Lansing school officials weigh in on immigration enforcement 

Immigration enforcement officers seeking to learn the immigration status of students and staff will not be allowed at Lansing Central School District (LCSD) facilities, district officials said at a recent LCSD Board of Education meeting. The district’s stance, district administrators say, adheres to state guidelines. 

LCSD Superintendent Chris Pettograsso’s announcement, issued at the Jan. 27 board meeting, comes on the heels of a week full of news reports detailing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cities across the country, including New York City. The raids, which national news reports say have sown fear in communities across the country, are a part of President Donald Trump’s plans to expel hundreds of thousands of people who are in America without a legal immigration status.

The full guidance referenced by Pettograsso, and devised by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), can be found below:

https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/oag-go-sed-immigration-students.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawIMrt9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHeXCaV9o3RvHUbFpc_P8u4wDwiWXut-SOA4NCV-x1RE7Z8l8y0TUAm604g_aem_wkeTy1L0lffb8fwV9IYhzg

NYSED’s guidance is mainly based on federal and state laws, including the Family Education and Privacy Rights Act of 1974 (FERPA). This law, state officials write, generally prevents the

disclosure of personally identifiable information without parental consent. 

“As applicable here, schools can only release [personally identifiable information] if it constitutes directory information or is being provided in response to a ‘judicial order or lawfully issued

Subpoena,’” the directorate states. 

Pettograsso explained this section of the guidance at the meeting. 

“Essentially, it protects our students from any agency entering our buildings for the purpose of wanting to know their immigration status in any way,” Pettograsso said. “I’ll be meeting with all of our main offices and administrators to make sure it’s very clear that nobody’s allowed in the buildings. And that there is very specific documentation that has to be provided to us, and that that would take time to review.”

The documentation referenced by Pettograsso specifically includes judge-signed warrants. 

“There’s a whole list of things, and those documents would have to come to me, and I have to have our legal representation review all of them before we would ever allow entrance into our building,” Pettograsso added. 

The state also issued the following recommendations to districts:

• Review directory information policies to ensure that they do not include information that may inadvertently disclose a student’s immigration status. This may include place of birth, nationality or passport information. Moreover, the directory information exception is permissive and may only include information that “would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed.” School districts may also wish to implement a limited directory information policy that allows an educational agency “to limit its directory designation to specific parties for specific purposes.” Furthermore, parents and students have the right to opt out of disclosure of directory information by requesting a directory information opt-out form from their school.

• Reissue the district’s annual FERPA notice informing parents and guardians (if any) of their right to opt out of the district’s directory information policy, translated into the predominant home languages of students within the district, if possible.
  
• Immediately notify parents or guardians (if any) if federal or local law enforcement officials have requested their child’s information.
  
• Review current information collected to determine whether such information could unnecessarily disclose a student’s or parent’s immigration status and whether collection of the information is required. Under state law, students and families may file complaints regarding the unauthorized disclosure of personally identifiable information with NYSED’s privacy office.

“We have to make sure we’re being very thoughtful and supporting our students, because some students may have families that are experiencing this that we’re not aware of,” Pettograsso said. 

Pettograsso noted that the district should also have good record-keeping to know whom to contact. 

“But rest assured that there won’t be any agency entering our buildings for this purpose of getting student records,” Pettograsso said.

Lansing at Large appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter): @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The February meeting of the Lansing Community Library’s Book Club for Adults is slated for Feb. 18 from 7 to 8 p.m. This month’s title is “The Water Dancer” by National Book Award– winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

“The LCL Book Club provides a warm and inclusive space for sharing your thoughts and insights,” reads a post on the library’s website. “We look forward to a lively and enriching discussion. We hope you can make it!”