Model Safe Schools Policy for vt
Courtesy of the Education Justice Coalition
We need to ensure schools remain safe places for all students. As Trump ramps up his plans for mass deportation, enshrining our schools as sanctuary schools is a key to ensuring immigrant students feel safe at school. The Education Justice Coalition of Vermont has partnered with multiple Vermont immigration rights organizations and individual advocates, including VAAP, to create an updated Sanctuary School Model Policy. We are encouraging students, educators, school support staff, families and community members to ban together to pass this policy! Feel free to adapt and use this model Sanctuary Schools Slidedeck for your own community presentations.
What the Policy Does and why we need it
This policy will protect the rights and well being of immigrant students by:
1) Limiting information sharing to ICE.
2) Restricting ICE access to school campuses.
3) Prohibiting any school staff from collaborating with ICE.
4) Ensuring schools provide resources and information for immigrant students and families.
This policy will protect the rights and well being of ALL students and communities because:"
1) Communities are safer when districts communicate clearly that sending immigrant students to school, or dropping students at school if you are an immigrant, does not trigger a risk of ICE enforcement.
2) Schools teach better when districts are clear about how to respond to requests for ICE cooperation or ICE presence, and so staff can stay focused on creating a safe and effective learning environment for all.
3) Students and families’ legal rights are more likely to be respected when there is clear guidance to school staff in writing about what they should do, and when there is a clear metric for accountability in the event of a staff person’s willful noncompliance.
4) Schools and communities are less burdened when districts clearly prescribe a limited script and action steps for school staff in the event of contact by or with ICE.
ICE “Sensitive Areas” Immigration Enforcement Policy Recission
“Sensitive Area” Immigration Enforcement Ban Expected to be Rescinded
From the Vermont Principals Association: “The incoming Trump administration, by use of executive order, is expected to rescind the existing policy banning immigration enforcement in “sensitive areas” such as schools, courthouses, hospitals, government buildings, and churches shortly after taking office. As a result, school leaders should consider contacting their school districts’ legal counsel in coordination with their superintendent about their students’ and staff’s rights and their responsibilities and protocols as administrators in the event that immigration officers visit their schools. Please note that the VPA is expecting additional guidance and language from the VT-Agency of Education possibly as soon as later today (1/17/25). In addition to that anticipated guidance from the AOE, below are some related Vermont articles and national level resources.
US-Department of Education Letter from 1/8/25 & Related Resources
“What if ICE shows up at school?” (VTDigger Op-Ed, 1/10/25)
Winooski to consider ‘sanctuary school’ policy, (VTDigger 1/3/25)
Governor Scott letter regarding related action on DACA in 2017.”
Resources to support the process
Next week, we’ll launch a whole slate of resources to support this work. For now we’ll share some key resources to help you get started:
Sanctuary Schools Toolkit: A guide for parents students and stakeholders in local school districts and NEA guide for advocating for great public schools - For folks organizing to pass a sanctuary schools policy
Vermont Language Justice Project Know Your Rights videos - To share widely with all students and families
School Crisis Playbook: Deportation Response - For school leaders working to implement policy
American Federation of Teachers Deportation Defense Guide - For educators and school support staff wanting to prepare themselves (a brief guide!)
You can see Winooski in the news here and here, who is working to pass a sanctuary schools model policy.
Vermont Agency of Education statewide guidance to superintendents January 2025.
2024-25 Schools in Crisis Playbook for download.
Speaking of legal rights, what legal rights are at stake?
Together with the ACLU VT and Sanctuary Schools co-organizers, VAAP reiterates that, as of writing, all Vermont school students have rights to privacy in schools (FERPA and HIPAA) as well as the right to privacy from unreasonable search and seize by the government, including by ICE (Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution).
A frequently asked question is whether ICE can enter schools to effectuate arrests even in the absence of possessing a judicially executed warrant, and how expected changes to the ICE Sensitive Locations Policy might interact with Fourth Amendment law. The following general legal information relevant to this question does not constitute legal advice:
In consultation with ACLU VT, VAAP agrees that, as of writing, the Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement, including ICE, to have a judicial warrant—not just an administrative one—to conduct searches in public schools.
The landmark case New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) confirms that students in public schools are protected by the Fourth Amendment. While school officials have some limited exceptions, law enforcement still needs probable cause or a warrant, just as in other situations.
However, if school officials collaborate with ICE to allow searches, this could bypass these protections and raise serious concerns. In public schools, such collaboration might violate Plyler v. Doe by effectively excluding undocumented students from their right to education.
For private schools, the rules are similar—ICE generally needs a warrant. Plyler wouldn’t apply since private schools are not state actors, but they also have a business interest in not alienating tuition-paying students by cooperating with ICE.
About the Education Justice Coalition
The Education Coalition of Vermont promotes justice for all students in the Vermont education system through organizing, building community power, and developing and promoting ethnic studies and social justice curriculum and pedagogy. Visit their website and scroll down to sign up for their newsletter; join them at upcoming educational events; or ask them to promote your event using this form; Are you an educator of color? Join the Vermont Educators of Color Association.
Adopt this policy in your community
Want to sign on to the Model Policy and help ensure the model policy’s adoption across Vermont school districts? Contact the Education Justice Coalition of Vermont! Learn more about local sanctuary movements here and in VAAP’s community-facing resource library here.
