SWCC Education Committee Minutes on Zoom 2025-01-22

The Education Committee of the SW Common Council

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

6-7:30 pm at

For next meeting Zoom Link Contact: John Boutet at jboutet@frontiernet.net

PDF of Minutes: SWCC Education Committee Minutes 2025-01-22.pdf

Attendance:

Jack Best Rotary SouthWest, jackbest@rochester.rr.com

John Boutet SWCC Education Committee Chair, 328-4271, jboutet@frontiernet.net

Eleanor Coleman Rotary SW, CCFCS YouthBuild, 224-5119, eleanor.coleman@gmail.com

John Curran REACH, St. Monica’s, WFM, jecurran@rochester.rr.com

Dan DeMarle Rotary SW, 730-8888, dandemarle@rochester.twcbc.com

Joanie Fayber Corn Hill Neighborhood Assn, School #3, joanie.fraver@gmail.com

Thomas Green tgreen707@yahoo.com

Lee Loomis School #10 Volunteer Tutor, leeloomis46@gmail.com

Candice Lucas ULR, clucas@ulr.org

Amorette Miller RCSD Staffing director (teachers, TA’s); amorette.miller@rcsdk12.org

Paul Minor Rotary NW, City Roots, School #54,

Reyita Perez RCSD, reyita.perez@rcsdk12.org

Candice Rubin RCSD, Candice .rubin@rcsdk12.org

Robert Sandgrund School w/o Walls, Rotary NW, 777-0232, rsandgrund@hotmail.com

Donna Sarnacki Rotary SW, dsarnacki@hotmail.com

Chojy Shroeder RCSD Retired, chojy.schroeder@gmail.com

Janet Siegel RCSD Teacher, janet.siegel@rcsdk12.org

Carmen Torres The Children’s Agenda, Parent Leadership

Stacy Youst School W/O Walls, 585 353-8889, srobynyoust@gmail.com

Welcome & Introduction

Primary Focus: Concerns About Immigration Changes, i.e. ICE

Traditional places of sanctuary (churches, schools, etc) will not be honored.

What If ICE Comes Knocking On Our School Doors?

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/07/us/immigration-deportations-ice-schools.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nU4._Sol.JlaEZkAxLH_A&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&tgrp=off

I am sharing a fantastic place for us to being ensuring our schools, in this case primarily the RCSD, has a plan if ICE shows up at our schools.

1. Protect our children with the Safe Schools for Every Student toolkit: Trump’s decision to strip "sensitive locations" protections has left schoolchildren vulnerable to ICE enforcement, spreading fear among immigrant families. Our new toolkit empowers local Indivisible groups to demand school boards adopt policies that keep schools safe for every student, regardless of immigration status. Adapted from the National Education Association’s Guidance on Immigration Issues, this toolkit includes actionable steps, legal insights, model policies, and outreach materials to help communities stand strong and ensure every child can learn without fear.

Daniel J. DeMarle, Ph.D. http://www.demarleinc.com

Immigration Toolkit: https://www.nyic.org/resources-training/kyr/ Red Card: https://www.ilrc.org/red-cards-tarjetas-rojas All people in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have certain rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution. The ILRC’s Red Cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home. Quick recap
The meeting involved discussions about various issues affecting the community, including immigration policies, education, and the role of local organizations in addressing these challenges. The participants also discussed the importance of understanding one's rights and the need for a unified community response to support immigrants and refugees. Plans were made for further collaboration and communication among the group members to address these issues and work towards positive change.
Next steps
• Share information on knowing your rights and what allies can do to help potential victims of immigration enforcement.
• Send out meeting notes.
• Send the New York State Community Toolkit PDF to Eleanor for distribution to the group. (Link to Toolkit is above.)
• Keep the group updated on efforts to get the New York Immigration Coalition to give a presentation in Rochester.
• Share updates from the upcoming meeting with the Rochester City School District and city officials on Monday.
• Continue to network and coordinate efforts among various organizations to support immigrants and refugees.
• Contact ABC and the New Americans program to find out what they are doing regarding immigration issues. (Paul Minor)
• Consider attending local Democratic Committee designation meetings to ask questions about immigration policies.
• Add Thomas Green and Amorette Miller to the mailing list for future communications.
• Share links to upcoming designation meetings from the Monroe County Democratic Committee website with the group.
• Monitor developments in the coming days regarding immigration-related issues.
• Be prepared for a potential emergency meeting before the next scheduled monthly meeting.
Other Notes: ICE warrants are administrative, not legal. You do not have to allow ICE in your home or car. If they bring police along, it becomes a legal warrant and must be honored. Rochester 100 miles from the border; we are an open market Important to be cautious about how we communicate and what information is made public. Obama quietly deported 400,000 each year. DJT deported a third of what Obama deported. Contact IBERO Work in partnership and collaboration, not silos.