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Superintendent outlines steps for staff when federal agents visit schools, notes state review of transgender sports eligibility
Summary
Superintendent Humphrey described draft procedures for staff to follow if federal agents visit school property and said the State High School League has sought an attorney general opinion on transgender athlete participation after a federal directive that may conflict with state human rights law.
Superintendent Humphrey described draft procedures the district will use if federal agents, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seek to access students or school property.
He said building staff should refer any person who wants to enter school buildings during the day to the building office and principal; the principal would then contact the superintendent's office or a cabinet member. The district will ask legal counsel to review any warrant to determine whether it is a judicial warrant, which the district would follow exactly, or an administrative warrant, which the district treats differently. "With the judicial warrant, we will follow it word for word. Administrative warrant is very different," Humphrey said.
Humphrey emphasized privacy limits: employees should not volunteer students' personal information and requests for directory or other student data should be routed through the superintendent's office as a formal data request. "If there's someone who is asking an employee, ... where was he or she born? Or where does he or she live? Really, that's not our business to share," he said.
Separately, Humphrey discussed a recent State High School League announcement on transgender student participation in athletics and said the league has 60 days to issue guidance. He said the league had requested an opinion from the Minnesota attorney general because a recent federal executive order appears to conflict with Minnesota's human-rights protections. Humphrey said the district has no further direction at this time but will monitor the AG opinion and league guidance.
Humphrey described the chance of ICE activity in the district as "very low" but said the district is preparing procedures so staff will know how to respond while protecting student rights and cooperating with lawful authorities.
