Dear Students, Parents/Guardians, and Staff Members,
In response to President Trump’s directive allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make arrests at schools and places of worship, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell recently released guidance to support schools in protecting the rights of students. The guidelines state that ICE must present parental consent or a judicial warrant to speak with a student, and schools are instructed to withhold student information from third parties—including ICE—unless a warrant signed by a judge is presented. This is meant to ensure that schools remain safe for all students.
The guidelines also address concerns about the potential use of state and local police for federal immigration enforcement. Attorney General Campbell, along with 10 other state attorneys general, released a statement affirming that local and state police cannot be commandeered for such purposes, as doing so would be unconstitutional. This statement was made in response to a memo from the Trump administration's U.S. Department of Justice appointee stating that the agency will investigate state and local governments that obstruct new immigration policies.
The guidelines aim to protect students and families from intimidation and harassment, and to provide clarity on the role of state and local law enforcement in immigration matters. Overall, the Attorney General's guidance seeks to ensure that Massachusetts remains a welcoming and inclusive community for all residents, regardless of their immigration status.
The role of school staff is to maintain school safety, limit disruption to the school, and to redirect ICE or other law enforcement to the Office of the Superintendent in any attempt to engage with students at school. If any of our schools become the subject of an ICE investigation:
Staff members will immediately contact the Office of the Superintendent, as the designated representative of the district, at the Central Office by phone (413 -776-1458) if any law enforcement agency attempts to speak with a student.
ICE or any law enforcement agency will be referred to the Office of the Superintendent or her designee (including, but not limited to the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment and/or the Director of Student Support Services) at the Central Office, located at 10 Main Street, North Adams.
The district will then contact legal counsel to review the warrant to ensure that it is a judicial court order signed by a judge and not an administrative warrant or citation order.
All North Adams Public Schools staff members are expected to treat all law enforcement representatives with a calm respectful tone and to follow the protocol outlined above.
School staff must maintain our existing policies, practices, and procedures regarding student information and access to students. In accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) and the Massachusetts Student Records Regulations, North Adams Public Schools will not release any student information without the explicit permission of the parent/guardian or a detailed warrant signed by a judge requesting information. Parents/guardians are encouraged to update their child’s contact information by contacting the school that their child(ren) attend(s).
While our schools in North Adams may not become the subject of any ICE investigations, this notification serves as a good reminder that we protect student safety by maintaining updated contact information, understanding the legal requirements for protecting student information and personal safety, and accepting the responsibility to act on behalf of our students’ families while students are in school.
Barbara Malkas, Ed.D.
Superintendent of North Adams Public Schools