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Just as they did during Donald Trump’s first term, US schools are having to protect their students from both the hateful policies of the government and the casual bigotry and cruelty of Trump supporters (and their kids) who want to put anyone not white and Christian nationalist in their place.
Now that Trump is dusting off the New Cruelty for another run, and pumping it full of steroids, we’re all going to have to support our schools and our democracy all over again.
In Chicago, teachers, parents, community members, and even a few electeds took part in “walk-in” rallies aimed at showing support for the young people Trump and his administration have targeted with federal policy, including undocumented kids and LGBTQ+ young people, and also to support accurate teaching about American history and race. But well beyond that, schools and teachers in Chicago are preparing to actively protect their students from what Trump has planned, as this heartbreaking / inspiring article by educator and podcaster Kelly Hayes explains.
In an interview with Hayes, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates explained that teachers in the district have been getting ready for the possible return of Trump since well before the election. They remember how kids from some neighborhoods stopped coming to school back then, and how they teamed up with community groups to make schools safe.
That work has continued now that Trump’s “mass deportation” scheme is rolling out, with the union joining community activists in holding “Know Your Rights” trainings to prepare families for that knock on the door and how to respond — if at all. Chicago is very much still a sanctuary city, and that’s integral to the teachers union and its work to help make classrooms safe places for kids from undocumented families, especially now that Trump has rolled back policies that once limited ICE raids at schools, hospitals, and churches.
Chicago’s doing something right, for sure. Trump “border czar” Tom Homan has taken to complaining that people in the city are too “well educated” on their rights, making rolling them up in raids more difficult. The sick fuck recently griped on Fox News, “They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it ‘how to escape arrest,’” and all decent people laughed and jeered at the frustrated Deportation Gestapo man.
Hayes also spoke with Chicago teacher and artist Silvia Gonzalez, who said that schools and community groups need to collaborate on letting students know that “At the end of the day, we protect our students, period.” That includes teachers attending those “Know Your Rights” workshops too, and school staff being ready to deal with federal agents if they show up and want to come on school grounds.
Gonzalez urges educators around the country to draft scripts and rehearse for tense moments. “Be prepared to tell government agents, ‘We do not consent to the entry of immigration and customs enforcement. We do not consent to entry and we are not authorized to review court orders. As a school, we have the right to deny entry until legal counsel arrives. Please wait outside while the school administration contacts legal counsel.’”
The Chicago Teachers Union has also developed a “Sanctuary Toolkit” to help schools create sanctuary teams. Such teams establish procedures for handling various scenarios, with clear tasks for members, so teachers and administrators can practice for what they’ll do if ICE shows up and demands access to the school, or if ICE is already on school grounds. It’s a goddamn shame that such a thing is necessary in our Affrighted States Of Trumpmerica, but thank Crom it exists and can be adapted for educators anywhere.
In Pennsylvania’s Juniata County, a school bus driver got it in his head that he oughta let little children know that Donald Trump is the boss now, so there’ll be no more of this “diversity” aboard the bus under the New Regime.
An alert kiddo snapped a photo, and the kiddo’s alert parent then alerted the media to the handmade sign the racist fuck-knuckle taped above the windshield: “OUT OF RESPECT TO ENGLISH ONLY STUDENTS, THERE WILL BE NO SPEAKING SPANISH ON THIS BUS!” Just to make it sound all formal and shit, the racist bus driver attributed the order to “OWNER/MANAGEMENT,” a detail that didn’t go over well with Rohrer Bus, the company whose name is displayed on the sides of Juniata County’s school buses.
The company issued a statement saying that while the bus is “owned and operated by a separate entity” that is not Rohrer, that note was not at all approved or placed by Rohrer. What’s more, the statement said,
As Juniata County School District’s transportation management partner, we have been working closely with District officials to swiftly investigate. As a precautionary measure, we have suspended the transportation provider involved pending the outcome of the investigation.
Yr Wonkette is just going to speculate that this is the sort of thing that can happen when a school district and a bus company hit on some kind of scheme involving having drivers sort-of “own and operate” buses as a way of making them not employees, but “independent contractors” for tax and maybe insurance purposes. We have not actually looked into it, but it sure smells that way. Hey, it’s my bus, my rules! the schmuck may have thought.
The Washington Post notes that Juniata County has a population of 23,049, of whom 93 percent identify themselves as white and four percent as Hispanic or Latino, per the National Center for Education Statistics. As to the delicate sensibilities of ENGLISH ONLY STUDENTS, the stats indicate that 91 percent of school-age kids speak only English at home, so those awful other children speaking not-English to each other were surely an enormous burden for the others. As of yet, the bus driver hasn’t yet appeared on Fox News or been appointed to Trump’s Cabinet.
The Alice Independent School District (Motto: “A School District Called Alice”) in south Texas posted a letter to parents warning that US Border Patrol Agents might be stopping school buses to check kids’ immigration status. The letter advised that travel for extracurricular activities might be interrupted for such spot checks — remember, Trump did say schools are fair game now! — so please make sure your kiddo has their papers with them if they have papers showing they’re in the US legally, either by legal residency or accident of birth. Per the Texas Tribune, Crom bless nonprofit journalism:
“We want to bring to your attention an important matter regarding student travel for extracurricular activities, including sports, band, and other co-curricular events,” Superintendent Anysia Trevino wrote in the letter. “We have received information that U.S. Border Patrol agents may be boarding school buses at highway checkpoints in and out of the Valley to question students about their citizenship status.”
Trevino added that if a student does not have identification or other documents that show a pupil is in the country legally, “they may be removed from the bus, detained, and possibly deported.” It also warns that if students lie about their immigration status, they may not get U.S. citizenship in the future.
The letter was posted to the district’s website and Facebook page, but was later taken down, although the district hasn’t told the Texas Tribune what prompted either. The letter added that the district is considering having all buses on extracurricular trips be chaperoned by an administrator driving a separate vehicle, so that if a student is detained, that chaperone “would be able to stay with the student while the rest of the group continues their journey.” We admire the restraint of Superintendent Trevino in not using the phrase “dragged from the bus by jackbooted fascists.” We certainly couldn’t help thinking that.
Now don’t you go worryin’ your little woke heads none, because on “Fox & Friends” this morning, US Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks reassured everyone that his agents aren’t going to “target school buses and children … It’s absurd.” And if you can’t trust the head of the Border Patrol under Donald Trump, then you’re really a cynic, aren’t you?
The school district’s roughly 4,500 students are 92 percent Hispanic, so we can see why administrators might be a little concerned. Not that there’s anything to worry about if you are carrying your papers and doing nothing wrong and really really lucky about the mood any given Border Patrol agent might be in on any given day.
Happy school days, kids! Make lots of memories! Know your rights and don’t say anything until you have a lawyer!
OPEN THREAD.
[Organizing my Thoughts / PennLive / Texas Tribune / DC Comics blog]
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