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As the list of local governing boards condemning the construction and operation of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Gilroy grows, the Mountain View Whisman School District has also joined the effort.
The school board voted 1-4 Aug. 20 in support of a resolution presented by Superintendent Jeffrey Baier to officially oppose an ICE facility near the southern end of Santa Clara County. The facility’s construction was temporarily paused after the state of California and Santa Clara County challenged the federal government over it.
The county Board of Education and Santa Clara County School Board Association requested the district join them, and a number of other school districts within the county, in condemning the local ICE facility, Baier said. School districts – including the Palo Alto Unified School District and San Jose’s Alum Rock Union and Franklin-McKinley districts – have also condemned the facility.
Although located roughly 45 miles south of Mountain View, Baier said the resolution was needed because the district has “a large number of families and students who this causes a great deal of consternation and anxiety.”
Trustee Bill Lambert – the lone dissenter – said he voted against the resolution because the board is elected to protect children, not to make political statements. In the past, he said the board has voted on policies that shield district children from ICE school visits without a signed warrant and safeguard student records, but condemning a facility so far from Mountain View was not trustees’ concern.
“We have no jurisdiction over that area, we have no operational control of what happens there,” Lambert told his fellow trustees. “It’s outside the scope of what we should be doing.”
Trustee Devon Conley said she respected Lambert’s position but challenged his claim that pushing against the facility wasn’t the district’s responsibility.
“When a facility like this goes in, and the capacity for ICE enforcement, detention and deportations is increased exponentially,” Conley said. “Regionally, it can and will have a direct impact on our children.”
However, Lambert said he would support a resolution reaffirming the district’s ICE response, but could not support one that he thinks could potentially make the district a target. Conley argued that collective action is what keeps the districts safe.
“You become a target if you stand alone for the right thing,” Conley said. “When you take collective action, you protect each other and you protect your community, together.”
Board President Charles DiFazio, who served on the Board Policy Committee that helped develop the district’s ICE guidelines, said the resolution would reassure students and families in the district that it stands by its position.
“Part of our job is to make sure that all of our students and families feel safe here and like they can bring their kids to school,” he said during the meeting.
Mountain View Whisman has joined the city of Mountain View in its stance. The city formally opposed plans for the Gilroy ICE detention facility in June and passed a policy banning ICE’s use of city-owned property.
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