Granite School District: No ICE in Schools
Clear procedures, trained staff, and strong communication for all families across Utah's largest school district.
What we are asking for
Three core asks — what's missing and most urgent:
- Clear family communication about what the district will and will not do — proactive, multilingual, and consistent across all schools
- A community incident response plan — safe dismissal, guidance for detained parents, attendance flexibility
- Student education on rights and safe behavior — what to do if students encounter enforcement on the way to or from school
Already informally in place — needs to be standardized and formalized:
- Require a judicial warrant — signed by a judge, not an administrative ICE form, before officers enter or remove a student
- A written front office protocol posted at every school: who to call, what to say, what to document
- Annual staff training on warrant types, escalation procedures, and ICE-specific scenarios
Why it matters
- Fear and uncertainty around enforcement reduce school attendance — even when nothing happens on campus; clear policies and proactive communication are among the most effective tools districts have to keep students in school
- Without a consistent written policy, the same question gets 90+ different answers depending on which administrator is on duty
- Granite's concentration of immigrant, mixed-status, and refugee families in West Valley City, Kearns, and Taylorsville creates real and documented absenteeism risk
- Staff deserve a written protocol — not an impossible, unguided decision under pressure
How we win in Granite School District
This effort is organized and strategic. The goal is not just awareness — it is policy change.
Recruit and grow
Build a base of parents, educators, and community members across Granite's diverse communities.
Sign up →Build a coalition
Connect parent groups, faith communities, refugee organizations, and educators — and coordinate instead of working in isolation.
Coalition guide →Develop a strategy
Align on a unified ask, prepare speakers, and build relationships with board members before the meeting.
Full strategy →Show up together
Bring a unified group to the board and make a coordinated, specific request for policy adoption.
Board engagement guide →What is happening now
- Granite has partial practices — FERPA compliance, no immigration status collection, crisis response plans, and multilingual communication infrastructure — but no documented, district-wide operational protocol
- How a school responds to an enforcement visit depends on which administrator is available — responses vary across the district's 90+ campuses
- Front office staff have no written procedure for what to do, who to call, or what they are and are not required to allow
- Families — including Granite's significant refugee, immigrant, and mixed-status communities — cannot get a clear, consistent, current answer about what the district would do if officers arrived at their child's school; past communication has occurred but is not standardized or regularly updated
- The district has no plan for the most disruptive scenario: ICE active in a neighborhood during school hours, with parents detained and students uncertain about pickup
- As one of Utah's largest districts — and the one serving the largest concentration of immigrant and mixed-status families — the absence of a consistent written policy affects more students than any other single gap in the state
For organizations and community leaders
We are actively building a coalition in Granite School District to pass a clear, written policy protecting students and families.
This is a coordinated effort with a clear plan:
- Recruit community members across the district
- Build a coalition of aligned organizations
- Develop a shared strategy and messaging
- Show up together at school board meetings to make a unified request
If your organization works with students, families, educators, or immigrant communities — or if you are simply a community member who cares about this issue — your voice matters in this effort.
Ways to participate:
- Join coalition planning conversations
- Help recruit community members
- Provide a speaker for school board meetings
- Share this effort with your network
Key organizations to work with
These organizations already work with Granite educators, families, and communities. Working together — not in isolation — is how policy change happens.
Granite Education Association (GEA)
Represents educators across Granite School District — the most direct institutional voice with the school board on staff-facing policy.
Utah Education Association (UEA)
Statewide educator organization with organizing infrastructure and a membership that spans every school district in Utah.
Utah Immigrant Advocacy Coalition (UIAC)
Coordinates statewide immigrant advocacy and community engagement — a central hub for connecting Granite-focused work to the broader Utah network.
ACLU of Utah
Provides legal expertise, civil rights advocacy, and policy guidance — useful for framing the ask and backing it with legal authority.
Comunidades Unidas
Community-based organization supporting Latino families through leadership development and civic organizing in the Salt Lake area.
Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Faith-based organization promoting ethical governance and family-centered policy — a credible voice across Utah's political spectrum.
Want a deeper strategy? See how to build a coalition →
What you can do
Granite School District's board can adopt a protective policy at any meeting. Here is how to make that happen.
Sign up for updates
Get notified about upcoming board meetings, action alerts, and new developments in Granite District.
Sign UpConnect with local organizations
Parent groups, faith communities, refugee support organizations, educator networks, and community members throughout Granite School District are all welcome. You do not need to belong to a specific group to get involved.
Utah Resources & Partners →Read the board engagement guide
Public comment is only one part of an effective strategy. This guide covers how to meet with board members individually, send effective emails, and coordinate a unified ask.
Board Engagement Guide →Email a board member
A brief, personal email from a constituent asking for a written policy is more impactful than it sounds. Board members read their mail — especially when it comes from multiple people.
Find Board Members ↗Attend a board meeting
Public comment gives you 2–3 minutes to speak directly to the board. Showing up with others — even just to sit in the audience — sends a clear signal of organized support.
