LAUSD ‘compassion fund’ to help immigrant families amid ICE raids

As many immigrant parents express fear about sending their children back to school next week, Los Angeles Unified has set a goal of $1 million in donations for a “compassion fund” for families affected by federal immigration raids, Supt. Alberto Carvalho announced Tuesday.

The funds donated to the LAUSD Education Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the school system, will cover needs from “A to Z,” said Carvalho during an annual event in which he makes home visits to encourage regular school attendance.

“We’re talking about support systems for kids who may have to go into court or employees,” Carvalho said while visiting two families that live near Sheridan Elementary School in Boyle Heights. “Additional transportation costs that may go beyond our school buses, anything the family may need. We are not restricting it. We want to hear what the challenge is, what the difficulty is, and then use the fund to bring ease, comfort and viable solutions for these families.”

Food aid could be provided through other sources, Carvalho added: “We have very viable partners that have already committed to providing the food through information that we provide.”

The district estimates that it employs at least 300 staff members who lack citizenship — all working legally with either Temporary Protected Status, for immigrants who were in danger in their native country, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, for immigrants who arrived as children. The employees are at risk of losing their right to live and work in the United States.

Carvalho’s pledges — on top of measures already taken that include trying to establish safe zones around campuses — come as teachers union members rallied last weekend demanding that the district do more to help immigrant families in the nation’s second-largest school district.

At that union gathering, school board President Scott Schmerelson, who attended as a spectator, said he agreed with the intent of the union to help affected families and employees as much as possible and said that district officials would work with labor leaders.

The impact of immigration raids presents a new wild card to concerns about attendance as the Aug. 14 start of the school year approaches.

Craig Sipes, the Sheridan Elementary principal, said that the school is virtually all Latino and that almost all families are low income. Economic activity in the neighborhood has declined sharply, he said.

“We have some families who are scared to come out from their apartments, from their homes,” Sipes said. “Some kids are staying home from school. Parents are staying home from work within the community.”

Sipes said that the impact of immigration raids accelerated toward the end of the most recent school year and that it’s unclear what will happen next week.

Parents are invited onto school grounds on the first day. After that, the school will do what it can to expedite pickup and drop-off.

His message to parents, he said, is that school will be a safe place — and the best place for their children to be.

“I know parents are concerned, and I understand that concern,” Sipes said.

The compassion fund is one way to address the families’ worries and needs. Online, the fund’s mission is described as addressing “acute hardships,” including those faced by:

• Students experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
• Recently arrived students and families to LAUSD.
• Families affected by unexpected personal or community emergencies.

The fund aims to “provide discreet, flexible aid through school-based staff who know their communities best.”

The spending could include support for emergency housing or relocation; food, diapers and school essentials; transportation to crucial appointments; temporary caregiving or child supervision; and other “urgent needs that create barriers to learning and stability.”

Carvalho made it clear Tuesday that a central focus would be responding to needs of families affected by immigration raids and other immigration-related hardships. In initially discussing the compassion fund Tuesday morning, Carvalho said it already had amassed $1 million. Later, district staff clarified to say that the initial goal is to raise $1 million. The amount raised was not immediately provided.

He spoke about the fund during the district’s annual “iAttend” outreach, which focuses attention on families struggling with transportation, academic and mental health issues that result in poor student attendance. Carvalho and his predecessors have regularly participated before the start of school and occasionally later into the school year.

Parent Elida Villalobos, who received a visit in Boyle Heights, has a particularly challenging opening of school ahead. The two oldest of her five children are starting in new schools — Roosevelt High and Hollenbeck Middle — while her 4-year-old is beginning homeschooling.

Carvalho — along with an entourage of district staff and media — descended on Villalobos’ apartment. Villalobos knew they were coming and was rewarded for taking part with backpacks for her children and gift cards.

Villalobos recounted how Matias, 12, went through a long period of fifth grade during which he didn’t want to go to school. It was harder for Villalobos to deal with at the time because she was pregnant.

By the sixth grade, Matias was turning things around and said Tuesday that he’s looking forward to starting middle school as a seventh-grader, seeing old friends and making new ones.

Carvalho promised to take the family to a Dodgers game if Matias made it through the first two months without an absence.

Matias said he’s sure he can do it. He’s a big Dodgers fan.

The key to turning around poor attendance is getting to know the family and how it needs to be helped, said Dora Casillas, the attendance counselor at Sheridan Elementary.

The challenges at Sheridan include a substantial population of families experiencing homelessness.

Visiting families wherever they live is a normal part of the job for Casillas, who came in on an unscheduled workday — and her birthday — to visit the family of incoming first-grader Isaac Paguay at the family’s apartment.

Isaac ran to hug Casillas when he learned of her birthday.

The boy, who had turned 6 the day before, promised Carvalho he would go to school “three times a day.”