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SALT LAKE CITY — Students, parents and activists crowded a meeting of the Salt Lake City School District board Tuesday to propose a resolution designed to protect undocumented classmates.
“This resolution will keep our students’ documentation information private,” said Amy Dominguez of the pro-immigrant group, Unidad Inmigrante.
Dominguez said her group worked with West High School students to craft the resolution, which is aimed at preventing schools from sharing documentation information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“These are people above all, and we just want to make sure we are keeping them safe in our community,” Dominguez said.
Students addressed the school board raising concerns about the threat of deportation.
“We want to seek asylum in the same places that are supposed to help us strive for our future,” one student told the body.
Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen said the district does not share that information as it is. “We don’t collect that or track that in any manner, so we don’t have that type of information that we can even share,” Olsen said.
Board president Heather Bennett told attendees that board members couldn’t immediately act on the resolution because they had not seen it prior to Tuesday night, but that they would have conversations before the next board meeting, scheduled for Mar. 7.
“We want you to feel safe and welcome here,” Bennett said. “We will take the resolution under advisement.”