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The Sacramento Bee

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Sacramento City Unified school leaders clash with city, police over ICE notification

Sacramento City Unified School District leaders are pressing city officials to notify schools when federal immigration agents are operating nearby. SCUSD Superintendent Cancy McArn sent a letter Friday morning to City Manager Maraskeshia Smith requesting a meeting with Smith, Mayor Kevin McCarty, interim Police Chief Zachary Bales and several City Council members to “strengthen communication” with the district’s Safe Schools department. “Recent ICE enforcement activity, including the well-documented activity near Ethel Phillips Elementary School, has raised significant concerns about the fear and uncertainty experienced by our families and the lack of communication with the district,” she wrote. McArn’s letter was a formal request for a meeting, but school board trustee and civil rights attorney Jasjit Singh took a firmer stance amid surging federal immigration enforcement in the capital region. “Communicate with the school district — we don’t need kids walking past masked individuals holding guns,” he said. Singh and two other trustees addressed the City Council last week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were spotted near the south Sacramento school, causing confusion and concern among students and families during afterschool pickup. They asked city officials to notify the district when Sacramento police become aware of immigration enforcement