Meeting Schedule ↗Review the talking points
Research-backed talking points, supporting statistics, and arguments for board speakers — organized so different speakers can cover different angles without overlap.
Talking Points →Share this page
Know a parent, teacher, or community leader in Granite School District? Send them here. More people means a stronger ask to the board.
Share this page →Granite communities are strongest when organizations work together. Help connect parent groups, educators, and community organizations across the district. Policy change happens when multiple organizations coordinate — not when groups act alone.
We are actively bringing together parent groups, educators, faith communities, refugee support organizations, and any community members who care about keeping schools safe — to develop a shared strategy and present a unified request to the school board.
Granite School District Immigration FAQ (Official)
Granite School District has published official guidance addressing immigration-related questions, student protections, and how the district responds to immigration enforcement.
This FAQ is the district's current public guidance and should be considered the source of truth.
What the district says
"All children… are entitled to equal access to free public education, regardless of their immigration status."
"Granite School District does not ask for or trade immigration status information."
"Schools do not ask for or maintain such information."
"FERPA protects student records… except in specific situations such as valid subpoenas."
"Members of GPD do not inquire about immigration status."
"We are committed to ensuring that all students… are respected and have access to a quality education."
Key takeaways
- Students have a constitutional right to attend school regardless of immigration status
- The district does not collect or track immigration status
- Student records are protected and only shared with proper legal authority
- School police do not investigate immigration status
- The district emphasizes safety, inclusion, and non-discrimination
This FAQ reflects current district guidance. It does not provide a detailed operational protocol for how schools should respond to immigration enforcement activity in real time.
Common questions
What does Granite School District officially say about immigration?
Granite School District has published an official FAQ outlining its policies on immigration, student rights, and interactions with law enforcement.
What would this policy actually do?
A protective school policy creates a clear, district-wide procedure — not a general statement of values. Specifically, it would:
- Require immigration enforcement officers to present a judicial warrant (signed by a judge, not an administrative ICE form) before entering non-public areas of any school or removing a student
- Give every front office staff member a written script and a clear person to call — so no one has to make a real-time legal decision under pressure
- Require the district to notify families when enforcement activity affects a student or a school
- Create a consistent, documented response across all schools in the district
It would not prevent lawful enforcement with proper legal authority, and it does not require the district to take any position on immigration policy.
Is this legal?
Yes. Schools have the legal authority — and arguably the obligation — to require proper legal documentation before allowing access to students or student records.
- Plyler v. Doe (1982): Schools cannot deny education on the basis of immigration status, creating a duty to protect access to learning.
- FERPA: Schools are already legally required to protect student records from disclosure without proper legal authority.
- Fourth Amendment: Requiring a judicial warrant is consistent with constitutional standards that apply to government actors, including immigration enforcement.
- DHS Sensitive Locations Policy: Federal guidance already discourages enforcement at schools. A district policy formalizes what federal guidelines already acknowledge.
See the strategy page for detailed legal analysis.
Why does this matter specifically in Granite?
Granite School District serves more than 60,000 students across a wide geographic area that includes some of the state's most diverse and most directly affected communities.
- Communities in West Valley City, Kearns, Taylorsville, and Midvale include large Hispanic/Latino, Pacific Islander, and refugee populations with significant immigration enforcement exposure
- A policy in Granite would protect more students than any other single district action in Utah
- Without a consistent policy, families in affected communities have no way of knowing whether their specific school has any procedures in place at all
The size of the district amplifies both the problem and the impact of a solution.
What does local law enforcement have to do with schools?
Several Utah counties participate in 287(g) agreements — federal-local partnerships that authorize local law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement functions. This means enforcement risk in Utah extends beyond ICE agents to include local sheriffs and police in everyday encounters.
A school district policy cannot override those agreements, but it can establish the school building as a distinct protected space with its own written rules — giving families a clear, reliable guarantee that the school operates differently.
What does Granite already have in place?
The following reflects Granite's current public guidance, based on its official immigration FAQ.
Granite is not starting from zero. The district has meaningful existing practices — but they fall short of a clear, enforceable protocol. The ask is to make what already exists operational and consistent across all 90+ schools.
- Does not collect or share student immigration status except in limited, legally required circumstances
- Protects student records under FERPA, including from unauthorized law enforcement requests
- Has crisis response plans for situations where a parent or guardian is detained
- Has multilingual communication infrastructure capable of reaching families in Spanish, Tongan, Samoan, Somali, Arabic, and other languages
- Has equity and family support staff in schools serving immigrant and refugee populations
The gap is not values — it is documented, real-time guidance for a front office staff member when an officer walks in. A written policy makes existing commitments reliable and consistent across every school in the district.
Full strategic analysis
For detailed research, policy design guidance, coalition strategy, and implementation tools, see the organizer strategy page.
Granite School District can act now.
The board does not need to wait for state law. A clear, written policy is within reach — and with Granite's size, adoption here would be one of the most significant steps Utah has taken to protect students.