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In an emotional discussion, Chicago school board members said district families are living in fear because of increasingly aggressive federal immigration raids, and some urged the district to offer virtual learning to immigrant students.
At the board’s regular October meeting, a Chicago Teachers Union leader and several board members aligned with the union called for virtual learning, along with other steps to address increased immigration enforcement in the city. When district CEO Macquline King noted that the district cannot shift to remote learning without an emergency declaration from the state’s governor, board member Emma Lozano urged district leaders to consider approaching Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration about doing so.
“It is an emergency, period,” Lozano said, her voice breaking. “This is an emergency right now.”
She added, “We need to work this out because our children are totally frightened they’ll come home and not find their parents there.”
The district, which has already launched an around-the-clock command center to respond to enforcement-related concerns, is meeting twice every day to triage requests for help from schools and is fielding calls until late at night, said King.
District officials said Thursday that attendance at the start of this school year overall remains on par with the same period last year, though there have been slight dips of 1% or less for Latino students and English learners. Data obtained by Chalkbeat for the first month of the year showed larger dips in some schools in predominantly Latino neighborhoods.
Destiny Singleton, the board’s honorary student member, broke down in tears as she spoke about how students are alerting each other about Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence near schools in text chains and on social media.
“I feel we shouldn’t have to do this because we are children,” she said. “We are terrified.”
In recent weeks, during “Operation Midway Blitz,” Chicago has been at the center of stepped-up raids by immigration enforcement agents and increasingly confrontational tactics, including an instance when agents used tear gas in the vicinity of an elementary school and another where heavily armed agents stormed a South Side apartment building.
While the Thursday meeting was underway, Juarez High School’s principal sent a letter to families to say that a member of that school community had been detained by immigration agents in a nearby neighborhood. It was not clear from the letter who was detained.
Board members on Thursday also called on the district to provide more signage for schools and to explore allowing earlier school dropoffs and the opportunity for families concerned about running into immigration agents to return to schools after pickups. Some had raised the possibility of virtual learning earlier, but they pushed harder for considering it at Thursday’s meeting.
King said district and school leaders have been consumed with responding to immigration activity near schools and affecting family members and staff. She especially praised CPS principals, saying they have added the role of “school protectors” to the many responsibilities they juggle.
“CPS will remain vigilant during this time and continue to do everything it can to support our staff, families, and students,” King said.
King said schools have responded forcefully to immigration concerns, including by posting more staff around school buildings and organizing “walking school buses,” in which volunteers walk to and from school with families concerned about encounters with immigration agents. King also promised to discuss the possibility of before- and after-school access to school buildings with the district’s labor unions.
Board member Karen Zaccor said the district should heed calls for virtual learning from families fearful of taking their children to and from school.
“Increasingly, we are hearing from our families a desire to have that as an option,” she said.
King said the district’s senior leadership team has discussed that possibility, but, she stressed, “As a district, CPS does not have the authority to call remote learning.”
Board member Carlos Rivas echoed those limitations during the meeting and later said he is also concerned about how access to child care and technology would hamper a shift to virtual learning to some families.
Vicki Kurzydlo, the CTU recording secretary, also joined the call for remote learning and suggested CPS expand access to its Virtual Academy, an online school for students with significant health issues or disabilities.
“Attendance is plummeting not because parents don’t care but because they are afraid,” she said.
Average attendance across the city during the first month of school, however, was on par with the same time period last year, at about 92%, according to data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act and analyzed by Chalkbeat Chicago. There are shifts on the neighborhood level: Last school year, 20 of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods saw dips in attendance during the first month of school compared with 37 neighborhoods — or more than half — this year. Those include Pilsen and Little Village, two predominantly Latino neighborhoods that have been a focus of immigration enforcement in recent weeks; some schools there reported attendance drops of as much as 7%.
The issue of virtual learning access is sensitive for the district, which had an extended stretch in remote learning during the pandemic and struggled with offering hybrid options, in which some students log in virtually while others are in the classroom. Like other districts, Chicago is still working on addressing the academic fallout from the pandemic.
Patrick Brosnan, the head of the nonprofit Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, said he has heard some families inquire about online learning.
But, he said, “I would not say it is an overwhelming demand, nor do I know how many kids and families would take advantage of it every day if it was offered.”
He said he has seen a forceful response to increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement from the district and school leaders and staff. He and other advocates are in close touch with principals and others about sightings of ICE agents and other concerns, he said. He said some 30 schools in the nonprofit’s area have gone on lockdown recently amid enforcement activities in their vicinity.
“It’s been impressive to see the district respond,” he said. “They’ve been way ahead of other city agencies.”
Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin contributed to this report.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
