Educators detail impact of Operation Metro Surge on students, schools

Mornings have changed for Leslee Sherk.

“We used to begin our mornings at Columbia Academy focused on instruction and student engagement and academic growth. Now we begin in crisis response,” said the academy principal.

For a second day, educators from across the state detailed what they had seen during the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge.

Thursday they told the House Education Finance Committee of students being taken to Texas holding centers without notice, buses being pulled over and raided by federal immigration agents and federal agents using chemical irritants on students and staff during dismissal from school.

“Today I am here simply telling you the truth about what it feels like inside our schools. There is fear, and fear erodes attendance, trust and learning,” said Sherk.

[MORE: Education panel fails to approve bill that’d keep ICE away from schools, students]

Educators specifically spoke about how fear has affected spiking absenteeism and educational outcomes at their schools:

• “When families hear about legal citizens being stopped steps from our doors, it directly explains the unprecedented fear and the 1,200 absences we saw on that one day,” Willmar Superintendent Bill Adams said.
• “Academic progress is being disrupted in real time. Hard won post-pandemic gains are being undone,” said Joey Cienian, executive director at Minnesota Association of Charter Schools.
• “Fear and learning are incompatible. It’s basic science,” said Christian Ledesma, principal of Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis.

Fridley Schools Superintendent Brenda Lewis was among top district officials who discussed the economic hurdles to creating new online learning programs on short notice while facing the possibility of cut funding due to absenteeism.

“The ICE surge is reducing revenue, increasing costs and has pushed already-strained districts’ budgets into a much deeper financial problem that will be felt immediately and years to come,” Lewis said.

Rep. Ron Kresha (R-Little Falls) highlighted other issues within Minnesota schools beyond the impacts of recent immigration, including low reading and math proficiency scores, underfunded special education programs and numerous unfunded mandates.

“These issues do not stem from the immigration enforcement. These issues have not been resolved,” Kresha said.