Lodi Unified approves safe haven policy

Resolution passes in 5-2 vote at contentious meeting

Lodi Unified will continue to be a safe haven for students regardless of their immigration status. Trustees voted 5-2 at Tuesday night’s school board meeting to support a resolution reaffirming the district’s policy that it will follow federal and state laws that give the right to a free and equitable education to all students. Those laws also protect students from having their data released to outside agencies without permission from parents and the superintendent.

Trustee Bonnie Cassel pushed for the district to pass the resolution reaffirming their policy in response to the current political climate.

It is impossible for children to ignore the dialogue going on right now and the concern in their parents’ voices, she said.

“We have had testimony in this board room and when we had the meeting at Julia Morgan that we have children in schools who are fearful,” Cassel said. Fear during childhood can affect students into adulthood, she said, adding that fear extended beyond the more than 28,000 students in the district, also affecting their parents. Those students and parents need to be reassured that the district is bound by law to provide a safe educational environment for all their students, she said.

“It is unthinkable to one that any of our children are in our classrooms and are fearful. That’s what this resolution puts to rest,” Cassel said.

Cassel was among several trustees who voiced their support for the resolution, while trustee Daryl Talken did not speak on the matter. Trustee Ron Freitas asked that the board support this resolution unanimously to show that they are not turning their backs on the district’s large population of English learners, many of whom are immigrants, and that they would be following the law of this country.

Trustee Gary Knackstedt took a stronger stance in support of the resolution at this meeting, saying that it would be good for the students — which he said is his primary concern as a trustee.

In response to previous mentions of this resolution being political, trustee George Neely agreed and affirmed his support for it. He also noted that the board was intended to be nonpartisan, yet is still political in nature.

“In a way, by not supporting this resolution, that in itself is political,” he said before urging his fellow board members to vote in support unanimously.

Coming from a family of migrant farmworkers, trustee Joe Nava stated that this resolution speaks to 44 percent of the people of Lodi and is very important to him. He recalled when he was a primarily Spanish speaking student in sixth grade when a teacher caught him speaking Spanish to another student. The teacher told him that no Spanish was allowed on campus. Nava said he was punished by having soap put in his mouth.

“I have no doubt that if we’re not unanimous, there is something wrong with this board,” he said.

Board President Ron Heberle agreed that the district would continue to follow the law and support the education of all students. He mentioned that there are no lists within the district of who is legal and who is not. He called the resolution redundant, since other board policies cover their stance on the issue.

Public comment was overwhelmed with speakers both for and against the resolution.

Many speakers from the Feb. 21 meeting returned to reiterate their belief in the need to identify as a safe haven, including teacher Van Ha To-Cowell, a refugee from Vietnam, and Jeff Serna, a former educator and San Joaquin County employee, child of migrant farmworkers and brother to the former Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna Jr.

“Words matter and what words are missing from this resolution are ‘safe haven,’” Serna said. “It needs to be declarative with what you’re trying to do here.” He hoped that it would help lift the perception of the Lodi that it is a closed community to people of color.

Suga Moriwaki spoke out by drawing connections to the Japanese Internment.

“What if, 75 years ago, there had been people of courage who said that the Japanese incarceration of citizens was wrong? Would my life have been different?,” she said.

Speaking in opposition was Alex Aliferis, who described the discussion as a waste of taxpayer money when the board should be speaking about more educational matters.

“What are we teaching students? That breaking the law is great?,” Aliferis asked the board before saying that the resolution was offensive to those like his family, who had immigrated to this country legally.

Jim Shoemaker reminded the board that their duty was to taxpayers of the district and that the resolution was strictly a political statement.

“Our children do have safe spaces. Let us not turn them into cupcakes and snowflakes,” he said. “We need to focus on education, not on this foolishness that breaking the law is okay.”

Despite the opposition from public commentators and “no” votes two trustees, Talken and Heberle, the resolution passed.