Teachers call on CMS to have more ‘human’ approach to Border Patrol raids
At the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education’s first meeting since U.S. Border Patrol descended on Charlotte, educators called on the district to do more.
“What our community needs is leadership that matches the gravity of what they are living through,” Tiffany Newkirk, a teacher for multilingual learners at Pinewood Elementary told board members at a meeting Tuesday night. “I’m not asking for CMS to take a political position: I’m asking them to take a human one.”
U.S. Border Patrol agents have made over 200 arrests since sweeping into the city as part of its “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” which began Saturday. On Monday, over 30,000 CMS students were marked absent from school — 21% of the district’s total enrollment.
CMS leaders have outlined protocols for staff in the event immigration enforcement comes onto a school campus. It’s also reiterated that no enforcement activities have happened on a CMS campus, nor is the district aware of any plans to do so.
But, teachers say families still fear encountering Border Patrol off-campus that they’ve gotten little to no guidance from district leadership about what to say to students who are afraid their loved ones will be detained.
“I cannot overstate the terror that these families are experiencing,” said Rebecca Costa, another CMS educator of multilingual students. “Our community has responded beautifully, but we need our city leaders to do more, and we need the school board to advocate to them on our behalf.”
Costa said she and colleagues delivered food to students’ families on Monday, many of whom were too frightened to answer the door. She said educators have not received any communication about how to address immigration enforcement related concerns from leaders in the district’s Learning and Language Acquisition team, nor have they received “messages of concern or solidarity,” Costa said.
Lucy Silverstein, student advisor to the board and senior at Providence High School, said, despite CMS’ assurances there is no known immigration enforcement planned on its campuses, a “quiet tension” permeated the halls Monday and Tuesday.
“What I’m hearing directly from students is they’re scared. The question students keep asking is simple: how do they know they’re safe?” Silverstein said. “How do we make them feel steady when everything outside is unpredictable?”
Costa, Newkirk and others at Tuesday’s meeting called for more guidance from the district about what to say to students who are frightened amid the immigration crackdown, trauma-informed resources, know-your-rights information to share with families, and acknowledgement from leaders that this week is not “business as usual.”
They also called on the district to provide students with the option to attend school remotely while Border Patrol is conducting operations in Charlotte.
Why is school in-person?
CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill opened Tuesday’s meeting by explaining the district’s controversial choice to continue school in-person as usual this week, despite concerns about immigration enforcement and student absences.
“We considered remote instruction but determined that would not be the best course of action at this time,” she said. “Going remote may address one concern but there are other unintended consequences.”
Hill cited the fact that many students depend on free and reduced-price school meals, parents may lack child care during the day and remote learning means many of the district’s hourly employees may go without work.
Most board members expressed feelings of concern and solidarity with the district’s families, with Vice Chair Dee Rankin promising the board will “create a framework where (families) are safe,” though he did not outline specifics.
Community efforts
While some are calling for a more “human” response from CMS, parents around the district have been mobilizing to protect students and families as they travel to and from school.
At many campuses, parents are volunteering in shifts at drop-off and pick-up spots to stand guard outside of CMS schools and alert families if they become aware of suspected immigration enforcement activity nearby. Others are organizing carpools to help bring kids to school whose families may be frightened to leave their homes.
Two such parents are Laura Blum and Patricia Hoke at Shamrock Gardens Elementary School in east Charlotte, who stood watch at pick-up time Monday with a sign marked with a simple message: “NO ICE.”
Blum, Hoke and a few other parents met Sunday night to brainstorm how they could respond to the presence of Border Patrol agents in their community.
“It kind of started as a few of us just trying to figure out what we could actually do within our power,” Blum said.
Meanwhile, students at several CMS high schools have organized walk-outs in protest of Border Patrol operations in Charlotte.
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 10:22 PM.
