In Los Angeles, Back-to-School Means a Continued Siege, not a Fresh Start

By Vickie Ramos Harris

Back to school is usually a season of hope for parents, students, and teachers—a chance to start anew, to move forward, to mark progress. But this year, a new anxiety cut through the enthusiasm as the Los Angeles Unified School District opened its doors last week: fear for the safety of students and neighbors in the face of widespread ICE raids, combined with confusion over shifting funds for crucial education programs.  

What’s happened in LAUSD is part of a coordinated, multi-pronged assault by the Trump administration to destroy public education as a bedrock institution of civic participation and common pathway to success. This destruction strips opportunities from people of color who earn less, while billionaires hoard them. 

In Los Angeles, it reflects the continuation of a siege that began in March with Trump firing nearly half the staff of the U.S. Department of Education, continued with the deployment of thousands of National Guard and Marines to help enforce ICE raids in Los Angeles, and has wreaked havoc on school planning with the stop-and-start disbursement of billions in already approved funds for after school  and other programs to help low-income students.

Throughout the summer, our city was the testing ground for initial stages of Trump’s plan to persecute immigrants as the most vulnerable—and thus easiest—targets.

How did that plan manifest in the schools?  Families skipped graduation celebrations after ICE agents showed up to arrest parents and demand ID from passers-by. Students with perfect attendance records stopped attending class: one school went from 4-6 absences per day to 62-63. Some schools sent staff members to chauffeur students whose parents were suddenly petrified of the daily school drop-off. LAUSD scrambled to set up Zoom availability for graduation ceremonies, then summer school. Students missed football camp, even field trips. 

Then on June 30, the Trump administration said it would withhold nearly $7 billion in funds to feed and help low-income and English learner students, throwing after-school programs and summer teacher training into question. It was restored less than a month later, but frazzled nerves linger: “We can see the funding that is being threatened, and if there are cuts next year, we will not be able sustain the resources we need for all of our students,” one Los Angeles principal told me.

A temporary restraining order upheld by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals barely keeps ICE raids in check. Mindful of what Los Angeles is enduring, other districts are using virtual school enrollment, home visits, online family engagement workshops, and exploring independent study to keep students connected to school, a less-than-good option among many bad ones.

As LAUSD principals open their doors, they have already trained to deal with ICE incursions and share know-your-rights information and other resources with families. Lisa Solomon, a Southern California school district leader, noted that where parents before requested reading support or social emotional resources for their children, now they ask how to self-deport. “It’s heartbreaking,” she said.

In a way, crises are nothing new for LAUSD administrators and teachers who have been dealing with them, in one way or another, for the past five years. During the COVID pandemic they had to retool for virtual learning, then retool again for the return to in-person instruction, not to mention cyber security breaches and the Palisades and Altadena wildfires in January.

Through it all, school leaders must motivate and inspire their teams to, as one principal put it, “come to work, wrap their arms and hearts around their students and families, and live into the resilience of our school communities.”

So, what do teachers and administrators need right now as they welcome students back? They need their leaders to be clear about the district’s full commitment to all students. They must refuse to “let the cruelty of immigration raids define the schoolhouse,” as LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said recently. “Schools are not battlegrounds for politics.”

Through the ongoing upheaval, school leaders need districts to continue putting plans and guidance in place—including support of their decisions in crisis moments—that communicate that commitment and keep schools as welcoming and safe spaces where students learn and thrive. In times of crisis, schools are a critical source of support for families, and we need to do all we can to ensure our students feel that love and support now.

Vickie Ramos Harris is Vice President of Policy and Programs at Catalyst California, helping drive development and execution of the policy agenda in educational equity, statewide alliances, and legislative advocacy. She previously served as the Director of Educational Equity, bringing a community-based policymaking lens to Catalyst’s social justice work.