• DOI:10.1177/0013124517690227
• Corpus ID: 152032675

When Boundaries Around the “Secret” are Tested: A School Community Response to the Policing of Undocumented Immigrants

@article{Crawford2018WhenBA,
  title={When Boundaries Around the “Secret” are Tested: A School Community Response to the Policing of Undocumented Immigrants},
  author={Emily R. Crawford},
  journal={Education and Urban Society},
  year={2018},
  volume={50},
  pages={155 - 182}
}

• Emily R. Crawford
• Published 1 February 2018
• Education
• Education and Urban Society

This case study focuses on a 2008 incident where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vans appeared near a K-5 elementary school. It was the first time school personnel experienced the impact of federal immigration agents policing illegality in their school community, and the event set off a chain of decision-making choices as to how personnel would respond. This article specifically explores how educators’ roles within a school shaped their access to information and subsequent sensemaking about ICE, asking two questions: (a) How does one’s position within a school shape a person’s sensemaking if a situation necessitates in-the-moment policy making? and (b) How might prior knowledge and professional position affect the information one accesses, shares, and uses in the policy-making process? Evidence comes from interviews with 14 personnel who reflected on the event, and shows that Aurora staff quickly established a policy and protocol within a few days to keep the school environment a safe space. The findings demonstrate that the school principal was a key “sensemaker” for other personnel. Ultimately, the school created its first school policy and protocol to ensure the school was a safe space for undocumented students, fusing a familiar school policy with new policy.