An effort by a Warren County high school principal to help notify students about an upcoming deadline for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, caused one parent to complain about 'profiling.'
It's one example of how schools are struggling to navigate the sensitive territory related to race and immigration.
Warren County Public Schools received a notice from the Migrant Legal Action Program asking them to remind students about the Oct. 5 deadline to apply to renew their DACA status. Without the approved status, they could be deported.
The principal at Warren East High School felt she was taking an extra step to help students by calling them by name over the loudspeaker between classes, so she could meet with them to give them the information.
One parent complained that her child was being 'profiled.' That student is a citizen born in the U.S.
School Superintendent Rob Clayton said the students were called partly based on a statewide public school management system called Infinite Campus.
"This has nothing to do with their names. It has to do with on Infinite Campus they labeled themselves as Latino, just as all students are required to complete that paperwork.”
Clayton said the district wanted to get the information out to students quickly due to the deadline and because some families have previously asked for help with a variety of forms.
“It did go as a first step to all students who were identified as Latino. The reason for that being the first step is we do have confirmation that some of our students that have asked for assistance, actually all of them, were Latino.”
Clayton says district schools varied as to how they distributed the DACA deadline information.
Clayton says the school district will also be reaching out to students who are not Latino and may also be impacted by the DACA deadline.
