National School Association Tells Schools to Treat Campuses as “Safe Zones”

By Esther Wickham | Just the News

The American Association of School Administrators hosted a members-only virtual webinar last week, providing school leaders with guidance on how to respond to potential encounters with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on school campuses, according to materials exclusively obtained by The Center Square.

The webinar highlighted that public schools should function as “safe zones” for children and are not legally required to assist federal immigration enforcement without a valid judicial warrant.

The webinar, titled: Operational Readiness: A Practical Playbook for ICE Encounters in Schools, included a “tactical, minute-by-minute” playbook for superintendents and administrators detailing legal response procedures before, during and after a potential ICE incident.

Steve Smith, a former School Resource Officer and senior fellow of urban studies at the Pacific Research Institute, said school leaders should prioritize student safety and avoid elevating anxiety.

“Reaffirming someone’s rights under the Bill of Rights in terms of how encounters with law enforcement are supposed to work isn’t incompatible with safety,” Smith told The Center Square. “But if there’s a political agenda behind it, that’s where concerns arise.”

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