Cambridge residents will hear from city and school district leaders about supporting immigrant students in the public schools at a Wednesday night panel.
The event, hosted at Cambridge Public Library’s main branch, will feature a discussion with school district Superintendent David Murphy, Vice-Mayor Burhan Azeem and School Committee Member Richard Harding. Also speaking on the panel will be Jessica Lander, a high school teacher and author of the 2022 book “Making Americans: Stories of Historic Struggles, New Ideas, and Inspiration in Immigrant Education.” The book chronicles how schools have engaged with the idea of protecting immigrant students over time. Lander will talk about immigration-related legal risks on school campuses.
The event was organized by Eugenia Schraa Huh, a former school committee candidate, who will moderate the panel. She said it is geared to families who may not understand the protections in place for immigrant students in the school district.
“I felt like me and my friends were not sure what procedures had been put in place, or what the challenges were,” Schraa Huh said, adding that the goal of the panel is to clarify the conversations happening at the district and city level.
The state passed the PROTECT act in early August of this year, which limits state cooperation with federal anti-immigration policy. The Cambridge School Committee passed a motion supporting the PROTECT act at its Sept. 1 meeting. But it also raised questions about the extent to which the committee could instruct school district staff to refuse to comply with federal law.
Schraa Huh said that while she expects the motion may come up for discussion, the panel is directed less at district staff and more at Cambridge residents and families.
The PROTECT act also mandates that school districts develop formal policies about student protections on campuses and offer staff training, and the School Committee motion requires more intensive training than the state law.
Murphy said at the meeting that trainings have already taken place and that more information about immigration protections will circulate in coming months.
The panel will take place at the Cambridge Public Library on Wednesday September 23 from 6-7:30pm. Registration can be accessed at this link and people are welcome to submit anonymous questions for panelists.
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