After districtwide outrage following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in Oakmont late last month, the Riverview School Board approved a student and staff safety policy that streamlines information from various bodies.
It outlines the actions to be taken by staff and teachers if any law enforcement agency comes to a district building inquiring about a specific student or staff member. The protocol passed Monday night in an 8-0 vote.
Kareem Gahed, who was appointed to the school board at the beginning of the meeting, abstained from the vote.
Some board members didn’t think the policy was necessary.
“I would like the community to know that this policy changes nothing,” school Director Leanne Jacobs-Rohan said. “I feel like we were praised last week and in the media, when this policy is literally copied and pasted from other policies and laws that we already have.”
She went on to say the policy does not change the way the district would act.
“I believe (the policy) was just made to look like the board was doing something at a heated time,” Jacobs-Rohan said.
She said board President Antonio Paris wrote the policy without full board approval.
“I believe it didn’t need to be written at all,” Jacobs-Rohan said.
The policy was introduced after Oakmont resident Jose Flores, 47, was detained Jan. 29 by ICE agents in front of his Oakmont home while preparing to take his 8-year-old daughter to school. She is an elementary school student in Riverview.
Flores — originally from Nicaragua — was released from custody Saturday after being held in Northern Regional Correctional Facility and Jail near Moundsville, W.Va.
“To be honest, yes, it was written because of what happened,” Paris said.
He said any member of the board is able to introduce any policy for consideration.
He drafted the protocol using guidelines from the district’s legal counsel as well as from the state Education Department and the Pennsylvania School Board Association.
The policy applies to any law enforcement agency that might seek information from the district.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t want to set parameters around this for our district and also give the administration fallbacks,” Paris said.
Paris and Superintendent Neil English both previously said, while district administration has had extensive training in what to do in an applicable situation, the creation of the policy makes the information consistent across the district.
“I don’t think it hurts to have a policy,” English said.
Board member Adeshewa Metzger said she supports having an easily accessible policy rather than directing parents to seek out information from various sources.
Board member Bridget Seery said the existence of the policy helps solidify where the board and district stand on the issue in the event of an administration or board change in the future.
Oakmont resident Paula Tomlinson said she’s concerned about Flores’ detainment.
“I am friends with families in our school district right now that fear this,” she said. “I appreciate the quick response from the school district as well as what the borough put out.”
Oakmont resident Emily Erdeljac-Aftanas said, as a teacher, she feels policies give guidance.
“If something was called into question, your teaching staff and your administrators would be able to refer to concrete board policy, not just proposition or something that’s been discussed on a whim,” she said.
