Woodburn School Board rejects ‘Safe and Welcoming Schools’ resolution that would have reaffirmed support for immigrant students

The Woodburn School Board rejected a resolution Tuesday night expressing public support for the rights and protections of immigrant students.

The proposed “Reaffirming Safe and Welcoming Schools for All” resolution stated that Woodburn schools should be welcome places for everyone, and that all children, regardless of immigration status, have a right to free public education — and the ability to access it safely. It says the board is committed to eliminating barriers that may prevent students from attending school, including “the fear and anxiety related to immigration topics and federal immigration policies.”

In a split vote that surprised community members and union leaders, the board majority worried that a public statement on a contentious issue could put the district in a risky position. While some pushed the board to do more to protect immigrant students, concerns from three board members led to the resolution’s defeat.

The resolution repeats language from Oregon’s existing sanctuary laws, as well as from messages previously shared by Woodburn Superintendent Juan Larios.

For example, immigration officials are not allowed to access any part of a school beyond the front office without proper paperwork. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE, officials can’t remove a student from school. And student records are protected under federal and state law.

Larios confirmed to the school board multiple times that nothing in the resolution was new. He said it was approved by the district’s legal team before the meeting.

“We do have protocols in place in our buildings to protect students,” the superintendent said. “This is just an opportunity for us to all get behind a singular message.”

The largely symbolic resolution failed on a 2-3 vote, with members Ryan Beyer and Courtney Elwell voting in favor. Chair Noemi Legaspi, vice-chair Rosie Burkoff and new member Lisa Carr voted against it.

Larios told OPB in a statement Wednesday that the board’s vote will not diminish the district’s efforts to support students from immigrant families. His office has sent out information meant to lower anxiety around immigration concerns several times, including late last month.

“Students, staff, families, and community members need to feel safe and welcomed when accessing our campuses,” he said. “The fear and anxiety related to immigration is real for many, and we remain committed to creating inclusive environments where all our students can thrive.”

Community members shocked by the vote

Districts across the region have passed similar “safe and welcoming” declarations over the years. Portland Public Schools’ board, representing the largest district in the state, unanimously approved such a resolution last month, just ahead of President Donald Trump taking office again. Trump has promised mass deportation on an “unprecedented scale” in his second term.

But Woodburn’s failed resolution is especially surprising given about two-thirds of the mid-Willamette Valley city identify as Latino or Hispanic, and some households have mixed-citizenship status. State figures from the 2023-24 school year show 87% of Woodburn students and 42% of teachers identified as Hispanic or Latino. Both of those district rates are significantly higher than the statewide averages.

The city of Woodburn also has a long history with Russian-speaking residents, including Russian Orthodox Old Believers, who settled in the area after escaping religious persecution in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Other religious sects and immigrants from Slavic nations live in Woodburn as well, as previously reported by the Statesman Journal. The school district is unique in Oregon for its Russian program offerings today.

Of note, though Oregon’s voting majority supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election, Marion County, where Woodburn is located, tipped slightly in favor of Trump.

Community members such as Tony Salm — a fifth-grade Spanish dual-language immersion teacher and president of the Woodburn Education Association — have been fighting for a resolution like this for weeks.

When Salm testified to the school board Tuesday night, he did so with the belief that such a resolution would pass easily. No one testified against the resolution during the meeting. Salm’s testimony, instead, focused more on what comes next.

“While this is a vital first step in affirming our support for the students we serve, a resolution, in and of itself, is merely a statement of principle. We can’t rest on that,” he told the school board members.

“The test for us, over the coming weeks, months and years, is what we do in our classrooms to put these words into action.”

He said hiring more school counselors, for example, could help support students’ emotional and physical well-being. Another teacher suggested distributing red cards created by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center to students and families that inform immigrants of their legal rights.

When the board didn’t pass the resolution, Salm told OPB that the majority’s “refusal to speak up in defense of the most vulnerable members of this community, many of whom are currently living in a state of fear, is a shameful derogation of their primary duty to represent and advocate for all of our students.” He added that standing up for these students and their families should have been a “no-brainer.”

Jody Daniels described the vote as “indefensible.” Daniels is a former board member and district administrator who’s lived in Woodburn for 40 years. She said she’s raised six children who graduated from the district. She has kids who’ve taught in the district and grandchildren who are current students.

She didn’t testify on Tuesday — rather, she sent in a statement — because she assumed the resolution would pass unanimously.

“I am not asking the board to do something illegal or outside the scope of their responsibilities,” she wrote in her statement. “But I am asking the board to make clear to our families that you will have their backs and assist them in any way possible to assert their rights.”

Daniels listed examples from other leaders — school districts, the Woodburn Police Chief, various mayors and governors — who have issued clarifying and supportive statements for immigrant families.

“In the very least,” she said. “I ask the Woodburn School Board to do the same.”

When they didn’t, Daniels told OPB: “I am astounded.”

Board members’ arguments

The Woodburn school board members spent about an hour Tuesday night discussing the resolution before it ultimately failed.

Supporters Beyer and Elwell both said this would just be a first step — but a crucial one. Beyer said the board should have taken this step a long time ago, guiding the district on how to roll out key information, action and resources. But instead, they’re playing catch up.

“At first, I was kind of against it. I was like, ‘We’ve already done this. We’ve already put out this information,’ ” Beyer said. “But we as a board, we haven’t. The school district, [Superintendent] Juan [Larios] has, but we as a board, we haven’t done anything.”

Burkoff’s pushback against the resolution, in part, seemed to center around incidents outside the district’s control.

At one point, Elwell, speaking in favor of the resolution, said, “I lived in Woodburn at a time when ICE used to roll in, in … painted school buses, and they used to take away people’s dads. And it was a very scary thing. This is reality for a lot of families.”

Burkoff responded, “They took away the dads, but they didn’t come to the school districts.”

“No, because taking away kids wasn’t an option,” Elwell said. “They were looking for illegal, working parents. They weren’t looking for undocumented kids. Now, that’s the fear; that’s what they’re threatening these children with.”

When voting no, Burkoff said she wanted more feedback from the Oregon School Boards Association regarding whether such a resolution would affect their funding. OSBA has put out information and resources about possible impacts of federal decisions and an FAQ on immigration enforcement, which is neutral on the question of whether to adopt a “sanctuary” resolution.

Carr seemed to support the ideas behind the resolution, but the newest board member wanted the specific language to have less legalese and be more user-friendly. She wanted more time to look over the resolution, but she was also concerned about it putting an “unnecessary target” on the district’s back.

Chair Legaspi was firm that her main issue was funding concerns. When she asked legal counsel whether approving a resolution like this would jeopardize the district’s federal funding, she said they told her, “We don’t know.”

Beyer and Elwell pushed back on this, asking whether Legaspi was concerned then about all the other actions already taken by the district that were summarized in the resolution. Legaspi said her focus was specifically on whether to approve the resolution.

Federal funding for education supports higher-poverty schools under Title I, preschool programs, school meals, special education, services for students experiencing homelessness and more. A federal judge on Friday largely blocked Trump’s executive orders aimed at ending government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, saying they likely violate the constitution.

“My role in many of these things is to maintain neutral and think about what is best for all,” Legaspi said. “And so, I don’t know that this is best for all, especially when we don’t know if it’s going to impact funding.”

After the vote, Woodburn board members said they planned to reconsider a possible resolution at a meeting in March.