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Berkshire Hills Regional School District community concerned with possible ICE presence at schools

People are unsure as to whether they're safe at school anymore and what's going to happen in terms of protection of students,” one Monument Mountain Regional High School student said during the January 30 Berkshire Hills Regional School District Committee meeting.

Great Barrington — On Tuesday, January 21, President Donald J. Trump announced a directive allowing officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to go into what were previously known as “sensitive” areas, including churches and schools, to enforce immigration laws. The directive rescinds guidelines that were previously put in place for ICE and CBP by the Biden administration.

On January 21, just after President Trump made the directive, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement from a HDS spokesperson on its website:

This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murders [sic] and rapists—who have illegally come into our country. Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.

The Biden-Harris Administration abused the humanitarian parole program to indiscriminately allow 1.5 million migrants to enter our country. This was all stopped on day one of the Trump Administration. This action will return the humanitarian parole program to its original purpose of looking at migrants on a case-by-case basis.

During their meeting on Thursday, January 30, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District Committee discussed issues surrounding a potential ICE presence in the school district.

Towards the beginning of the meeting, a student at Monument Mountain Regional High School, who did not give his full name, told the committee that students are “stressed and anxious” about news reports that ICE could enter school buildings at any time. “It was a big shock for all the students when we heard about it,” the student told the committee. “Just the reality of the situation was really rough. We knew some of it. What is this new world that we’ve tapped into? [This brings] into question the safety of students. People are unsure as to whether they’re safe at school anymore and what’s going to happen in terms of protection of students.”

“In regards to the feelings of students when it comes to ICE, has there been a presentation to the kids in the schools about what they should be aware of and what they should not be scared of?” committee member William Fields asked Superintendent of Schools Peter Dillon.

“In some small ways, yes,” Dillon said.

Dillon said that he received a memo from the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General outlining guidance on how school districts should handle situations with ICE. Dillon said that, while he shared the memo with staff members, he is waiting for “an updated short version” to share with district families. “The memo is readable for staff, and it is not totally accessible for families,” Dillon said. “We’re in constant dialog with many of the local nonprofits that are doing this work [concerning ICE access to schools] and trying to clarify some things.”

Dillon added that he would be meeting with school principals and staff members to disseminate further information. “Our big goal is to be really supportive to students and families,” Dillon said.

“The situation with ICE has gotten my staff very concerned,” said Muddy Brook Elementary School Principal Cynthia Carey. “But I feel that we’ve done a good job of assuring our staff to assure families that our students are safe with us.”

Later on during the meeting, on the agenda item concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB), Dillon said that there was no update to the item and “nothing that we haven’t discussed.”

During public comment, several school district residents took both Dillon and the school district to task over their response to the federal ICE directives. “I appreciate the good intentions of everyone who wants to make sure our kids are safe, but I am disappointed by what feels like a slow response here,” district parent Sara Mugridge told the committee. “Honestly, it’s a little bit hard to be sitting here as a parent right now that there is nothing to talk about regarding any DEIB updates or happenings at the school.”

Mugridge said that the attorney general’s guidelines “are not anything complicated.” “Really, it’s about following the laws that are on the books, and the law of the land, reviewing FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) with all faculty and staff, and that nobody should be sharing any identifying information, the identity of family, or immigration status externally at all,” said Mugridge.

Mugridge explained that the attorney general’s guidelines mandate that parents must be contacted immediately about an ICE presence at the school building. “There’s nothing complicated about things like mandated reporting,” Mugridge said. “I’m also hearing reports about bus drivers being involved in some targeted harassment of students. In the Commonwealth, they’re [designated as] caregivers, and any verbal abuse is subject to mandated reporting laws. I understand that there’s probably a pretty well-intentioned desire to avoid angering people with anti- immigrant or anti-trans agendas. But I—just in the last year and a half, I’ve spent a lot of time discussing with some of you that when we don’t say clearly what we stand for and how we’re going to uphold those values, what we expect of our students, what we expect of each other, we’re really emboldening bullies and targeted harassment. We’re looking at you all to lead in this, not to follow or wait and see [in these situations].”

In response, Dillon said that staff members were all “very aware of procedures around reporting.” “We spent a little extra time with front office people who are most likely to encounter [ICE], and [we went] into the granular detail of looking at samples of warrants, which kind of warrants are appropriate and which aren’t,” Dillon said. “So I feel, from a staff perspective, we’ve done a really thorough job. My thinking was that sharing a 10- to 15-page document with non-native English speakers while we were waiting for translated ones could be overwhelming. That is why I’m trying to get simplified ones.”

As for the reports about the bus drivers, Dillon responded, “I got several emails that were unfounded and just a rumor. The bus company has done their own communication to their own employees about how their primary role is to support students and how they should follow the same guidelines around notification and non-disclosure of any information. So I think the district and the bus company are on the same page.”

School district parent Erica Mielke also took issue with the district’s response to the ICE federal directives. “Peter, I know a lot of the efforts you are taking, but it is so disheartening to see [DEIB] as a standing item on the meeting agenda and then say there’s nothing to report,” Mielke said. “There are so many people not feeling safe. There’s so many different communities DEIB encompasses that try to address issues [including] not feeling safe or comfortable going to school. I know families that are struggling with that, and a piece of this is communicating clearly with the families that are most affected. There is a difference between no communication, including during a DEIB update saying there’s nothing to report, and avoiding stirring up conservative people who are looking for an excuse to fight something.”

Mielke added, “I think it’s doing an injustice to families if we’re trying to withhold information or simplify, assuming what they need. My son is half-Mexican, and his dad is not a United States citizen. His dad lives in Mexico and has never left Mexico. At what point while my son gets on the [school] bus do I need to have him have a birth certificate on him as proof that he is a U.S. citizen before he is targeted because of his last name? There is just so much stuff I need to know as a parent to make sure my son is safe.”

Meanwhile, parent Kate Anderson discussed an executive order President Trump signed “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling.” The order states, in part:

Parents trust America’s schools to provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and the values for which we stand.

In recent years, however, parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed. These practices not only erode critical thinking but also sow division, confusion, and distrust, which undermine the very foundations of personal identity and family unity.

Anderson requested that the school committee discuss the order and its effect on the school district at a future meeting. “I think that this [is part of] the fear that some students are feeling,” Anderson said. “We see this in these issues, whether it is ICE, or whether it is aimed at transgender and nonbinary students. This [executive order] seeks to remove protections from transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming students. I think the piece that we really need to look at as well is that it seeks to criminalize the educators who support them.”

Anderson added, “I would absolutely ask you to please, loudly and publicly, reassure our students that they’re safe and that we as adults have a responsibility to keep them safe and that we will take that very, very seriously.”

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