Study Hall from School News Network
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Study Hall from School News Network
Community-school worker: immigrant students and families apprehensive about Trump deportation plans
Brianna Vasquez de Pereira, a Kent School Services Network coordinator in Kentwood, discusses the questions and fears of immigrant families about President Trump’s deportation plans. (Note: This podcast was recorded prior to President Trump’s inauguration and his order removing schools as sites protected from apprehensions by federal deportation agents.)
For more great stories about the changes and challenges of school districts in West Michigan, check out our website, School News Network.org. And if you have ideas for future programs, feel free to send them to us at SNN@kentisd.org. Thanks for listening, and happy studying!
Well, hello everyone and welcome to Study Hall from School News Network, your window into the public schools of Kent County, Michigan. We're at Meadowlawn Elementary School in Kentwood today, a very cool school whose hallways are lined with flags of the many countries that represent the students' family heritage. And we're here with a very special guest to talk about an issue many families and educators may be wondering about right now what the incoming Trump administration's plans for mass deportation of undocumented migrants will mean for immigrant students and their families in our school communities, including the vast majority who are in this country legally, and what possible impacts those plans might have on these students' education. What questions and concerns do Latinos and other immigrant families have at this moment about what might happen after President-elect Trump takes office January 20th, and what can schools do to support families as we head into this uncertain time? These are pertinent questions in many Kent County school districts, but especially so in Kentwood. It is the most diverse school district in the state, home to students from Latin America, africa, southeast Asia, bosnia and many other nations. With us today is someone eminently qualified to speak on these issues Brianna Vasquez de Pereira, community School Coordinator at Meadowlawn School for the Kent School Services Network.
Speaker 1:She connects families with resources and support services like food pantries, sending food home with students, connecting them with mentors and helping with interpretation and translation. Brianna also supervises KSSN workers at three other elementary schools. A 13-year veteran with KSSN, brianna has also taught at public schools in Chicago and Guatemala City. Brianna welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Thank you for having me so.
Speaker 1:Brianna, you were compelled to work at Meadowlawn because you live in the neighborhood, wanted to work with the children and families who live near you, and you have a daughter at Meadowlawn, josephine, who's in first grade. Tell us about the students you work with what kind of students are they, what are some of the places they're from, and how important is education to their families?
Speaker 2:Sure, so this is my fourth year working at Meadowlawn. One of the really beautiful things about Meadowlawn and about Kentwood in general, as you mentioned, charlie, is it's very diverse. Meadowland is one of our smaller elementary schools, so it feels a little cozier when you walk into our hallways. We have about 350 students. We are young fives to fifth grade, balesing. All of our elementary schools now offer young fives, or known as kind of a developing kindergarten classroom as well, which is really great, and then double checking with one of our wonderful multilingual teachers. For most up-to-date numbers, it's about 45% of our students and families that are considered multilingual learners. So essentially what that means is, if you were to go into their home and spend some time with them, english is not going to be the first language that they're speaking at home. They're going to be speaking, you know, different language at home. Some of our kids are like bilingual, trilingual, some of them speak like four languages. It's a very humbling thing when kids are like, well, I speak this at home and this at home and I'm like, wow, like I need to up my game, I speak two languages. You know what I mean. And then let's see, in addition to education, just being here at a school.
Speaker 2:I think all families, no matter what walks of life, value education. A lot of our families that are coming from other countries really value the educational aspect because I've heard from just various families and students. Maybe they're in a refugee camp where the educational services were there, but maybe a little bit sporadic just in terms of things going on in the world at that time, or just being interrupted, depending if they're going from one country to another to get to the United States for like a resettlement kind of thing, and then just with learning English language, which is such a difficult language also that just having gaps where they're really needing to get that additional support, for not only are you coming to a new country, so you're needing to learn about the different cultural things that we have here in the United States. It's a different educational system here in the United States.
