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Few New York City schools have more at stake in President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 second term than those in the Internationals Network for Public Schools.

The nonprofit network helps operate 17 public schools across the five boroughs that cater exclusively to newly arrived immigrant students, serving as a national model for educating newcomers.

Over two decades, the network has weathered shifting immigration patterns and policies and played a central role in educating many of the who have enrolled in city schools since summer 2022.

Now, as Trump lays the groundwork for a and state and local officials scramble to respond, the network is watching closely and making its own preparations.

and prohibit non-city law enforcement from entering school buildings except under specific circumstances, and city officials are training district superintendents, principals, and NYPD school safety agents on those protocols, people familiar with the plans said.

But fears and lingering questions remain pervasive.

Trump is likely to roll back a longstanding internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, policy against making arrests at 鈥渟ensitive locations鈥� like schools, , though it wasn鈥檛 immediately clear how that would affect the city鈥檚 local provisions restricting federal agents from schools. Mayor Eric Adams, who , told reporters after the meeting he鈥檚 looking into increasing the ability of local law enforcement to work with ICE to 鈥済o after those individuals who are repeatedly committing crimes in our city.鈥� Adams said 鈥渓aw-abiding鈥� immigrants should continue to use public services including education.

And even if immigration enforcement doesn鈥檛 take place at schools, the , who may face deportation cases themselves or see family members expelled from the country. The fear and uncertainty can also have their own corrosive effects by and exacerbating attendance and enrollment challenges, educators said.

New York City鈥檚 Education Department officials reiterated its commitment in recent weeks to keeping schools safe zones from immigration enforcement.

鈥淥ur schools are safe harbors for our children and they will remain so,鈥� Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said at a recent meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy.

Leaders at the Internationals Network are trying to address families鈥� concerns while reining in some of the waves of fear they see gripping their communities.

鈥淥ur job is to keep hope alive for these students,鈥� said Claire Sylvan, the founder and senior strategic director of the Internationals Network and a former teacher. 鈥淚鈥檓 not saying that things are going to be easy, but I鈥檓 saying that these are our children, and we are dedicated to ensuring that they are safe, welcome, and come to school.鈥�

Chalkbeat spoke to Sylvan and Lara Evangelista, the network鈥檚 director and a former international school principal and deputy superintendent, about how they鈥檙e approaching the coming years, lessons they鈥檝e learned, and what other educators can draw from their experiences.

The interview was edited for length and clarity.

Can you lay out what protections exist and some basics that schools and families should know?

Claire Sylvan: On the national level, there鈥檚 Plyler, which is a that says any student who鈥檚 eligible for K-12 education has a legal right to attend school at no cost, like any other resident.

There鈥檚 also, to date, protections around .

New York City Public Schools . They have already re-issued it with an incredibly strong email to all 1,600 principals. They followed up with training of superintendents. They鈥檝e been incredibly collaborative with us and other immigrant organizations in terms of thinking through, 鈥榃hat do you need to do on the ground?鈥� They鈥檙e not only training the school personnel but the school safety agents, who technically are supervised by the Police Department.

They鈥檝e been open to all of our conversations, and they鈥檙e providing contacts to schools in terms of community-based organizations. Our starting point is that schools need to be warm, welcoming, and supportive environments, and that鈥檚 still our priority, because that has to come first for students to learn. New York City has provided a framework that we can do that well within.

How do you balance being realistic about real concerns without overly causing fear that would keep people away from schools altogether?

Lara Evangelista: We鈥檙e realistic with families. We鈥檙e not hiding information. But we鈥檙e also sharing with them that there are policies that we will uphold that New York City has put in place to protect you.

Our community-based organizations support families with making sure their documents are in order, if they have something that鈥檚 expired, that they update it, that they understand what their rights are, that, if needed, they have accompaniment plans for their children if families are separated for some reason. We want to give them those tools to prepare them.

But we鈥檙e balancing, like you said. We don鈥檛 want to just feed into fear. We want to be realistic, but also continue to create supportive places for them. Because we want to take care of our young people emotionally. It鈥檚 how we鈥檝e been set up from the beginning, so we鈥檙e really leaning into that to support our students and our families through this.

How does talking about an 鈥榓ccompaniment plan鈥� go with families?

LE: One of my first cases when I was a principal was I had a young person call us and say, 鈥楳y parents were picked up selling clothes. What do I do? I have siblings.鈥橝nd so we learned then that we needed to make sure our families were prepared.

We don鈥檛 take that on ourselves, but through legal partnerships and so on, we run workshops and let families know that like this is something they should have in place so that if people are separated, if the major earners in the family are gone and the children are left, what happens?

How much of what you鈥檙e doing now, or what you鈥檝e done since the election, is standard procedure for you, and how much is different?

LE: We鈥檝e always done this. I was a principal a long time. And we had situations in the Obama administration where families were just deported, and we had to manage that.

We鈥檙e lucky in that we have relationships with partners that we can lean into for these kinds of supports. We鈥檝e always had legal screenings for families so that they can understand how to manage their paperwork. A legal organization will come and meet with families and students and, if they choose, can talk to them about their immigration situation.

CS: Some schools choose to do that on an open school night. You talk to your kid鈥檚 teacher, but you also go down the hall and have this conversation.

Can you talk about what you both saw during the first Trump administration and any lessons that you are taking from that and applying now?

LE: In the beginning, I remember some parents were afraid to come to a parent workshop, Open School Night, a parent teacher conference, because they were worried something would happen.

We had to really spend a lot of time communicating with families about our role, what the policies were, why they were going to be safe in our buildings, and really build relationships with families so that they did feel safe.

But I think the other thing was just how incredibly resilient our families and students were during that time. While we did have some students who dropped out or were discouraged, the vast majority of them, they just kept going. They were like, 鈥楲ook, I鈥檓 here. I have dreams. This is what I want for me and my family.鈥� They continued to pursue those dreams in spite of all that, so that was really inspiring for us as educators.

At this point, what is your biggest fear? And on the flip side, are there things that you鈥檙e doing now that you feel most hopeful about? What would you like to see happen that might ease some of those concerns?

CS: I can鈥檛 tell you how many individuals and people have approached us as an organization or our schools or our leaders and said: 鈥淗ow can we help?鈥� There is a community of people who care about our students.

LE: It鈥檚 really, really hard to predict what might happen. There鈥檚 a lot out there, and we don鈥檛 want to be in a situation where we鈥檙e just sharing all of this information that may or may not happen. We know what the situation is now, we know how to prepare from our work in the past, and that鈥檚 what we operate under. I don鈥檛 worry about students disappearing and not coming to school. There鈥檚 lots of rhetoric out there about what might happen in terms of deportation, but I try not to live in that space because our students do give us so much hope.

CS: I don鈥檛 have a crystal ball, but I know we have to keep our eye on the ball, and it鈥檚 going to move around the soccer field an awful lot.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

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