What happened when a tiny school district refused to 'bend the knee' to Trump and ICE
On an April morning at Winooski high school, the day started with a writing prompt: Do you feel safe in school? Why or why not?
The students – whose families hail from across the globe and speak Arabic, Nepali, Spanish, Somali and more – wrote their responses before reading them aloud.
“I feel safe in school because I saw the school doors are locked every time,” one student said.
“ICE can’t come in,” said another.
The sense of security students feel in this multilingual learner class at the Vermont high school is hard-won. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the federal government has investigated schools for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, rescinded a policy protecting students on school grounds from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests and threatened school districts with the loss of federal funding. Administration officials have also encouraged states to challenge a decades-old supreme court decision guaranteeing undocumented students’ right to public schooling.
While many districts have chosen to go quiet or self-censor, the Winooski school system and its superintendent, Wilmer Chavarria, have taken the opposite approach.
Last year, this small district of about 800 students was the first in Vermont to pass a sanctuary policy aimed at protecting students from immigration enforcement while at school. Chavarria also refused to sign a document from the Trump administration saying it was complying with the federal ban on DEI efforts in schools.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/03/vermont-school-district-trump-ice
Let's hear it for Winooski!
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