I led the strategy development and the media campaign, generating weekly coverage for 3 months in a row, with over 65 articles.
The Associacion de Jovenes Unidos en Accion (AJUA) has been working hard to pass a policy in the Roaring Fork School District #1 (RE-1) prohibiting cross-designated School Resource Officers (SRO’s) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from entering school property, accept under emergency situations.
AJUA has confirmed that RE-1 has a practice of allowing SRO’s to be cross-designated through Department of Homeland Investigation’s (DHI) Title 19 cross-designation training. Three SRO’s in the district either are currently assigned or have been assigned in the past to the Western Slope Operation Community Shield Task Force (OCSTF), a DHI task force targeting gang activity. AJUA believes the presence of SRO’s that are assigned to ICE task forces such as the OCSTF create a “chilling” effect on undocumented students and their parents’ participation in RE-1 schools. AJUA believes that ICE enforcement and the schools should never be mixed.
AJUA has persevered in the face of obstacles and distractions and has tirelessly pushed the RE-1 Board to allow them a space on the agenda in order to present a formal policy. After almost three months of pressing their case to the Board, it is looking like AJUA will be put on the agenda in January and given the opportunity to present their case! Please stay tuned, as we will need statewide support applying pressure to make sure this collaboration does not spread to other parts of the state.
Some coverage from the campaign:
