Over a week after four Seattle schools sheltered-in-place because of unsubstantiated reports of nearby immigration enforcement activity, Seattle district leaders rolled out updated guidance on how school leaders should vet such reports.
Seattle Public Schools already has clear guidance dictating what school leaders should do if federal immigration agents show up on campus: Staff should not let them into the building and should not provide information about any SPS student, family members or employees. Staff should meet immigration agents at the door, request credentials and contact their principal immediately, calling for security if needed. Agents will not gain entry unless or until SPS legal counsel verifies a valid judicial warrant or court order.
That policy was adopted last January, but at Wednesday's special Seattle School Board meeting, directors spent about an hour reviewing the existing policy and the new protocols. District officials said they will train all school leaders on the new protocols Friday.
“We’d been really clear about what to do if law enforcement agencies show up on your campus,” interim Superintendent Fred Podesta said at Wednesday’s meeting, echoing his comments at the board meeting a week prior. “What you do when you are hearing about (immigration) enforcement in the area, we were less clear about. And so we think we need a more unified, systemic response instead of a building-by-building response.”
The new protocols direct any staff members observing or receiving reports of immigration activity near a school during school hours to immediately inform the principal and make a report to the district’s Safety and Security Office. That office will identify potential safety concerns and convene a central response team if necessary.
Anyone, including parents, can call the Safety and Security Office at 206-252-0510.
Podesta highlighted how challenging it is for school leaders to determine if rumors of immigration activity are real while they are still inside the school. In the past, Podesta said, the district could rely on its relationship with local police, but now, even police departments are often not informed about Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol operations.
“We are kind of living in different worlds,” Podesta said. “We talked to the mayor's office today and the police last week, and while they are clear they don’t get advanced notice (about ICE activity), it’s not necessarily a collaborative relationship. They usually know what’s going on because they are in the field.”
Despite the challenge, Podesta said the district will work closely with the Seattle Police Department, the mayor’s office and other community groups that are offering resources and insights for how to vet and respond to claims of immigration enforcement activity.
Podesta said SPD will inform the district if it's aware of planned immigration enforcement actions near schools, adding that this has been the police department’s longtime practice, though the agreement to disclose those actions is not codified in writing.
School buses will be subject to the same access policies as school buildings, Podesta noted. When District Director 1 Liza Rankin asked whether HopeSkipDrive, a private transportation service that contracts with SPS to help get kids to school, would also adhere to the updated policy, Podesta said he had not yet confirmed but felt confident the service would be willing to provide the same protections.
Throughout the conversation, Podesta stressed that schools already have established protocols to vet claims of threats that schools regularly face.
“While this is a unique circumstance, it does have parallels to other risks that we face,” Podesta said. “As much as possible, we aren’t reinventing the wheel here. We are trying to be clear about when to apply the tools that we already have.”
District 5 Director Vivian Song asked about community concerns on declining attendance due to fears of immigration enforcement, but Podesta said the district has not seen statistically significant declines since President Donald Trump’s administration began ramping up immigration enforcement last year.
Associate Superintendent Rocky Torres-Morales said the number of families enrolling in the district who recently arrived from other countries plateaued in spring 2025.
Seattle Public Schools’ incoming superintendent, Ben Shuldiner, who takes the helm of the district Monday, stressed the need for more professional development for school leaders to better assess these situations. He suggested training involving scenario planning, legal guidance and information about what valid judicial warrants look like as potential focuses.
“As of today, there has not been a confirmed case of an ICE officer going into a school to serve a judicial warrant,” Shuldiner said. “The safest place for children in America is inside the school. … We have to really do a much better job having the community believe that.”
He was skeptical that shelter-in-place orders were necessary last week, given the district’s existing guidance on prohibiting immigration agents from entering school buildings.
“There’s a palpable and real sense of fear, and that fear will be mitigated once people know how to handle situations,” Shuldiner said. “And the way that we do that is through bringing in the best people to explain and to answer questions so people feel comfortable.”
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