Speaker 2:Some of our families I was just talking to a student last week and I'm like do you have snow pants? He's like, ms Vass, I didn't even know what snow pants were until I, you know, moved here, you know, recently, right, so just making sure they're aware of the different cultural differences, climate differences, and then we have additional staff here in Kentwood that can walk alongside students for that additional English language support, because that is important too, like making sure they're equipped to be able to express themselves well in English and, of course, also stressing home language is important, culture is important, so don't forget about that. Keep that up. That's an asset that makes you just a better global citizen, with being able to connect with more people.
Speaker 1:But then also let's also support you with your English as well. Coming from different countries or different national heritages who are at Meadowlawn you're not only helping them sort of adjust academically with the English language and so forth, but socially, culturally, kind of just like fitting into a new culture right.
Speaker 2:Very much. So part of what we do in Kent School Services Network is we take a holistic approach and so, yes, the kids are here in the building, we're stressing academics, but we also know that if they're not getting the support from that social, emotional part, right, are you making friends, are you understanding, you know all these different nuances of school and things that we're able to walk alongside them as well? And for families that could be, like you mentioned earlier, some of that resource coordination piece. Do you have community here, whether you're from another country or maybe you're newer to the area? We had a family move from California, so here's some tidbits of places to shop. Or do you know where to go if we have a snow day? Snow day and you have means of like place the libraries down the street? It's great.
Speaker 2:There's all kinds of free activities, right, um, and so just connecting people with those resources, just so they're feeling like more empowered, more connected with community, and then also letting them know that school community is also here for them, right, and so they're welcome to come in to. You know, do you want to volunteer at the school? Are you available to do that? Would you like to be a part of our parent teacher council or PTC, which is our form of PTA here in Kentwood, and, just you know, if they have a place of faith, we can connect them with that too. There's so many of us in Michigan. We just want people to know that we want school to feel that it is safe, no matter if you're a student or a parent or community member. It's safe, you belong here, you matter, and we're here to help provide that for you.
Speaker 1:so you're feeling empowered then to like reach your full potential and see what's available such great, important work and everything a kid needs and a family needs for the child to have a successful experience in school right the other things that need to be in place for them. So let's talk about this deportation issue. President-elect Trump made securing the southern border a major issue of his campaign, of course, and he has vowed to deport millions of immigrants who are undocumented. And he has vowed to deport millions of immigrants who are undocumented. Now some polls have shown maybe half of Americans support the idea of deporting undocumented immigrants, but it's unclear just how the president-elect's plan will be implemented, and that's caused a lot of questions to be asked. What are you hearing from parents the parents and the families you work with, brianna about these deportation plans? Do they have any worries or fears about them?
Speaker 2:Strong, yes with that and I think it's a variety of hearing from parents, adults, caregivers and also from students. Sometimes you forget you could ask a five-year-old what do you think about X, y, z topic? And you'd be like surprised sometimes good and bad with how much, how observant they are about the world around them, right, and so, no matter what your political beliefs are, there's lots of things that go on during election time, lots of things that kids see and hear. And so, going back to that piece of creating a safe environment, you know if kids are coming in with questions, we have to remain neutral here in public education but also validating, you know, questions and concerns that they might have. So I think, talking to parents and students and community members, the biggest theme that we're getting here as a KSSN coordinator is fear.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of fear that people have, no matter if you're coming from another country or you're. You know, you've been in the United States for a long time. Just this, it's the unknown, it's this fear of what's going to happen. What does this mean for me and my family? What does this mean for my neighbor? You know, my coworker, um, that kind of thing. So that's the biggest theme is like fear in the unknown, like I don't. Yeah, I'm that uncertainty.
Speaker 1:Have they talked about any specific fears that they might have how this might play out?
Speaker 2:Um, I think a lot of it's unanswered questions. Right, just like any human nature, like you, just you want answers. So if I'm in the situation a what's a, b and c to to answer questions, for me, if I'm situated, so there's a lot of unknown.
Speaker 2:So I'm hearing things from what paperwork do I need to fill out, or if I'm already classified as this category, like am I safe, am I not? Or what do I need to do? Yeah, it's just a lot of unanswered questions and because there'll be a lot of moving pieces, people are just kind of scrambling and trying to get information and we want to make sure it's credible information.
