In the two months since President Donald Trump has taken office, he has signed a number of executive orders, several of which have raised concerns among local community members regarding their potential impacts on the Shorewood School District. In an interview with Ripples, Laurie Burgos, superintendent, clarified district policy regarding the privacy of undocumented students and court rulings on Title IX.
In January, Trump issued multiple executive orders relating to immigration, including the declaration of a national emergency regarding the presence of undocumented immigrants within U.S. borders and a call for the mass deportation of “illegal aliens.” For many, a primary concern brought on by these executive orders is the potential for raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which, in some instances, has led to the absence of large numbers of children from public schools over fears of deportation (Associated Press).
According to Burgos, superintendents across the country have moved quickly to assess the significance of these executive orders and to determine whether they impact local school districts. Burgos says that the executive orders have no direct impact on the Shorewood School District due to Wisconsin’s policy of local control.
“Our school boards are the ones who set policy and dictate the terms of what the school and work environments are for students and staff,” Burgos said. “[Shorewood] already has policies in place with regard to our property and who we allow onto our property. Those policies apply to ICE and ICE agents.”
Still, Burgos acknowledges the fear families may have with regard to new federal immigration policy, and she highlights the importance of clear and continuous communication in resolving concerns. In a communication to families and staff, Burgos noted two particular district policies that pertain to student safety and privacy. Policy 5440 regards interactions between Shorewood schools and governmental agencies, and Policy 7440 regards facility security within the district. She also mentioned the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prohibits the release of educational records without parental consent.
“[The district] has the authority to grant access to people to enter our buildings,” Burgos said. “We don’t just have an open door policy—that includes law enforcement and ICE agents specifically. [Additionally], the FERPA law protects student records. Wisconsin also has a separate pupil records law. Again, we cannot share that information; those laws protect student records. Any information we have internally about students, unless we had something signed by a judge, we [cannot] turn over.”
ICE’s Milwaukee branch did not respond to request for comment on its activity in Milwaukee public schools surrounding raids and student monitoring.
Per newly outlined district guidelines, staff members are not authorized to assist ICE agents—they are required to defer to the superintendent.
“[Agents] would either be directed to [my office] or I would go out to the school they were at and work with them,” Burgos said. “But they can’t enter our property unless they have a court order or a judicially signed warrant. Those are the only cases where we would have to comply, and even if that were the case, I don’t feel comfortable verifying if the warrant is properly signed; we would contact our legal counsel and look for guidance from them.”
Along with updating policy, the district also retains employees who are experienced in matters relating to undocumented students, Burgos explains. Burgos also notes that communications to families and staff in recent months included resources from organizations like the ACLU for those concerned over safety and privacy as they pertain to immigration enforcement.
“I think certain populations of students and families do experience this differently,” Burgos said. “We have staff members who are specially trained to work with a lot of our families who might have different circumstances; they are in close contact with people and also available to provide resources and support. In response to the communication that I sent out, I received messages of appreciation from family members and staff, just that sharing that information was helpful to them in knowing that we already had policies in place, because there’s just a general sense of fear and uncertainty that most of us are experiencing right now.”
In additional executive orders, Trump calls to defend women from “gender ideology extremism,” to restore “biological truth” to the federal government, and to ban those who were assigned male at birth, namely transgender women, from women’s sports. Burgos explains that although these executive orders do not directly impact the district due to local control, a recent court ruling reverted regulations of Title IX, a civil rights law which prohibits sex-based discrimination, back to those of the original Trump administration enacted in 2020. Trump’s Title IX regulations strike explicit protections for transgender students.
“The federal government does not get to dictate what local school districts teach; again, that’s a school board decision around curriculum,” Burgos said. “[However], because the [Title IX regulations] were a court decision, we do have to comply with that order. We already had policy in place that addressed the 2020 regulations, but that is an example of the difference in when we must comply versus when we scan our local policies and know that we have control over the decision.”
Burgos hopes to help the community avoid a sense of anxiety and upheaval as Trump continues to sign executive orders. She highlights sharing her superintendent reports at school board meetings and biweekly newsletters to staff as potential strands of communication to help quell concerns.
“As a district, I think…it’s important [to] remember that we can still be Shorewood,” Burgos said. “We are committed to our values. We aren’t going to change and we will obviously be in compliance with things that we must be in compliance with, but when it comes to who we are as a community, this is when we need to remember who we are and to be committed to our values.”