Good morning, CharterFolk.
Today we are pleased to present a Contributor Column from Joey Cienian, Executive Director, Minnesota Association of Charter Schools.
We provide a bio for Joey below.
Joey Cienian is the Executive Director of the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (MACS), where he leads statewide advocacy and support for Minnesota’s chartered public schools and the students they serve. In this role, he works with educators, policymakers, and community leaders to strengthen the charter school sector, promote innovation, and ensure high standards of accountability and transparency in public education.
Before joining MACS, Cienian spent more than a decade working in education in the Twin Cities as a paraprofessional, teacher, and school leader, including serving as Director of Education at the High School for Recording Arts in Saint Paul. His work has focused on student-centered learning, project-based education, and approaches that re-engage young people who have struggled in traditional school settings.
Earlier in his career, he worked as a community organizer with Greenpeace, an experience that shaped his commitment to social justice and public advocacy. Cienian holds an Honors B.A. in History and Political Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Master of Arts in Teaching from Hamline University. He is a licensed social studies teacher and lives in Minnesota with his family.
When Fear Enters the Classroom: Minnesota Charter Schools Navigate the Lasting Impact of Immigration Enforcement Surges
For the past several months, Minnesota’s chartered public school leaders have been operating in what they describe as sustained emergency mode.
The immigration enforcement surge that escalated earlier this winter, peaking in January and February before a subsequent mission change and drawdown, may no longer dominate headlines. But for many school communities, the disruption did not end when the operational posture shifted. Some schools continue to report enforcement activity in their neighborhoods. More broadly, the fear, instability, and academic consequences set in motion during those months remain deeply embedded in daily school life.
What school leaders are describing is not political rhetoric, nor is it a debate about immigration policy. It is a firsthand account of the unintended consequences recent actions have had on schools and their students.
Since federal enforcement operations began escalating, schools across Minnesota have reported:
- Enforcement vehicles and ICE agents parked near school buildings, in some cases using binoculars to look into classrooms.
- Individuals in camouflage, wearing masks, visibly armed, deploying chemical irritants and making arrests in neighborhoods where children walk to school and adjacent to school grounds.
- Unmarked vehicles circling buildings and detaining community members just outside school grounds, triggering secure holds.
- Agents boxing in school buses and waiting at bus stops.
- Vehicles boxed in while students attempt to enter school parking lots.
- Staff detained on their way to work and asked for proof of citizenship.
- Minors detained without parents present.
- Families detained and transferred out of state immediately, regardless of documentation status.
This is not abstract. It has unfolded in school communities across the state. The result has been profound academic disruption.
Families, regardless of documentation status, have been afraid to leave their homes for weeks at a time. Parents have kept children home after witnessing arrests in their neighborhoods, sometimes based on accents or perceived racial profiling.
Attendance has swung dramatically. Some schools have reported weeks in which 40 to 50 percent of their students were absent, despite significant efforts to reach and reconnect with families. Students continue to disappear from classrooms.
Schools have done everything possible to support students, including shifting to hybrid and online learning models. But those systems are not seamless substitutes, particularly for students who rely on in-person instruction and school-based supports. Academic progress is being disrupted in real time. Significant gains schools worked hard to achieve in the post-pandemic period are being scuttled once again.
At the same time, enforcement activity has fundamentally altered school environments.
Buildings have tightened security protocols. Access is restricted. Hours each day are spent on safety planning rather than instruction, often with limited resources. Field trips and sports have been canceled. Outdoor recess has been restricted. After-school programming has been suspended. Staff have carried double duty for months, volunteering to shoulder additional responsibilities.
Many are burning out.
Some teachers and school leaders have been doxxed, threatened, or harassed. Some schools have received bomb threats. In some cases, enforcement agents have reportedly appeared outside the homes of school community members after they spoke publicly.
The psychological toll on students is significant. Children are missing classmates who vanished overnight. Many have witnessed arrests in their neighborhoods. Trust in institutions has eroded, including with those wearing law enforcement, military, or National Guard uniforms. Fear has seeped into places meant to feel safe.
Staff members have become social workers, crisis responders, and trauma counselors on top of being educators. Leaders hold it together publicly, but privately many describe exhaustion and fear. The strain is ongoing, and it is not sustainable.
There is also a financial dimension to the crisis.
In Minnesota’s funding model, when students disappear, funding often follows. Schools serving higher concentrations of English learners and BIPOC students are being hit hardest. Many already operate on thin margins but have found ways to make it work for their communities. Now, some face budgets with holes punched straight through them simply because of the students they serve during this emergency.
The long-term consequences are becoming clear. Schools anticipate:
- Sustained learning loss.
- Long-term mental health consequences for students.
- Deepened achievement gaps.
- Financial destabilization of schools serving the most vulnerable communities.
Even as enforcement patterns have shifted, fear has not disappeared overnight. Rebuilding trust with families and repairing the harm will not come easily.
Minnesota’s Constitution places an affirmative duty on the state to provide a general and uniform system of public education for every child. That commitment recognizes education not as a privilege, but as a civic right. It cannot be fully realized unless schools are safe, accessible, and free from coercion, intimidation, and fear.
The U.S. Supreme Court made clear decades ago in Plyler v. Doe that denying access to education would irreversibly harm children, create a permanent underclass, and ultimately damage society as a whole. That principle remains as relevant today as it was then.
In conversations occurring across political lines, there is consistent agreement on one core idea: protecting student safety and learning is a shared priority. Schools must remain protected spaces for children.
So what are schools asking for?
- They are asking for stability and safety for their students.
- They are asking for clarity as they navigate testing schedules and compliance requirements for which there is currently no appropriate guidance under emergency conditions.
- They are asking for flexibility in the face of dramatic attendance swings.
- They are asking for stabilization and fiscal support when sudden enrollment losses threaten school viability.
Regardless of citizenship status, these are Minnesota children sitting in Minnesota classrooms. When fear becomes part of the learning environment, every child loses.
For some students, schools are the most stable place in a child’s life. Right now, that stability is cracking.
Across the state, school leaders, staff, and communities continue to show up every day for their students. But many describe hanging on by a thread. The surge may have peaked, but its consequences are ongoing and the impacts will be long lasting.