Board tables school safety plans after community objects to 'monitoring' and ICE guidance
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Summary
After parents and staff raised alarm over language in site safety plans about collecting intelligence on planned walkouts and Cherry Valley guidance on immigration enforcement, the board voted to table final approval and return Feb. 24 with revised walkout language and updated BP/AR 1445.
The board’s first read of the district’s Comprehensive School Safety Plans on Feb. 10 prompted sustained public concern over language that community members said directed staff to "collect intelligence" about planned student walkouts and to monitor student communications.
Multiple speakers from Cherry Valley and other sites said the language — which references monitoring student social media and communications to detect planned demonstrations — had been added without clear notice to site councils and could amount to surveillance. "Who would be paid to surveil our students?" one commenter asked. Speakers said the monitoring language conflicted with the district’s duty to protect student expression and privacy.
Trustees and staff discussed the history of the template language, which has been used in DTS for years and in some cases copied from county or state guidance. Staff recommended amending the "unlawful demonstration/walkout" section to emphasize safe supervision: under the revised wording staff would group students for safe supervision until normal dismissal and work with student leaders to provide spaces for protected expression. The presenter said the amended language would be returned as a second read on Feb. 24.
Board members also flagged Cherry Valley documents that contained separate internal guidance on immigration enforcement (ICE). Trustees and parents asked for consistent, board‑approved BP/AR 1445 language to be integrated into every school plan and for removal of Cherry Valley’s site‑specific ICE guidance that suggested limiting staff from filming enforcement activity. Staff proposed removing that Cherry Valley page and incorporating uniform guidance aligned with updated state law and the board’s forthcoming BP/AR.
The board voted to table final approval of the safety plans until Feb. 24 to allow staff to update the walkout language and to fold a revised BP/AR 1445 into every site plan. Staff committed to bringing back clarified language and to standardize immigration‑enforcement procedures across sites.