Speaker 2:It's not just like rumors and so part of what we do. Back to the resource pieces. What are places here in West Michigan or even beyond the state, maybe more at a federal level, but what are resources that we can connect people to so that they can get some of those questions answered? So there's, like you know, places here for legal consultation. It's very stressful time for people and so if they're comfortable with mental health resources, can we get you connected with that as well? Physical health as well? Just trying to put out different arenas so people can get the help that they need.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned the parent-teacher council. Obviously, always you want parents to be active in their children's school. Do any of those fears or concerns you're hearing have to do with their interaction with the school, with actually coming to school and so forth?
Speaker 2:Yes, it's not the school itself, but I was just talking to a coordinator last week and there's a predominantly Latinx, Latina, community there, and so, once again, just a confirmation of the fear and the unknown. But she gave me an example of there is this parent, super involved, always was coming to school. How can I help in the, you know, in always coming to those PTA meetings. And then, once she had heard about political climate changes, there was a fear for her safety. I'm an immigrant. I'm an immigrant. Should I be coming to school now? She feels safe in her home. She feels safe at school, but from getting from point A to point B is something going to happen along the way while I'm getting to school that can endanger me and my family. So this parent has stopped coming to the school. So now we're seeing a decrease in volunteers because of fear of safety.
Speaker 2:Coming from an adult perspective, and then I just sit back and think as a coordinator and as a parent, then what are you unintentionally conveying to your child, right? Like mom, how come you're not school anymore? Well, you know, you got to be careful on how you navigate those conversations because you want them to be age appropriate. You still want kids to feel safe, but you don't want to give them false information, right? So I think it's a delicate balance of navigating that.
Speaker 1:Yeah so that gets to what has been a policy, a federal policy, where places like when it comes to apprehending, arresting people who may be undocumented- there's been a policy in place where federal agents are not supposed to come to sensitive places like schools houses of worship, hospitals, as I understand it, without some sort of special permission authority from above, and can you explain a little bit more about that policy?
Speaker 1:And do you have there have been reports that the administration is considering rescinding that policy so that it would not be in place. What's your understanding of that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think from the school perspective, what I've learned over the years is going back to that piece of school. Is that safe haven?
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 2:And so you know there's certain questions, even when we're helping families enroll, that we're not allowed to ask.
Speaker 2:Like you're not allowed to ask a family about legal status, right? So when I'm helping families enroll, it's more if they're coming from out of the country. What country are you coming from? What's your home language that you speak at home to see if they need additional services. How long have you been here? What's been your child's educational experience? And then, depending on the relationship you foster with those families, they might give you some more information. Oh, yes, we came through these means and then you can kind of gauge some additional resources that they might have outside of school In terms of safe havens.
Speaker 2:A lot of us, you know, we work in the community and we make those community partner relationships, and so a lot of us have gone to Latino Community Coalition meetings, lcc, and they always have good updates with just kind of the most recent legal information, whether it's on a state and or federal level, and so shout out to them for always being on top of that and bringing legal consultation. And then there's other partners also in Kent County that we can reach out to to get information. But I think for KSSN we focus more on the school, like what's within our control. That's part of ways to help with stress, so what's within your control. And here we're working in the schools. So once those kids and families come through our doors, what can we do to make sure that they're feeling heard? And then how can we provide them with some resources?
Speaker 1:So what kinds of Brianna, what kinds of information, advice, support are you giving to some of these families to reassure them or to refer them to agencies that might be able to help them right now?
Speaker 2:Right. So we are not so much to resource other than like being that resource for, like, comfort and support. Oftentimes you know you're reaching out to a family and if they feel comfortable enough with you, they might be talking with you for an hour explaining, you know, their story and this and that which is very humbling, and then from there you can kind of gauge okay, here's some resources that I think could be beneficial to you. Let me connect you with X, y and Z and then making those connections, and then from there we really want to empower families. And so here's the information. Would you like to call or go on your own? Would you like us to call with you? Would you like to come to the building and make phone calls now? And then you know we'll meet families at a certain place. You know I'll meet you there, um, if you'd like that.
