Sign up for Chalkbeat Newark’s free newsletter to get the latest news about the city’s public school system delivered to your inbox.Newark social studies teacher Michael Iovino knows when something is wrong with his students. It was prom season when one of his seniors came up to him and asked, “Mr. Iovino, do you have any odd jobs?”Instantly, Iovino’s mind went to the usual place, maybe he needed money for clothes, a ticket, or a corsage.But the student didn’t need money for himself. He needed a way to afford a lawyer after his parents got detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Immediately, my mind is racing. It’s like, okay, but I have to go back to my classroom and teach a class,” said Iovino, Newark Teachers Union secretary and treasurer. “But for the people that are mostly impacted, it’s the end of any sense of normalcy.” For immigrant families in Newark, the fear has been magnified as protests erupted outside Delaney Hall, the Newark-based immigration detention facility on Doremus Avenue. The protests and continued ICE activity around the city are taking a toll on students, educators say – and schools need to do more to make them feel safe and foster conversations. Iovino, a Newark Public Schools teacher, said conversations about immigration enforcement have become an unavoidable presence in his classroom. But when current events come up, he doesn’t have to explain the situation about Delaney Hall to his students, they already know. “This is something that every kid knows,” he said. “This is their 9/11. This is their war in Afghanistan.”For more than a week, protesters have gathered outside Delaney Hall in support of detainees inside who are on a hunger strike alleging poor conditions, medical neglect, and denial of bond. Tensions escalated during Memorial Day weekend when confrontations between protestors and ICE prompted Gov. Mikie Sherrill to deploy the New Jersey State Police and Mayor Ras Baraka to send city police. Since then, state and local leaders have scaled back on police presence. But as of Wednesday night, clashes between ICE agents and protesters continued. When ICE agents raided an East Ward business last year, city educators also raised concerns about the emotional toll the activity was having on students. In response, Superintendent Roger León last year said he would remind school leadership about their responsibilities to keep students safe and brief board members on specific district plans to keep ICE out of schools. He also encouraged students to seek an adult at their school for help if they needed it. And on Thursday, Sherrill announced a $20 million increase to the Detention, Deportation, and Defense Initiative, which provides free legal help to New Jersey residents at risk for deportation. She also announced a coordinated Rapid Legal Response Initiative to expand legal capacity statewide for immigrant families. Paul Brubaker, the district’s communications director, did not respond to questions about how ongoing ICE activity and tensions at Delaney Hall are impacting students. For John Abeigon, president of the Newark Teachers Union, dealing with ICE is just part of living in an immigrant community. “Many of them are hardworking, decent people, been here for years, generations,” Abeigon said. Rafael Chavez, an organizer with New Labor, a Newark-based immigrant rights group, added that city residents are “just trying to survive.” “A member from our group was taken by ICE last week in Newark before heading to work,” Chavez said. That same fear doesn’t stay outside school doors. Across the nation, educators and advocacy groups are sounding the alarm about the impact immigration enforcement is having on students. The Council of the Great City Schools, which represents urban school districts including Newark, called on federal leaders to immediately stop actions that endanger children and disrupt schools. And in neighboring New York, the city’s school board voted on a resolution last year to reaffirm the school system’s support for undocumented students.Gabrielly Ferreira, a junior at Science Park High School, said she sees videos about Delaney Hall protests on Instagram and TikTok at least twice a day. It’s a constant reminder about the detention center just 20 minutes away from her school. She said only her history teacher has raised the topic in class. “It honestly saddens me quite a bit to know that there are people who are like me suffering in Delaney Hall,” she said. “There aren’t many teachers talking about it.”Other city educators like Alexander Schuetz, who is also the chair of the Newark Education Workers Caucus, believe schools have a fundamental role to play in making students feel safe and aren’t doing enough of that. “One of the fundamental things we believe about school is that schools need to be a safe place,” said Scheutz, a history and special education teacher. “Students can only learn in safe communities to that end. It’s in the district’s best interest to do everything they can to make their students, their families, and their community feel that way.” Ferreira agrees, and although the school year is almost over, she hopes administrators would go further and acknowledge the situation unfolding in the city. “Schools and administrators should say something to reassure students and parents that they reject what ICE is doing,” she said. “Because the majority of their students are people who ICE targets. Whether they have their citizenship or not, they know someone who’s important to them that could suffer at the hands of ICE.”Iovino, the social studies teacher, says the district has the leverage and responsibility to act by training teachers on how to talk to students about immigration enforcement, designating specific staff members students can reach out to about the topic, directing students to resources, or helping foster conversations. “The primary concern is that I think teachers really feel helpless,” Iovino said. “That is the least comfortable way to be a teacher, to look at your students and know that ultimately, what can I actually do?” Jessie Gómez is a reporter for Chalkbeat Newark, covering public education in the city. Contact Jessie at jgomez@chalkbeat.org.
