A school board member wants Shelby County Schools to send a unified message to immigrant students and parents: “You are safe in our schools.”
Teresa Jones will ask the board Tuesday to officially go on the record about protections for undocumented students in the wake of this summer’s federal immigration arrests in Memphis by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
“There are speculations among parents of, ‘Should I send my child to school?’” she said Monday about the impetus for her proposal. “I want the board to take a formal stand.”
The resolution backs up the district’s current policy of protecting student privacy and restricting the release of confidential information about immigration status to immigration enforcement agencies.
It also asks the superintendent to elevate partnerships with community-based organizations aimed at supporting families impacted by immigration raids.
If the resolution is approved, Shelby County’s school board would join elected school officials across the nation who have spoken out about President Donald Trump’s crackdown on people who have entered the United States illegally. Last fall after Trump’s election, Nashville school board members took a similar stand.
Memphis school officials sought to assure parents of the district’s policy earlier this month when the new school year opened.
Shelby County is now home to approximately 57,000 Hispanics, and 14 percent of the district’s student population is Hispanic.
The resolution by Jones, who is an attorney, cites the 1982 Texas court case Plyler v. Doe, which established that a public school district cannot deny children access to education based on their immigration status.
She said a school board vote would send a strong message to Shelby County and across the nation.
“An individual speaking is just opinion,” Jones said. “But when we have a resolution, that speaks for the entire board. It’s a different level of … commitment to our students.”
Kevin Woods, another board member, said he’ll back the position wholeheartedly.
It makes “a statement loud and clear to families of our immigrant population that they are welcome at our schools, we want them there and they are members of our communities,” he said.