Speaker 1:you know that introduction kind of thing, um, and so that's how we show up mostly for families in that capacity are you able to just kind of give them any, some basics, like sometimes, like you know you're going to be okay, or um, can you say things like that?
Speaker 2:yeah, for sure, yes we're here definitely to reassure families I mean, we don't know if it's going to be okay but just saying more of like. We hear you, like we understand you sound very frustrated or you sound very, very scared and I'm just here to validate those feelings right and provide some resources to hopefully give you some sense of comfort. I'm here to listen, I'm here to you, know, walk alongside you. I'm always offering do you want something to drink? Would you like some water? Would you like some coffee? Right, so that they're just feeling, when they come into our school building, like they're a little bit at home.
Speaker 1:So yeah, would this be work that basically all the schools you've got resource community coordinators at other schools? Are they all engaging in the same kind of work then at other schools? Correct?
Speaker 2:And obviously it'll look a little bit different depending on the school building and the population. But I think it's a theme we're seeing at all of our schools, where we have heightened senses of okay we need to just be a little more cognizant of. There. Might be some more outreach or some more resources that need to be shared. That will be coming up if they haven't already.
Speaker 1:Do you ever get students asking you questions? Like you know, you mentioned how they can pick up on things, that they are expressing some insecurity or some discomfort or questions about what's going on here. Are you able to talk to them about that?
Speaker 2:For sure. Yeah, at the elementary school level, I think it shows up sometimes, depending on the space that you're serving as a coordinator. I think where it's showing up a lot is like middle school and high school, right, and so these are young adults we're trying to really equip them with like student voice and that empowerment, and so when we're interacting with students, it could just be a lot of questions or a lot of feelings, whether they feel one way or another. At the elementary school level I've seen it manifest more with after election results, students feeling certain ways and just a lot of emotion, and so, um, depending how the school's navigating, that we might be one of their safe spaces. Well, can I go talk to miss vasquez, or can I go talk whatever coordinator? Can I just sit in their office and decompress or maybe they don't have that language, but can I just? I'm feeling a certain way. Can I need to talk to somebody?
Speaker 2:and then we also have, you know, our social. We have our behavior interventionists here in Kentwood, um as well in our SEL coaches, social emotional learning coaches. So we have a variety of supports. So when students have these big feelings, let's sit and talk about this. How can I help you to feel? You know a little more comforted about things.
Speaker 1:Because the kids talk Sure. The kids talk Sure. So you've spoken eloquently about the value of diversity, how you love it yourself. You love it for your daughter. What do you see as the values of that for all children, not just children of immigrant families, but all children at Meadowlawn having that diversity?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's a real advantage just in life when you're able to surround yourself by people that are different from you, right.
Speaker 2:So whether they're coming from another country, there's a different language, different political beliefs, you know, if they're coming from rural to urban, to suburban, like all of that stuff you see here in Kentwood and it really gives kids a more open and empathetic perspective and experience. And it's really interesting to talk to even my own child where the things that she says are just seem very mature for you know, first grader. Well, but doesn't everybody have friends or play with kids that come from other countries, that, oh, I learned how to say this word today in this language, or I learned about this food in class, or we were talking about different celebrations around the world, and then we actually had students that celebrate that Mom, we're in this, you know relating text to real life stuff, right, and so I think I came back still myself, but way more like wow, like I thought I knew things. But until you're able to travel and or surround yourself with people from other walks of life, it just really can change your perspective for the better and just make you a more open-minded, empathetic person.
Speaker 1:Now, you're of Mexican heritage yourself, your husband is Guatemalan, correct, and you know what would you like to tell families, listeners rather readers and listeners about these communities, these Latino communities, these students and families from other countries that you see as adding not to just the culture of Meadowlawn but to the whole community. You know, economically, culturally, you know in all ways enriching the community, what are some of the pluses you see of having these communities in our area?
