VAAP talks safe schools w. VT Public

Listen to director Jill Martin Diaz speak to Lola Duffort of VT Public on why Sanctuary Schools policies are needed in Vermont. If you are curious about making sure we maintain Vermont schools as status-neutral third spaces where immigrants and nonimmigrants alike can gather and access information and resources that keep people and communities safe, contact the Education Justice Coalition of VT to learn more!

Vermont schools wonder: What if ICE comes knocking?

Vermont Public | By Lola Duffort, Published January 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM EST

“…Jill Martin Diaz, the executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, which participated in the coalition’s model policy development, said it’s important for guidance to be centralized and that staff be trained. Encounters with law enforcement are unnerving, and educators need to know what to do so that they don’t have to make their own individual judgement calls. That takes the pressure off educators, they said, and helps schools ensure staff don’t inadvertently divulge student information that federal privacy laws prevented them from sharing anyway. “Have a script, say the script, say nothing else, and refer up the line,” Martin Diaz said. There’s also a value in schools making it very clear to families that schools are a safe place they can come to get connected with community partners, including immigration attorneys, who might be able to help. "As of next week, I am not ever again, until this administration is over, going to host a publicized know-your-rights assembly for undocumented and under documented people,” Martin Diaz said. “We can't gather in public anymore.””