The Richmond City School Board is expected to vote Tuesday on new policies detailing steps the district would take before allowing federal immigration agents onto school campuses.
At a Monday work session, the board and Superintendent Jason Kamras briefly discussed revising the district’s “Relations with Law Enforcement Authorities” policy, which includes a section on immigration enforcement.
At the request of 9th District member and board chair Shavonda Fernandez, the administration is planning a presentation followed by a Q&A at Tuesday’s meeting, Kamras said.
The proposed revision states that immigration law enforcement agents “substantially disrupt” the learning environment, and unless required by law, a site administrator can deny them access to school property.
Shonda Harris-Muhammed, who represents the 6th District, said the proposal shows RPS is being proactive and aims to protect students across the division who could be affected.
“If we saw the number of students absent today, one school had 496 students absent," Harris-Muhammed said Monday, alluding to students participating in the “Day without Immigrants” protest. ”That's a lot of our immigrant students out, and so you just get emotional.”
RPS spokesperson Alyssa Schwenk told VPM News that aside from significant absences at schools as a result of Monday’s protest,” the district has not seen spikes in absenteeism among its immigrant population.
Across the commonwealth and nationally, districts are preparing for possible on-campus visits from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the Trump administration revoked a long-standing policy designating churches and schools as protected “sensitive spaces,” and limited immigration arrest.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” a Jan. 21 statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
In response, RPS declared itself a “safe space” for students. Kamras previously told VPM News he was ready to stand at schoolhouse doors to protect students.
“We don't want anyone to fear coming to school [out of] fear of potentially being taken away,” he said. “We're going to do everything we possibly can to prevent that.”
If ICE agents show up at an RPS school, the proposal says, they will only be granted entry by the principal if a valid and signed judicial warrant or subpoena is presented. If an administrative warrant — which isn’t approved by a judge or magistrate — is presented, ICE agents will be denied entry.
In both scenarios, Kamras and RPS legal counsel are to be notified immediately.
In the event that access is granted, ICE agents will be asked to wait in a designated private area until a representative from the superintendent’s office and legal counsel arrive.
School principals have been directed not to provide any information, including students’ schedule or notes on their behavior, without legal counsel present. Students’ parents would also be notified.
Cheryl Burke, who represents the 7th District, raised concerns about how the plan would protect school staff.
“I’m with full support of doing what we can do, and then some to support our children,” Burke said. “I just want to make sure everybody's covered. I don't really want [anyone] to get hurt.”
Fernandez questioned whether the district has a plan to ensure all staff receive directions they need to interact with an ICE agent on school grounds.
“This is something that we just want to ensure that our students feel safe, remain safe and families feel confident in our efforts to keep them safe,” she said.
Kamras’ office is responsible for processing all ICE requests for school access or student data.
Last week, a White House spokesperson told NBC News that ending the “sensitive spaces” policy was not a directive for ICE agents to go into schools and churches. The spokesperson added they expect immigration raids on public school grounds to be “extremely rare.”
Kamras has assured families that students’ immigration status is not a consideration for education or any other RPS service.
The School Board is set to vote on the resolution during its 6 p.m. Tuesday business meeting. If passed, the district will create a rapid response team to assist RPS students, if they're deprived of adult care outside of school due to detention or deportation.
The district previously published a list of resources for immigrant families.