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Immigrant advocates press SFUSD for DACA outreach; superintendent pledges coordination
Summary
Immigrant-rights lawyers and DACA recipients asked the school board to allow community organizations into high schools, post multilingual DACA materials and defend sanctuary protections; Superintendent Carranza pledged to connect speakers with district outreach staff and said the district is "100% a sanctuary district."
San Francisco — Several community organizations and students urged the San Francisco Unified School District board on Tuesday to increase outreach about Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and to allow trained community legal partners into high school sites.
"We are a community-based organization... and we provide direct legal services to individuals who are immigrant populations," said Amanda Alvarado Ford, an immigration attorney at La Raza Centro Legal, asking the board to permit presentations to students so they can apply when eligible and to prevent predatory, unlicensed advisers from misleading families.
Additional speakers — including Edwin Caruana Cruz (legal assistant), a teacher from Mission High School and representatives from Chinese for Affirmative Action and PODER — asked for multilingual posters and fact sheets in classrooms and for forums to train teachers, counselors and students. A PODER speaker, a DACA recipient, described how in-school connections to resources enabled her to pursue higher education.
Annette Wong of Chinese for Affirmative Action asked the district to post DACA posters in every classroom in Chinese, English, Spanish and Tagalog and to distribute fact sheets to teachers and counselors so students can access services without revealing their status.
Superintendent Carranza said the district would follow up. "We're gonna connect for all of the contact information that was provided," he said, adding that staff in Kevin Truitt's office would facilitate outreach. Carranza emphasized the district's posture: "We are 100% a sanctuary district and a sanctuary city and we take that responsibility very, very seriously."
Public speakers and board members asked for a formal update on a 2012 resolution supporting immigrant students; Commissioner Feuer, who said she authored the original resolution in 02/2012, asked staff to report back on whether district practices should be expanded and to ensure materials are available in multiple languages.
Next steps: Superintendent Carranza directed staff to connect the community groups to the district's Student Family Community Support office for presentations and materials distribution, and the board signaled interest in a written update on the district's previous resolution and current outreach activity.