Speaker 2:Sure, you know, I think about Latino, latinx communities, but I also just think immigrant communities in general, just because of where I'm at now. I mean, I think part of it is people that are coming from other parts of the world. They have different lived experiences, and so if they're showing up to work or to just any kind of place, they're going to have some different perspectives that we could learn from. And oh well, I never thought of it that way. Maybe this is a different way to try it, maybe this is necessarily better, but maybe it could be right, and so there's more opportunity for growth there and trying different things, I think culturally too, right, no matter what country you're from or whether your family's been here like 100 years, like mine has. My family came to the US during Mexican Revolution, so essentially like refugees, if you know, we're looking at political climate and how we define things, but You're bringing your culture right. There's that sense of pride, no matter if your family's from Latin America or Asia or Europe. And then what are some of those cultural things that you're proud of that you can share with other people? One common theme that I see across immigrant families that I think is really cool is like food, right. And so you're saying what are similarities that we have about food? And so, for example, we have a big thing, a big issue and concern with food insecurity in West Michigan. It's the same here at Medellin. We've seen that rise since COVID and just the cost of living and products go up. And so, watching the kids, when we're able to provide some of that additional food there's some community partnerships like a hand-to-hand we're starting Kids Food Basket of that additional food. There's some community partnerships like a hand-to-hand, we're starting kids food basket here. But seeing kids, oh, I know what that is, because that's a sense of home for them. And then other kids, yes, are like rice, like, and then people talking about different types of grains and bread and just like fascinating. So I just think about the different cultural aspects there, going back to the previous question about just being more open-minded and empathetic.
Speaker 2:And then people from Latin America. We're so different in terms of cultural things and food and language. Everyone thinks Spanish, but there's all these beautiful indigenous languages as well. So some of these. There's a student. Hereanish is not his first language, he's from guatemala. He speaks a different language, it's an indigenous language, it's beautiful. And so just being me. Oh wow, I didn't know that existed right. And so people typically that are coming from other countries, they've had a hard journey here. It's very humbling if they're feeling comfortable to share that journey and they've worked hard to get here and they're hard workers and they really instill it into their kids. So you're in school now. I expect you to try your best, you know um so that high expectation.
Speaker 1:I think that permeates throughout our immigrant community well, and it's kind of an education for all the students, right right. They're kind of living with other students who help educate them about the world, right About the world that we live in. So, to kind of wrap this up, brianna, you obviously take great delight in working with these students. You obviously feel great value for having them as part of the school. What concerns, what worries do you have about how this deportation process could affect these families and could affect these students' education?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it goes back to the point you made about schools as of now being a safe haven and really those of us for KSSN, for community school workers, and being able to provide that is. Are we going to see a decline in student enrollment? Are we going to see an increase in absenteeism? We work a lot with making sure students are feeling safe, so they're coming to school and they're on time. So are we going to see more concerns with attendance and chronic absenteeism?
Speaker 2:What is the effect going to be on the social emotional health of our kids? Right, Whether, you know, they're coming to school every day and it doesn't affect them as deeply, so to speak, compared to other families, but it's still going to affect them because these are their friends, these are their classmates, these are their, these are their friends, these are their classmates, these are their neighbors, these are, etc. Um, so that piece, and then, as we know, our social emotional state is going to affect our academics. So then, what does that mean for the educational? The teacher trying to teach in the classroom and now, oh, it's feeling even a little bit more unsafe. You know, there's just that there's going to be more, probably, concern and more work for the teacher now to do, to recreate that, you know, that classroom community feeling and getting that back. We're going to see a lot more moving pieces.
Speaker 1:Harder for students to keep their mind on their work. A hundred percent, yeah Well, I so value your time with us and I know you're busy, and thank you for taking the time. We got a lot of questions ahead, coming up to the inauguration and afterwards, and you've really helped inform us about what's going on here. So, to our listeners, I hope you enjoyed the conversation. Thank you for coming to study hall. It's been a pleasure to be with you and I look forward to joining you again soon on the school news network Network webpage or wherever you get your podcasts. So we'll see you next time and don't forget your pencils.
