South County Teacher United – a group consisting of all the different educational associations in the South Bay—held a Civic Academy on Sept. 6 to develop a community based plan on how to create safe havens and protect their undocumented students.
The event was held days after Trump ended the federal goverment’s deferred action on childhood arrivals policy, DACA.
“As educators, we’re uniquely placed in our community,” said Hilltop High School teacher Louise Williamson. “We are literally on the front lines facing the people who are affected by these changes in policy, and changes in enforcement and changes in procedure. We see it in our classrooms everyday. And not only do we see it, we have seen that our students are being affected negatively, that some of them are fearful that it can have an active effect in their education.”
While South County school districts have passed Safe Heaven resolutions, teachers will begin their own ASK campaign, determining how they can act on proposed safe zones. Teachers will ask students and school and district officials for input then create a plan from there.
Williamson said her job as a teacher becomes affected when undocumented students become fearful that teachers might have to report them. She said she has to develop trust with the students.
Williamson said with recent policy changes in immigration, she now has to think about some students that may have some obstacles in applying for college or financial aid.
“I have to have the trust of my students to be able to have conversations about why they may not want to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, which gives personal information to the government,” she said.
