Last year, the Winooski School District became the first in the state to enact a “sanctuary school” policy protecting students and families from federal immigration enforcement actions.
The policy, crafted by Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria, restricted immigration agents’ access to school grounds and prohibited school staff from collaborating with immigration authorities.
Lawmakers have since taken notice. S.227, considered by House Education Committee members Tuesday, borrows from the Winooski School District to standardize policy across Vermont’s 119 school districts and 52 governing units.
The bill passed unanimously out of the Senate last month
One of the bill’s lead sponsors, Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky, P/D-Chittenden Central, told House lawmakers Tuesday that she introduced the bill after hearing from families who were keeping their children out of school because of their fears of immigration raids.
“It became very apparent to me that every student, regardless of what school district they are in, deserves that level of safety and security in their learning environment,” she said. “While it is not typical that the state comes from on high and says ‘You must implement policies like this,’ I felt like we are not in typical times.”
Under the legislation, only a school district’s superintendent, or their designee, would be permitted to allow federal agents to enter a school’s premises.
Federal immigration officers could enter the premises only with a judicial warrant. Absent a warrant, school officials would be under no obligation to provide any information.
That distinction is important. Immigration agents have used administrative warrants to enter homes and businesses, warrants that are, in this case, signed by a Homeland Security officer or other department officials.
School officials could decline immigration officers’ requests for information or to enter the premises with an administrative warrant, Rik Sehgal, with the Office of Legislative Counsel, told House lawmakers.
Schools would also be prohibited from collecting or requesting citizenship or immigration status information from a student or their family members under the legislation.
Vermont Agency of Education officials Tuesday said they support the intent of the bill, and said the policy, if adopted, would align with policy that the Agency of Education already has in place.
Schools also currently have no obligation to collect information about students’ or families’ immigration status, said Emily Simmons, the Agency of Education’s general counsel. And if they don’t collect the information in the first place, then they won’t have it for federal officials to demand.
Regardless, the policy has taken on added importance following U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials’ raid last month in South Burlington — conducted less than a mile from South Burlington High School and the Rick Marcotte Central School. Their presence has certainly been felt by communities in Vermont and across the country.
Chavarria, Winooski’s superintendent, told senators in February that the policy was about being prepared for worst case scenarios.
“And our schools in Vermont are unprepared,” he said. “Even with a large number of well-meaning educators, without intentional protocols and widespread training, a single mistake by an untrained staff member can become a life-changing tragedy for a child.”
— Corey McDonald
In the know
Massage therapists with the American Massage Therapists Association want the state to impose more regulations on their profession to protect customers from potential sexual abuse or physical harm.
Christine Hoober, a massage therapist with the association, asked lawmakers in the Senate Government Operations Committee to amend a bill, H.588, that makes changes to how Vermont regulates certain professions.
“We do see either undertrained or completely untrained massage therapists that can cause harm,” Hoober said. Under current state law, massage therapists only need to register with the state. Licensure would set a higher bar — requiring massage therapists to be trained and educated.
Not only are there instances of sexual assault, Hoober said, but massage therapists who lack proper training might improperly perform a massage and cause a customer harm by, for example, aggravating an injury.
“Why would a chiropractor be licensed and a massage therapist not?” asked Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor.
Forty-five states in the U.S. require masseuses to be licensed, according to the association’s website.
— Charlotte Oliver
In case you missed it
Aly Richards, who led a lobbying group that won major increases to public child care funding in Vermont over the past decade, is running to be the state’s next governor, she announced Monday.
Flanked by dozens of supporters on a snowy morning outside the Newbury Village Store, the former CEO of Let’s Grow Kids said she sees “a five alarm fire” of social and economic challenges facing Vermont “everywhere we look.” And she took aim at the opponent she could face in the general election, Republican Gov. Phil Scott, whom she said hasn’t done enough to fix those challenges since he was first elected in 2016. Scott has not yet announced whether he will seek reelection.
“You’ve got to ask yourself: Are you better off now than you were 10 years ago?” Richards asked the crowd, many of them holding white and blue “Aly for Vermont” signs. “When people can’t afford to live here, you know we’ve got a problem, OK? It’s not working. It’s time for a new approach.”
Richards is the second Democrat to launch a bid for governor this year. Amanda Janoo, an economist from Strafford, announced her campaign last month and has already reported raising a substantial amount of campaign cash. As of Monday afternoon, Richards’ campaign had not filed its first batch of campaign fundraising data.
Read the full story about Richards’ campaign launch here.
On the trail
Unlike in 2024, a Democrat will run for one of two Franklin County Senate seats.
Alexander Bobella, a social worker and St. Albans City resident, is throwing his hat into the ring, he announced in a press release Monday.
Two years ago, sitting Franklin County Republican Sens. Randy Brock and Bob Norris ran unopposed in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.
— Ethan Weinstein
