LAUSD supe kicks off new semester discussing immigration, cellphones, health

As students returned to school on Monday, Jan. 6, following their holiday break, officials for the Los Angeles Unified School District highlighted new policies and services the district plans to roll out or expand on during the second half of the school year.

Among the things to look for in the new semester are efforts to educate staff and families about immigrant rights, the rollout of a new cellphone ban, and tele-mental health services for LAUSD families and employees.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho kicked off Monday’s press conference at John W. Mack Elementary in South Los Angeles, where officials gathered to welcome students and staff back to campus, by acknowledging widespread concerns throughout the district that President-elect Donald Trump will make good on his plan to mass deport immigrants who are in the country illegally.

In L.A. County, over 800,000 people are undocumented, and 1.1 million people live with someone who is undocumented.

Shortly after Trump was reelected in November, the LAUSD school board reaffirmed itself as a “sanctuary district” for immigrants.

“This board, this administration, shall not waver from our commitment, our professional and moral responsibility, to care for, to protect, to support our students and their families regardless of their immigration status,” Carvalho said.

He added that the district will use “all available resources” in partnership with the city and county to declare schools as “protected ground.”

“We will not allow any law enforcement entity to take any type of immigration action against our students or their families within our care,” Carvalho said, adding that the pledge applies also to district employees, hundreds of whom are DACA recipients who immigrated to the United States as children.

The superintendent, himself an immigrant, announced the district will begin “aggressive training” this month to educate students and staff with information and to provide students with “Know Your Rights” cards – such as students’ right to a free, public education – if they’re confronted by someone about their immigration status.

On the topic of the district’s cellphone ban, Carvalho said the policy is undergoing a “soft launch” this month, with the policy expected to take full effect come Feb. 1.

Once the policy is in place, students won’t be allowed to use their phones on campus during regular school hours. The devices – which include smart watches, earbuds and smart glasses – must be turned off and stored away.

Depending on what each school has decided to do, the phones may be stored in students’ backpacks, on classroom shelves or in special pouches that lock magnetically and that will require deactivation in order for students to open the pouches to retrieve their phones.

Students will only be allowed access to their phones in an emergency. Exceptions can be made, however, for students with special needs who use their phones as part of their “individualized education program,” or who rely on their phones for health reasons or for translation services if they’re still learning English.

While acknowledging that not everyone has agreed with the cellphone policy, Carvalho said phones – and social media – have had a “deleterious impact” on kids’ mental health, and some students use  phones to cyberbully, make drug deals or schedule fights.

“We need to recognize that, before we condemn the application of the policy,” Carvalho said, adding that district officials believe “we’re onto something powerful here.”

“We were the very first large district in the country to adopt this policy,” he added. “This policy has now been adopted by a number of other districts, and in some cases, entire states. So I think there’s wide recognition that at some point we ought to do right by kids, even if it comes at the expense of some degree of inconvenience and controversy. It is the right thing at the right time for absolutely the right reason.”

In addition to the upcoming cellphone policy, Carvalho announced Monday that the district is launching a tele-mental health service for students, families and employees this semester.

It will be the first time that students and their families can access the resource from home, which is being made available at no cost to the district, Carvalho said.

District officials also said during the press conference that they’ll continue to focus on academic growth.

Karla Estrada, deputy superintendent for instruction, said the district has focused on schools that need more support.

“We’ll continue to do that to ensure that those schools that have the right plans in place, just need that extra support to accelerate that growth, that we continue to do that,” Estrada said. “We showed that last year we can do it, and we are going to continue to emphasize that support again this year.”