The Southern Poverty Law Center of Louisiana and other advocacy groups are asking school leaders to offer remote learning and excuse absences while federal agents are in the region for an immigration enforcement sweep.
The letter was sent to leaders in Jefferson, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Ascension, St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes, as well as to the superintendent of the state’s Recovery School District, which operates three schools in Baton Rouge.
Attendance in Jefferson Parish, which has the largest Hispanic population of any Louisiana school district, dropped after enforcement ramped up following Thanksgiving.
Several charter networks in New Orleans have also reported higher absenteeism this month.
“There’s a way to creatively respond to this emergency,” said Neil Ranu, an attorney with the SPLC. “We are trying to point out to districts, ‘Look, your hands are not tied.’”
Ranu said immigrant families are making difficult choices, and schools should recognize that.
“At many schools, the school community and the schools themselves have made a tremendous effort in providing support to their students,” he said. “What we're asking for now is the policymakers to build on that momentum and to be creative themselves.”
School districts in the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas — where Customs and Border Protection agents have focused sweeps so far — haven’t announced accommodations for families.
Educators have stressed that school is the safest place for children and that they don’t want kids to miss out on learning, meals and other services.
Chicago’s public schools shared the same message with families — and did not offer virtual learning — when federal officials targeted the city earlier this year.
The letter from Louisiana groups argues that districts can classify absences “due to the fear of adverse action by federal agents” as “exempted, excused absences.”
Under that definition, those days wouldn’t count toward truancy counts, and students would have the right to make up missed time.
The only applicable state law requires districts to maintain “continuous learning” plans, specifically when schools are closed.
Ted Beasley, a spokesperson for Louisiana’s Department of Education, said in an email that “whether and how to use those plans,” including in response to immigration concerns, is a local decision.
“That’s not an area where our agency would issue guidance,” he said
New Orleans Public Radio reached out to the six superintendents the letter was addressed to, but had not heard back from any of them as of Monday.
Michelle Aguirre, with LA Voz de la Comunidad, a group that supports the Latino community in the greater New Orleans area, is helping parents who are afraid to leave the house get their children to school.
But she said some families can’t be convinced. They won’t send their children until federal agents leave.
“What will the school system do to help?” she asked.
Ranu, with the SPLC, said his organization and the letter’s other authors don’t want students and families to face consequences “because of a situation that is not of their own making.”
“This is not a situation where families are being habitually tardy or absent, due to negligence or not caring about education,” he said. “It's quite the opposite.”
