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The Minneapolis school system will offer families the option of remote learning for a month, officials said Friday, responding to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out in a city where tensions are high over\u00a0federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
Under the temporary plan, teachers will simultaneously deliver lessons from their classrooms to students in the classroom and at home, similar to the way many did during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Immigration enforcement in cities across the U.S. has led to dips in attendance, parents and educators say. Advocates in other cities facing federal interventions have sought remote learning options, particularly for\u00a0immigrant families\u00a0that might feel vulnerable, but Minneapolis appears to be one of the few districts to reintroduce the option of virtual learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis meets a really important need for our students who are not able to come to school right now,\u201d a Minneapolis school administrator wrote in an email to their staff late Thursday.<\/p>\n
Administrators\u2019 emails to staff indicate the decision to offer remote learning wasn\u2019t a quick one. They refer to long meetings with input from school principals and the teachers union, acknowledging the planning and coordination required to deliver virtual school. In light of the devastating academic and emotional impact\u00a0remote learning\u00a0had during the pandemic, some also see it as a last resort.<\/p>\n
A desire to keep students engaged in school appeared to prevail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will keep them safe and help them keep up with their work,\u201d the school administrator explained in one of the emails obtained by The Associated Press. \u201cIt will also allow them to be counted present, so we don\u2019t have a ton of dropouts next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
That Minneapolis, a district of nearly 30,000 students, would willingly offer remote learning again suggests a new level of fear after an onslaught of federal attention and conflict. There\u2019s been President Donald Trump\u2019s verbal attacks on the Somali community living there, a pledge to send 2,000 federal immigration agents and a federal agent\u2019s deadly shooting of\u00a0Renee Good, a mother of three and a U.S. citizen, on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
On the same day as the shooting, immigration enforcement agents detained someone outside the city\u2019s Roosevelt High School around dismissal time, which led to altercations with bystanders. The Minneapolis Federation of Educators said agents deployed tear gas and detained an educator before releasing them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not tolerate ICE inhibiting our city\u2019s youth from their constitutional right to attend school safely or inhibiting educators from doing their job,\u201d the union said.<\/p>\n
Federal officials said agents had been pursuing a U.S. citizen who rammed a Border Patrol vehicle before a 5-mile (8-kilometer) chase that ended outside the school. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, who has been in Minneapolis this week, said on social media that protesters assaulted agents and there were four total arrests.<\/p>\n
It used to be that school campuses were no-go zones for immigration arrests, but Trump\u00a0dismissed that guidance\u00a0early in his second term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way ICE has escalated in our community has made it so that there are people who feel unsafe coming to and from school,\u201d said Natasha Dockter, first vice president of the local union representing Minneapolis public school teachers. \u201cWe\u2019ve, you know, heard concerns from our members, from families, and wanted to advocate that there is an option for remote learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boisey Corvah, a 15-year-old sophomore at South High School, said students have been sharing videos from social media of the shooting and the episode at Roosevelt High. He said he worries especially about his friends who are Latino \u2014 because of possible encounters with immigration enforcement, and the crackdown\u2019s effects for their mental health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re probably going to have to go straight home, you know. They won\u2019t be able to hang out with their friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This fall, Chicago school board members called for a remote option during a federal intervention there, but Chicago Public Schools has resisted offering it. New York state last year allowed districts to offer virtual schooling to students afraid of Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown, but it\u2019s not clear how many districts took advantage of it.<\/p>\n
One concern some school districts have raised is they are normally prohibited from asking families about their immigration status. If the school offers virtual learning for students worried about immigration enforcement, it could unintentionally identify that someone in their home is here illegally.<\/p>\n
To get around this problem, advocates have urged districts to offer the option to everyone, not just students from immigrant homes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are hoping and recommending for districts to have flexible options for all of their students. Learning doesn\u2019t necessarily have to happen in the classroom,\u201d said Viridiana Carrizales, chief executive officer of ImmSchools, a Texas-based group that consults with school districts on their policies for immigrant students.<\/p>\n
Carrizales said she\u2019s working with districts in New Jersey, New York and Texas on trying to help worried parents who are keeping children home from school and even withdrawing them.<\/p>\n
The conversations have become more urgent in the past few weeks, she said, because school districts are\u00a0losing students.<\/p>\n
Some districts that already had ongoing virtual programs have seen an uptick in demand since Trump returned to office. In the\u00a0Portland, Oregon,\u00a0suburb of Hillsboro, the school district has opened enrollment slots at its online academy, district spokesperson Beth Graser said.<\/p>\n
In a statement Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Education said districts and charter schools can provide remote options for enrolled students.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlans for online instruction need to consider how the needs of all students can be met, including students with disabilities and students learning English,\u201d Commissioner Willie Jett said.<\/p>\n
Minneapolis public schools were closed Thursday and Friday because of the tumult, but the district directed teachers to report to their school building to receive more details from administrators about the online instruction option. The virtual option will be available until Feb. 12, the district said.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press writer Claire Rush contributed to this report from Portland, Oregon. V\u00e1zquez Toness reported from Boston.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Minneapolis #unsafe #ICE #shooting #aftermath #families #choose #remote #learning #kids #month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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