staff members can help prepare students and families for the possibility of a family separation.

View the new policy in its entirety at tinyurl.com/VashonICEPolicy.

Training staff

During the meeting, Matter advocated that training recommendations published by the Attorney General’s Office following the passage of KWW be made mandatory for all district staff members.

“There is a lot that is happening right now that demands every single person know what their rights are, so I … highly encourage that all staff are trained, because it’s a matter of making sure every child in our district is safe,” she said.

Multiple community members in attendance at the meeting also advocated for mandatory training, saying it should take place as soon as possible.

Islander Jamie Wolf, a retired probation officer and training manager for probation officers who now heads his own company that trains employees including law enforcement officers and educators, spoke about the risk management implications for the district if mandatory training for all staff was not required.

He urged the district to consider that “people who think they might not be interested in [what to do] if ICE came to the school might have a change of heart when they’re witnessing a child screaming and yelling, and may want to intervene — and because they weren’t trained, may do the wrong thing.”

These employees, if then faced with disciplinary measures or other consequences of their actions, could then file lawsuits against the district under the stipulation of “failure to train,” Wolf said.

Another islander, who identified himself by his first name, Chuck, followed Wolf in making a public comment. “Aside from the legal part, I guess my mind goes to when the unthinkable happens,” he said. “It’s not going to be good enough that you read a memo about what to do. People can be in shock [or] isolated. There won’t be time or opportunity to … ask somebody, ‘What do I do now?’”

Board documents for the meeting included a draft of McSheehy’s recommendations for training staff on how to adhere to the new policy. These recommendations, he said, had been developed in consultation with district leadership and labor union representatives.

In the draft, viewable at tinyurl.com/3xmj4rd8, McSheehy proposed a rollout of training, beginning with specialized, small-group training sessions for frontline staff, including office workers, nurses, counselors and administrators. These sessions would be later followed by additional awareness training for all staff at staff meetings, and two separate optional, all-staff virtual meetings with a local civil rights attorney for interested staff, as well as optional student training sessions.

However, on Friday afternoon, McSheehy announced that a different training plan, which included mandated training, was being developed.

“As we continue this critical work, I’m pleased to share that I am collaborating with Dr. Duran, Superintendent with Highline Public Schools, to align our approach to immigration enforcement training with the guidance outlined in Keep Washington Working,” McSheehy wrote in an email to district families. “Following Highline’s required training, Vashon Island School District will mandate this same training for all staff, ensuring our commitment to protecting the rights of students and families.”

McSheehy said that in the coming days, he and the district’s leadership team, in collaboration with Matter, will solidify the training timeline and implementation.

“Our commitment to students, staff and families stands firm: Every student enrolled in Vashon Island School District has the right to a free, quality education in a safe, respectful learning environment,” he said.

State Superintendent weighs in

In a Jan. 23 press release, Chris Reykdal, the elected State Superintendent of Washington, also addressed the new Trump administration declarations on immigration policy and enforcement.

Citing state and federal law that prohibits public schools from discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, Reykdal pledged that “Washington state is and will remain a state that is unequivocally supporting all of our students and their families.”

The press release also referenced state law that prohibits public schools from initiating engagement with immigration authorities for the purpose of sharing student information, and also requires public schools to have policies in place for appropriately interacting with immigration authorities who visit a school campus.

A 13-page document from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), viewable at tinyurl.com/bddchtkp, provides additional detailed guidance on steps that all school districts are required to follow in cases when immigration authorities initiate engagement with the district.

Governor creates rapid response team

On Monday, the Seattle Times reported that Gov. Bob Ferguson had created, via executive order, a state rapid response team to help families who could be targeted for deportation.

The Family Separation Rapid Response Team will be housed with Washington’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families.

The Times quoted the governor as saying that President Trump had been clear about his intentions for mass deportations.

“So I want to be clear about the impact,” Gov. Ferguson said. “It means ripping families apart. It means kids losing their parents. It means businesses losing their workers. It means communities being significantly altered.”