Procedure or Policy? Public Schools Officials Address ICE Memo After Comments from Concerned Citizens and Teachers Union President

For nearly a year, the Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative (GINI) has been attempting to get the Alachua County School Board (SBAC) to respond to their concerns regarding the school district’s memo on ICE.

The memo doesn’t require ICE agents to present a signed judicial warrant, which GINI wants to change.

Email records show that last year, Alachua County Public Schools Communications Director Jackie Johnson drafted a "generic response" to send to concerned citizens contacting them about the memo.

On January 20, GINI inched closer to their goal after Member Sarah Rockwell addressed the memo following comments from members of the public and the president of the teachers’ union (Alachua County Education Association).

As they have at prior meetings, the board heard concerns about the ICE memo during public comment.

Amy Schwarzer criticized the board for not requiring agents to present identification or a judicial warrant. She said, “I don’t know why this has not been addressed. We’ve been trying to change this policy since February; it’s not appearing on the agendas, it’s not getting comment from the board. I don’t know why, because this school board has weathered a lot... Y’all have stood up for a lot of things over the past five years. I’m not understanding if this is something that has been advised by counsel or if this is about the fact Alachua County has been on the hot seat multiple times in this state… Our silence is not going to keep our children safe… If it’s the difference between keeping you all safe from the state coming after you and the children… I choose the children.”

The board next heard from Wendy Wood, who said, “We’ve seen the atrocities happening across our country. From California, to Oregon, to Illinois when they rappelled down into an apartment building and [dragged] people out who were just trying to live. They beat them, took them away, and separated families—we do not wanna see that in our schools. Nobody should be subjected to that. Silence is violence. If you are not choosing to make a policy to protect our children [then] you are choosing to let these ICE agents perpetuate violence upon our students.”

Wood said anyone claiming to be an ICE agent needs to produce identification and a judicial warrant. She said the U.S. government is not vetting ICE agents and that they could have criminal records.

Tina Daze brought up the shooting and death of Renne Good and said it’s not “if” but “when” regarding ICE agents coming into schools. “What are y’all gonna do to protect these kids?” Daze asked.

Daze said that ICE agents aren’t going through proper training, saying half of them “don’t even know how to use a gun,” adding that they “could be sexual molesters.” She said many kids will act to protect their friends and that if something happens, the blood is on the board member’s hands.

Towards the end of the meeting, board members heard from Carmen Ward, president of the Alachua County Education Association.

Ward said, “I wanna acknowledge the people that spoke about our ICE policy and how it is not—it’s not appropriate because it does not cover what it needs to cover… I’m gonna continue to remind our district that we can do better when it comes to our ICE procedure… We do not have a procedure that is requiring appropriate documentation from people that come into our schools. We need to make some changes, and it seems there is silence around this issue from the board and the superintendent. It’s clear that the values of our community are to protect all students… I would like to see that change happen."

Rockwell responded to Ward a few moments later, saying she “wanted to mention the ICE policy” and that she’s had multiple conversations with Superintendent Kamela Patton and School Board Attorney David Delaney about it.

Rockwell said one of her biggest concerns is the “lack of requiring ID” and said there are “conflicting messages” coming from the state.

“We have statutory requirements around school security,” Rockwell said. “If we were to allow anyone not wearing an ICE vest past our sally port entry without appropriate identification, we would be in serious, serious trouble.”

Rockwell said the week prior to the board meeting, she had a one-on-one meeting with Patton. Patton told Rockwell the legal team planned to meet again this week to “work on revisions” regarding the ICE memo.

Rockwell, who moments ago referred to the memo as a “policy,” then stated, “I also wanna make it clear that is not policy; this is a procedural document—it’s guidance. It was not something the board helped draft or vote on. It did not come through rule-making.”

The ICE memo tells district employees that not complying with “directives from law enforcement officers” may “result in legal consequences, including arrest for tampering with, interfering with or obstructing a law enforcement investigation or law enforcement official."

Rockwell said, “I’m getting to the point with this ICE procedure where if we do not have guidance that I feel like is protecting our students in our schools, I will speak with Mr. Delaney and legal about drafting it as policy and bringing it through rule-making. I don’t think that’s a great idea. I think that we need to be able to be nimble and responsive to changes, and that is much more able to be done with a procedure than a policy, but if I don’t feel like our procedures are following state statutes with regards to school safety and security, then I will bring that through as rule-making.”

Board Member Tina Certain said, “policy takes longer to implement, so we need to get something that’s done to offer some guidance a little bit quicker than what we have.” She brought up drafting a resolution.

Delaney said there is a “serious misperception in the community that federal agents are just being invited on to campus no questions asked and are just leaving with students. There are no instances of that occurring that have been reported to this district. I’m not saying we’re gonna wait for it to happen and then respond to it after the fact."

Certain said she “doesn’t want this to just keep dragging on” and that they should give themselves a deadline.

Patton said she saw Alachua County Sheriff Chad Scott at the Martin Luther King Gala event and that she “had a nice conversation to tell him we’re gonna talk internally—we need to come back around because he has to be part of that equation as the ICE goes through… "

Patton said she also saw Gainesville Police Department Chief Nelson Moya and “had a chat with him to say this is our order, we’ll talk internally, then we’ll get with the sheriff, and we’ll get back again with the group with all the chiefs from the areas just to ensure it’s not just us; it’s that all the different police departments are on the same page.”