Santa Rosa schools protect undocumented students--PD

[Shepherd]

Part of the role of government and people of good faith is to protect those most threatened, in my opinion. Fortunately, the Santa Rosa City Schools voted unanimously to declare their distinct a "safe haven," according to the PD article below. It is time for the Sebastopol City Council and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to also do so.


Santa Rosa school board votes to protect undocumented students
CHRISTI WARREN, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | January 14, 2017, 6:17PM

The trustees overseeing Santa Rosa City Schools voted unanimously last week to declare the district a “safe haven” for immigrant families, meaning no federal immigration officers will be allowed on campus without the written approval of district Superintendent Diann Kitamura.

The move on Wednesday has been in the works since the day after the November election, said Jenni Klose, the board president, who said it was prompted by fears and anxiety generated by President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign trail promises to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

“There were first-graders telling their teacher that they were afraid that if Trump were elected, they would be, or their parents would be, taken away,” Klose said. “They wondered why someone running for president hated Mexicans like them, and that anxiety has been pretty widespread.”

The Santa Rosa City Schools district, the largest in Sonoma County, is the first local district known to have voted on such a resolution, according to the county Office of Education. SCOE itself is considering something similar for its special and alternative education programs.

Since the election, many districts throughout California have approved “safe haven” resolutions, including Los Angeles Unified School District — the state’s largest — and Sacramento Unified School District. The move is largely symbolic, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials consider schools “sensitive” sites, and so don’t carry out raids on campus, according to a November report in the Los Angeles Times.

Continues here.