Research-Practice Webinar, March 17 | School and Community Leadership in an Age of Escalated Immigration Enforcement

School and Community Leadership in an Age of Escalated Immigration Enforcement (Webinar)

Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 3:00–4:00 pm PT
Free and open to the public

Drawing on new national research from Dr. John Rogers, this webinar examines how intensified immigration enforcement is impacting K–12 school communities across the country. School and education leaders will share their perspectives on how these dynamics manifest in their daily work. They will also discuss the leadership strategies they are using to protect students, support families, and ensure that schools remain spaces of safety and belonging.

Speakers

John Rogers

Associate Dean and Professor, UCLA School of Education and Information Studies; 21CSLA Leadership Board

Monica Anzo

Superintendent, Alisal Unified School District

Lissette Averhoff

Principal, Hoover Elementary School, Oakland Unified School District

Jabari Mahiri

Professor and Faculty Director, BSE Leadership Programs; Chair, 21CSLA Leadership Board

Speaker bios

John Rogers is a Professor of Education and Associate Dean for Research and Public Scholarship in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies. He also serves as the Director of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. Rogers studies issues of democracy and education, and has written widely about the role of students, parents, and school leaders in educating toward a multiracial democracy. His current research examines the effects of political conflict on public education and leadership strategies for responding to this conflict. Professor Rogers’ research is regularly featured in local, state, and national media and he produces a weekly newsletter, Just News, that highlights important issues related to education and social justice. He is the co-author of Learning Power: Organizing for Education and Justice and co-editor of Public Engagement for Public Education: Joining Forces to Revitalize Democracy and Equalize Schools. John Rogers is the recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Presidential Citation. He received his Ph.D. in Education from Stanford University and his B.A. in Public Policy and African American Studies from Princeton University.

Monica Anzo is the superintendent of Alisal Unified School District. Ms. Anzo has spent her entire educational career in the district, starting when she earned her teaching credential from California State University Monterey Bay in 1999. During the time she has devoted to the Alisal, Mrs. Anzo has served in multiple roles such as bilingual teacher, newcomer teacher, program manager, site principal, director of curriculum and instruction, and director of intervention and enrollment at the District level, and most recently as Associate Superintendent of Educational Services from 2020 to 2024, and as Deputy Superintendent starting July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Mrs. Anzo’s leadership in the district has been palpable through the professional development culture that has taken root in the last few years. At school sites, teachers regularly collaborate with their grade level peers, and all educational district leaders meet monthly to analyze data and share strategies to guide instruction. The district’s signature program “Collaborative Leadership: Professional Development for Teachers” earned a Golden Bell award in 2023.

Lissette Averhoff is an experienced educational leader with over 25 years of dedication to student achievement and teacher development. For the past eight years, she has served as the Principal of Hoover Elementary School in the Oakland Unified School District, where she previously held the role of instructional coach. Her extensive background includes serving as a Principal Mentor in OUSD, Program Manager for Springboard Collaborative, a Middle School Math Specialist and BTSA Coach in OUSD. She was a fellow in Educate 78's School Design Lab and a member of Lead Liberated Anti-Racist Collective Cohort 2. Lissette’s foundational experience spans 15 years of classroom teaching at ACORN Woodland Elementary, KIPP Academy and School 10. A graduate of Colgate University with a Master’s from The City College of New York and administrative credentials from the REACH Institute, she is a native Spanish speaker committed to fostering inclusive, high-performing learning environments.

Jabari Mahiri (Professor and Faculty Director, BSE Leadership Programs; Chair, 21CSLA Leadership Board) is the author of Deconstructing Race: Multicultural Education Beyond the Color-Bind, as well as host of podcast Equity Leadership Now! For more information, see Dr. Mahiri's full bio.

Webinar highlights

Research perspective

California public schools enroll nearly 6 million students, and 1 million of them live with at least one undocumented parent. As Dr. Rogers noted, “The education that builds towards a diverse multiracial democracy is a shared public good; but it can only be accomplished when each and every student feels that they are safe, cared for, and valued members of their school communities.”

Drawing on findings from The Fear Is Everywhere, a December 2025 study based on a national survey of 606 high school principals and 49 follow-up interviews, Dr. Rogers and colleagues documented the wide-ranging effects of escalated immigration enforcement on school communities.

What they learned:

70.4% of principals reported concerns about the well-being of students from immigrant families due to policies or political rhetoric related to immigrants
63.8% of principals reported that students from immigrant families missed school due to fear of immigration enforcement, and are learning less
More than one-third (35.6%) of principals reported incidents of students bullying or harassing classmates from immigrant families

These findings point to disrupted learning, diminished civic trust, and what Dr. Rogers described as “the wrong civic lessons,” in which students experience stress and lose confidence in the government. He contrasted these with the civic lessons gained from the 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, which affirmed the constitutional right of all children to attend U.S. public schools—a precedent now facing renewed threats. As Dr. Rogers emphasized, “Our democracy depends on our ability to sustain safe and inclusive schools that foster learning and understanding, and enable all young people to build bridges and forge alliances across lines of difference.”

Principals surveyed also described the difficulty of leading amid contradictions. Federal law enforcement creates unsafe learning environments, and while principals feel responsible for their students’ safety, they are not always able to protect them.

In response, Dr. Rogers pointed to more hopeful lessons from this study:

Create an “infrastructure of belonging,” or environments where students feel known, valued, and connected
Issue clear public statements of commitment to student protection and back those statements with concrete procedures

Intersection of research and practice

Principal Lissette Averhoff described responding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity near her school by quickly communicating with families, activating a safety plan, and confirming that staff knew their roles. Central to her approach is ensuring families feel heard and cared for: "In moments like this, people don't look to us as leaders for answers, but they want to know that we're steady, that we're clear about what's happening, and that there's a plan." She emphasized that leadership in these moments means leveraging the community's strengths: “We have a lot of strength in our community and a lot of care and compassion, and people want to help.”

Superintendent Monica Anzo leads a TK–6 district on California's Central Coast, where most families are agricultural workers in mixed-status households, with Indigenous families who speak Mixteco in addition to Spanish. Her district has built an intentional infrastructure to meet families where they are: three family resource centers and community rooms at each school serving as one-stop safety hubs. Key supports include child-care planning workshops, safety plans for immigration-related situations, and a wellness team of counselors, social workers, and teachers focused on social-emotional learning (SEL). "Trust is important, and it's key," Anzo said. "If they're not trusting the government, how do we make sure they trust the school site?"

Throughout the conversation, panelists returned to community as both a key resource and a source of hope. Dr. Rogers noted the importance of collectively creating spaces between schools and communities that tap into community knowledge and experiences to strengthen schools. Both Principal Averhoff and Superintendent Anzo affirmed that their communities have responded with solidarity and support, and that this collective strength has been the foundation for hope.

In closing, Dr. Rogers reminded participants that hope requires active defense: “Our laws are only as reliable as the politics and power enable them to be. When we see our fundamental rights challenged, we as educators and community members need to activate ourselves.”

Discussion/Reflection Questions

How are you communicating your school’s commitment to the safety and belonging of students from immigrant families? What concrete procedures back up that commitment?
What does your school’s “infrastructure of belonging” look like for students from immigrant families?
How are you building and sustaining trust with immigrant families and community partners
When resources are limited, how are you making equity-focused decisions about where to focus time, staffing, and support? How are you centering the needs of the most vulnerable students and families in those decisions?