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SK Immigration Task Force turns to school district to pass immigrant protection policy
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<time datetime="2018-05-18T23:00:00-04:00" class="gmail-asset-date gmail-text-muted">May 18, 2018</time></li>
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<p>SOUTH KINGSTOWN—Ten months after the
South Kingstown Immigration Task Force saw success from its efforts to
pass an immigrant protection ordinance in South Kingstown, the group has
turned its focus onto the school district to pass a similar policy.</p><p><span>“I’m
here to ask you to move towards passage of a school policy that
protects all students and their families in South Kingstown schools,
regardless of their immigration status,” Veronika Kot, a member of the
task force, addressed school committee members last Tuesday. </span></p><p><span>The
immigration task force spent much of 2017 pushing for immigrant
protections at the municipal level, ultimately succeeding in October as
South Kingstown became the first Rhode Island municipality to adopt a
comprehensive ordinance protecting immigrants.</span></p>
<div id="gmail-tncms-region-article_instory_top" class="gmail-tncms-region gmail-hidden-print"></div><p><span>Among
other things, the ordinance recommends the adoption of a school
district policy which would establish procedures for handling
interactions with immigration officials seeking information on a
student’s immigration status. </span></p><p><span>The Rhode Island
Department of Education (RIDE) also issued guidance last year to help
school districts develop plans to support students who might be impacted
by immigration actions. RIDE recommended in fact that districts adopt
comprehensive policies and plans for their faculty and staff to follow. </span></p><p><span>Immigration
task force members have provided school committee members with a model
policy outlining “how teachers and school officials should handle
requests for information by immigration authorities,” Kot explained, as
several other immigration task force members sat behind her in the SKHS
cafeteria. </span></p><p><span>“All students and families, whatever
their citizenship status, should feel safe and welcome in our schools,”
Kot continued. “This we know is essential for children’s wellbeing, as
well as for the involvement of their families.”</span></p><p><span>She added that the model policy could be adapted with minimal edits to fit the needs in the South Kingstown School District. </span></p><p><span>Carol Czaja, another task force member, also gave her thoughts.</span></p><p><span>“As
a retired teacher, I feel that I’m in a position to reflect on the
changes over time in the school climate,” she began. “We’ve always had
policies in schools—for example, fire drills, and we’ve had policies in
place as to who is on the approved list to pick children up from
school.”</span></p><p><span>Czaja added that she’s witnessed an evolution over the years of the types of policies adopted by school committees. </span></p><p><span>“Unlike
before, we now have policies… for lock-downs in the event of a
potential shooter,” Czaja said, “but we do not have a policy in place
for school immigration issues.”</span></p><p><span>“Without directive,” she continued, “school employees are not likely to know how to respond to an immigration issue.”</span></p><p><span>As
of Thursday, the agenda for the next school committee meeting had not
been posted and Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow was unaware of
whether it would be on the agenda.</span></p><p><span>In other business
regarding policies, the school committee voted unanimously last week
following second readings to adopt an internet filtering policy, a
revised elementary student placement policy and a revised student
suspension and expulsion policy.</span></p><p><span>Compiled by the
South Kingstown District Technology Committee, the internet filtering
policy governs internet filtering systems in compliance with a 2016
state law requiring such policies. </span></p>
<div id="gmail-tncms-region-article_instory_middle" class="gmail-tncms-region gmail-hidden-print"></div><p><span>Under
the revised elementary student placement policy, outdated language has
been removed from its previous version, and under the revised student
suspension and expulsion policy, the concept of an expulsion has been
removed. </span></p><p><span>The school committee also reviewed last
Tuesday a revision to the district’s early college, dual and concurrent
enrollment policy. </span></p><p><span>“We had a couple of concerns
related to the policy that was written originally,” explained Chip
McGair, the district’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)
director. </span></p><p><span>When the policy was adopted in 2015, the
exact model policy was apparently adopted, McGair said. There are a
couple areas where McGair said he’d like to make modifications. For
example, policy language was tweaked to allow any student in the
district—not only high schoolers—to enroll in a concurrent enrollment
course. </span></p><p><span>“We didn’t want to block a student who’s that advanced from being able to take a course like that,” he said. </span></p><p><span>Language was also altered to allow just students who are either juniors or seniors to enroll in dual-enrollment at a university.</span></p><p><span>The next school committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 5.</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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