Earlier this month, the Alvord Unified School District Board of Education ratified an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California to provide presentations to students and families as well as provide legal information at district events through information fairs for the next two school years.
“It came from a lot of concerns from parents, the community and teachers that, because of the new administration, immigration enforcement could happen at schools,” Brenda Rosas, Equal Justice Work Fellow with the Education Equity Project at the ACLU of SoCal, said of the agreement. “So schools and students wanted to be best prepared on how to address those concerns and also, in case of any immigration enforcement at schools, what steps they could take to protect their students and their families.”
Rosas said it started at Norte Vista High School where the ACLU put on a series of six “Know Your Rights,” presentations in late January. Those presentations focused on the rights people stopped or detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have, including their right to remain silent, their right to see a search warrant signed by a judge before consenting to a search and their right to an attorney.
“About 400 students and families were able to get that presentation, and then the district heard about it, and they were really interested,” Rosas said.
Norte Vista Principal Jason Marques did not respond to The Riverside Record for a request for comment before publication.
But the relationship between the district and the ACLU started when Hillcrest High School senior Jillian Garcia introduced Rosas to a district counselor who put Rosas in touch with district staff who could help get the presentations scheduled.
Garcia, who is a member of the ACLU’s Youth Liberty Squad, said she wanted to bring the presentations to her community because so much of the work supporting immigrant communities has been focused on coastal regions and not in the Inland Empire.
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“I just think that bringing these presentations to our school community will make students feel more safe, especially at Alvord, because we are not a sanctuary district,” Garcia said. “I just think that these presentations are just so important, because we cannot be living in fear constantly.”
For students who want to bring presentations like this to their district, Garcia said they should visit MySchoolMyRights.com, a website set up by the ACLU of SoCal to educate California students about their rights, and get involved in the ACLU SoCal’s Youth Liberty Squad.
“They have really, really great resources on the rights of immigrant students and the rights of students in the Inland Empire,” she said. “They have tons and tons of resources to share this information, and at the Youth Liberty Squad at the ACLU of SoCal’s headquarters, we’re actually starting to learn how students can give out these presentations, so that’s currently underway.”
Both Garcia and Rosas said there had not been any pushback, noting that everyone at the district has been really supportive of the effort. Since February, the district has promoted similar events in the community on its public Instagram account.
“I just really hope that we can expand it,” Rosas said. “My project is focused on the Inland Empire, so we hope that other districts and schools hear about it and they partner with us, so we can spread this knowledge and power throughout different school districts across the Inland Empire.”
Superintendent Resma Byrne, whose departure from the district was recently announced, declined to comment on the agreement. Board President Georgina Ramirez did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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