Two Rivers Blog

Since opening doors in 2004, Two Rivers has aligned its practices to our mission: To nurture a diverse group of students to become lifelong, active participants in their own education, develop a sense of self and community, and become responsible and compassionate members of society. The core value “Give Access” leads the organization to strongly support a safe, inclusive education for all students, regardless of immigration status. It is Two Rivers policy that staff never ask the immigration status nor citizenship of students or their families.

Under the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), schools do not allow access to student educational records without either (1) written authorization granted by the parent/guardian or adult student, or (2) a court order compelling access to the information.

Two Rivers staff must not allow any third party access to a school site without permission of a network administrator to include the Executive Director (or Interim Executive Director), Chief of Staff, or Director of Operations. Two Rivers staff must contact a network administrator immediately if (1) they are approached by an ICE agent, (2) observe an ICE agent near school property or speaking to any students, or (3) an ICE agent attempts to gain access to the school.

All staff must process requests by immigration law enforcement agents to enter the school site or obtain student data as follows:

1. Request identification from the officers and copy down the name and badge number/id number;
2. Request a judicial warrant;
   1. If no warrant is presented, request the grounds for access, make notes, and send to the Executive Director, Chief of Staff, or Director of Operations;
   2. If a proper warrant is presented, immediately copy, scan, and send it to the Executive Director, Chief of Staff, or Director of Operations for verification before the warrant is executed;
   3. A warrant can only be verified by the ED, CoS, or DoO in conjunction with legal expertise of the Board, PCSB, or outside legal counsel. The ICE agent should not be allowed access to school property or records until after warrant has been verified.
3. Request and retain notes of the names of the students and the reasons for the request;
   1. If school site personnel have not yet contacted the student’s parents or guardians, the network administrator should instruct the principal, assistant principal, or Director of Student Services to do so;
   2. Staff members should not provide any student information to the agent (e.g. schedules) and should minimize as much as possible oral communications with the agent until the ED, CoS, DoO, or legal counsel arrives.
4. Provide the agents with a copy of this Policy;
5. Request the agent’s contact information; and
6. Advise the agents you are required to complete these steps and obtain approval from the Executive Director, Chief of Staff, or Director of Operations prior to allowing them access to any school site or student data.

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Thank you to Capital City Public Charter School for helping us craft the above policy.