High school principals and across the country say attacks on immigrants, culture and enforcement have fueled a “climate of grief” among immigrant students who have been bullied on campus and in a study released Tuesday.
70 percent of high school principals say that students from immigrant families have expressed fear for themselves or their families because of ice breaks or snow drifts related to UCLA and UC Riverside researchers.
It’s a finding that echoes what schools and districts across California reported when President Trump took office in January and launched an immigration crackdown.
One principal in California told researchers that she had seen staff members “break down in tears for a student.”
He added: “It’s just not very popular in America.
John Rogers, a UCLA education professor who led the report, said it was “striking” that principals “all over the country are talking about fear.”
The researchers surveyed 606 school principals from May to August to understand how schools were affected by the migration process. More than 1 in 3 principals, nearly 36%, say students from immigrant families have been bullied, and 64% say their attendance has decreased.
The drop in attendance has been confirmed by other researchers who have collected data in California’s Central Valley and Northwestern State. There has also been a drop in K-12 enrollment that appears to be in the tens of thousands, affecting cities including Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami, based on figures provided by school district officials.
Principals, including in Minnesota, Nebraska and Michigan, are seeing students engage in hostile and offensive language in the classroom. Some say that the political situation with regular attacks on the Fukwani people was to blame.
Most of the school principals surveyed, about 78%, said that their campuses have created plans to respond to visits from Federal Agents and about half are made for certain parents.
In this effort, Los Angeles County schools have been leaders, taking swift and unprecedented steps to protect and reassure families. La Unified, for example, offered direct transportation home to some students.
Their fear is unfounded. In April, Los Angeles principals turned immigration agents who tried to enter two elementary schools, saying they were doing a welfare check with family permission. School District authorities say no such permission has been granted.
At a public meeting in November, La School Board member Karla Griego reported that a parent was arrested on her way to a school meeting about her child’s disability rehabilitation program.
Charter schools have taken steps to reassure families. In the days following the massive Ice RAID in LA, attendance rates at Alliance Morgan McKinzie High School School In East La Shethwe from the upper normal range of 90% to the lower 90s, said Friday Rosa Mendez.
Mendendez said: “Many of our families have been really affected and they are very scared. “Many of our children are afraid to come to school.”
As Ice attacked and climbed last summer, the charter school collapsed, sending staff around bus and train stations to watch students arrive and depart. The school will remain open during winter break, offering sports, video games and arts and crafts so students have a safe place to go.
Immigration Enforcement owns Mendendez, who is the child of Salvadoran immigrants and has undocumented family members.
“Coming on the heels of ACOVID, we were trying to keep our kids safe and healthy, now it’s another layer of security,” Menendezz said. “But we also worry about our families … it adds a very powerful layer of stress.”
Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security issued a the narrative That ICE does not raid “or target schools.” However, the Trump administration in January removed long-standing protections for “sensitive” areas that since 2011 prevented Ice from holding people in schools and churches.
Double duty to protect and educate
In addition to the survey, the researchers conducted 49 follow-up interviews with principals selected to reflect the diverse integration of schools. Names withheld out of concern that their schools could become victims of forced migration.
One principal in California, whose school is located in an evacuation zone, told researchers that his school’s empathy was successful in the spring when news of snowstorms was imminent.
The account was an echo of the uneasiness that aired at Huntington Park High School’s spring graduation ceremony when a snowstorm hit the nearby home depot.
Principals note that parents have felt torn between themselves and family members being safe and supportive of their children’s education. In high schools, many parents choose not to attend past awards.
The Strengthening of Other Non-Repentant Countries as Students. Many school workers feel a “double sense of duty” to protect and teach, a California principal says.
The superintendent also said teachers have joined local immigration rights networks, walking the blocks before school each day to ensure there is a safe way to campus. One teacher, whose father is unharmed, often worries about suspicious vehicles in the school parking lot, the principal said.
“[W]He always wants to make sure we’re not caught off guard, “he said. On top of the increased fear of an active shooting situation, he now has problems every day that the Icegents will show up.” It’s a lot, “it can be heard a lot.
Maria Nichols, president of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles and principal of Lausd, praised the district for taking quick steps to provide school leaders with protocols to follow. But he said the principal’s job has become more taxing because Lausd staff cuts have reduced the number of assistant principals.
“Of course the leader, he is responsible for pioneering, protocols and process matters, but he also has to lift up their school and their community,” said Nichols. “They’re dealing with a crisis right now and it’s very difficult and it’s very heavy weight at a time when we have human capital in schools.”
School leaders across the country echoed California’s principal’s sentiments.
One Idaho principal told researchers he worries every day that Icegents will show up with warrants to arrest students. He said: “As a construction leader, I feel like I’m responsible for their safety. I hate that, because I don’t feel like I can protect them.”
