The small Winooski school district in northern Vermont, serving about 800 students, played an outsized role last year in state and national headlines.
It led the way as the first district in the state to approve a sanctuary-style policy to better protect students and families from federal immigration enforcement at schools. It also defied a state request to affirm compliance with the Trump administration’s attempts to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (The state later walked back the request.) Then in the summer, border authorities detained Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria, a U.S. citizen, at a Houston airport as he was returning home from visiting family in Nicaragua.
By December, Chavarria and his district were no strangers to the spotlight. Early that month, President Donald Trump called Somali immigrants “garbage,” prompting community members to request that Chavarria take action to help local students and families feel supported. More than 60% of students in the district are students of color or from immigrant backgrounds.
The result: A community celebration with Somali food and legal “know your rights” sessions; the district drafting a video highlighting Somali residents raising funds for a local mosque; and flying a Somali flag alongside the U.S. and Vermont flags outside the district office as a sign of support.
That final action drew national attention as individuals posted images of the flag-raising ceremony on social media, misrepresenting the scene by obscuring the other two flags, and adding hateful rhetoric in captions alongside district contact information and photos of board members and Chavarria.
“We got thousands and thousands of pretty hateful and at times, violent calls, lots of threats,” Chavarria said.
State and local law enforcement helped keep schools safe, but the community continues to heal from the December backlash. As national political rhetoric about immigrants grows more heated, and as federal immigration agents ramp up arrests across the country, Chavarria spoke with Education Week about the role districts play in serving their immigrant communities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
In the past, how has your district worked to welcome immigrant students?
We’ve always been considered in the state the standard for supporting communities or families from diverse backgrounds.
Every year, we [host] an Iftar, a big community event to celebrate the end of Eid, where hundreds of people come together, and we do this amazing ceremony led by the students to recognize something that’s a major holiday for and a big deal for much of our community. We’re the only school district [in Vermont] that has dedicated up to $80,000 just for a student-led anti-racism steering committee that has existed for six years now.
We give money for the students to run that—for the students to do what they will just to address racism in the schools, and to educate the community, and to reach out to partners around the state. We have nine full-time people whose job is to communicate with the community in their own language, but also their own worldview, because each of those nine multilingual liaisons comes from the community. We invest tens of thousands of dollars in supplies for families, including food. We also have an in-district free health clinic and dental clinic, even physical therapy for families.
In a way, this is a true hub for the community, because that is what our communities want and need.
Why make the effort as a district leader to publicly support immigrants?
That’s the work. That’s our No. 1 responsibility. If you tell me that is not your No. 1 duty, to make sure that your students, your families, feel like this is their school district and that we are here for them, then I think you failed at leadership.
If you are a parent, and you have five children and one of them has a fever, you still have a responsibility to feed all five, but you have a special responsibility to do something different for the one who has a fever. A superintendent should act the exact same way.
The second thing … is somebody has to set the tone. I don’t need to put out a statement about what I feel about the actions of the government if I’m simply engaging in an action that sends a strong and loud message—not only to the community, but to the staff members, to the administrators below me, to the students.
The third thing … is that the majority and the most powerful of actions to protect students and families happen at the classroom level. [They] happen individually, by committed educators, by committed teachers, by committed staff members. And oftentimes, what districts do is get in the way. A district should not become a barrier to the amazing work that educators, and staff members, and community members, and families are trying to do for each other.
What should district leaders consider regarding any pushback from public support of immigrant families?
If I haven’t made sure that I truly believe that every single one of the students under my care is worth my time, is worth my actions, is worth my fight, … I don’t think I will be effective in any other part of the work, because I will not be committed to it.
Leadership is beyond the day-to-day. It is symbolic. It’s political. It’s social. You are supposed to be the figure that sends the strongest of messages, especially in the way you act and the way you show your commitment.
I think it’s times like these when you have a decision to make as a leader. I don’t think people should use the word equity if they’re not willing to lose their job for it. I don’t think anybody should say that they care about immigrant students if they’re not willing to be apprehended by [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].
If you’re scared for your own safety, if you’re scared for your family, or if you just don’t want to lose your job, you at least need to be honest with yourself and tell yourself that, “I am not willing to lose my job for this student, I’m not willing to be in danger or being so visibly in support of something,” and then be at peace with that. It means that you’re a different type of leader.
What I do ask of my colleagues, though, is to have the integrity not to lie, and to pretend that you do care and pretend that you are willing to take risks for your students, but then not do it, or then be quiet when someone else is having to put themselves out there.
It is the perfect time in the country right now to ask yourself who you are as a leader and to be at peace with the answer.
What are your plans moving forward?
We will continue the work we’ve always done. We will continue to polish it and focus our efforts on what matters the most in this moment. But I have a feeling that the work [is not only] not going to stop, it’s going to become even stronger, because our students are emboldened by all of this.
I went to a community meeting for the Winooski High School, and when I said to them, “We’re not going to let them scare us, because we’re better than that,” they cheered the loudest I’ve ever heard. … They’re becoming so creative and so resourceful to make the most out of this time in our collective history. And I believe those students are the ones driving most of the right work in the district and in the community right now, and will be the ones to drive the work that’s ahead.
