Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt made a small clarifying addendum to a message released last month about how the school division handles immigration concerns.
Last month, Kay-Wyatt sent a letter to community members saying all children have a right to attend ACPS schools regardless of the immigration status of the students or their families. Kay-Wyatt also noted, though, that ACPS “is obligated to comply with all lawful orders and warrants from any law enforcement entity, including ICE.”
At a School Board meeting last week, Kay-Wyatt said warrants served will be carefully examined by the school’s legal division.
“Specifically, we had some members of community who have expressed concerns about the types of warrants that may be issued and how ACPS will comply with them,” Kay-Wyatt said. “Whenever our principals or teachers receive a legal document they are not familiar with, regardless of the circumstances, that… is referred to our school legal division council.”
Kay-Wyatt said ACPS’ legal team will review the documents before any action can be taken.
“Before they take any action, we will definitely take steps to review all of those documents and we will continue that practice into the foreseeable future,” Kay-Wyatt said.
ICE raids have already hit Northern Virginia, with a raid recently in Fairfax County just south of Alexandria. Fairfax County Public Schools leadership also issued a rebuke of ICE activities in schools “to the fullest extent allowable by law.”
