District aims to protect undocumented students
Board tables action on Confederate flag imagery
The school board has approved a policy concerning how employees should respond to immigration officers.
Onteora school district officials have adopted guidelines for handling federal requests involving students who are undocumented immigrants, but were unable to determine how to respond when someone attends classes wearing Confederate flag imagery.
At a Board of Education meeting Tuesday, a resolution concerning Confederate imagery was sent to a committee after some trustees said a proposed 16-word resolution did not even accurately describe what its title was saying.
Trustee Lindsay Shands said the title stated it was a “Confederate flag ban resolution ... but that’s not what the recommended action is.”
Officials were considering adopting language stating: “The Board of Education recognizes the confederate flag as a symbol of hatred and condemns it.”
The resolution was tabled and sent to an ad hoc committee that will develop language on what action should be taken by administrators if a student comes into conflict with the board’s sentiment.
Some trustees said the board’s objections to the Confederate symbol should be addressed in a way that provide administrators and teachers control over symbols that some students consider offensive, without diminishing freedom of expression.
Board President Kevin Salem suggested forming the committee when trustees appeared to be unable to reach a decision on what their objections to use of Confederate symbols was meant to accomplish. He said his discussions with teachers made it apparent that board members should also respect the teachers’ approaches to the issue.
“The culture and the climate is really controlled by the students and the teachers in the building,” he said.
Board members did approve policy concerning how district employees should respond when approached by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“If under some extraordinary circumstance they did show up, certainly they would be stopped ... and any of the documents would be sent to the building principal and to my office,” district Superintendent Victoria McLaren said.
In their resolution, board members say they are committed to complying with state and federal laws, but are also dedicated to ensuring student can attend classes without fear of being taken away.
“The district has made a commitment to a quality education for all students, which includes a safe and stable learning environment, means of transportation to and from school sites, the preservation of classroom hours for educational instruction, and the requirement of school attendance,” the resolution says.
The policy says the district “will not allow law enforcement to interview, interrogate, or remove a student from school property except as consistent with applicable law.”