Public speakers press Kingston schools for stronger protections for immigrant students; district outlines next steps

Several community members asked the Kingston City School District Board of Education on Tuesday to take concrete steps to protect immigrant students and families, urging expanded "know your rights" training for staff, more multilingual communications and clearer district policies for interactions with federal immigration authorities.

Speakers during the public-comment portion included Carrie Downey, a Kingston resident; Anna Jacobs of Ulster Rapid Response; Richard Fromis, a longtime local resident; and others affiliated with Ulster Rapid Response and local immigrant-support groups. They urged the district to publish clear policies about immigration-enforcement access to school property, to provide trauma-informed mental-health supports and to hire additional multilingual family-support staff.

"If ICE officers should come to our schools, they should not be allowed inside school property to access a student except when required by law due to a judicial warrant that is first verified and confirmed by [the] superintendent and school district attorney," said Carrie Downey in public comment.

Superintendent Dr. Catalina Padalino told the board she has met with bilingual family workers, Kingston Rapid Response and UDIN (a community organization) and plans additional meetings. Padalino said the district will create a communication tree linking administrators and community groups to provide redundant reporting channels, and it will work to identify students who do not have emergency contacts so principals can take steps to secure appropriate contacts without violating privacy rules.

Padalino also described the district's current guidance for contracted school bus drivers: they are instructed not to pull over or let anyone onto a bus; if a driver is asked to stop by enforcement agents, the driver is to drive to the nearest school. She said the district plans to reopen conversations with its seven transportation contractors to make sure all contractors follow uniform safety and reporting practices.

Board members and the superintendent said they recognize requests for wider "know your rights" training for teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria and custodial staff. Padalino said the district has not made such training mandatory but will explore making it available and better advertising community-based training options to staff; she also emphasized that staff should route enforcement contacts to administrators and security personnel rather than engage directly.

The board did not take a formal vote on a policy or resolution during the meeting. Trustees directed continued engagement with community groups and indicated the topic will return for further review; a draft board resolution and policy language was under review in the policy committee and with legal counsel, the board said.

Speakers asked the district to provide translated materials with accurate language choices and live interpretation at key events; trustees acknowledged translation quality concerns and said the district will continue working with partner organizations to improve language access.

The public-comment period and the superintendent’s report made the immigrant-student safety issue the most prominent community concern at the meeting, and board members requested follow-up details from administration at future meetings.