The Forest Hills school district is preparing for a significant legal battle at the Ohio Supreme Court, centering on the question of whether they are obligated to disclose their internal response plan for potential visits from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to their schools.
The district's school board discussed this sensitive response plan during a private executive session held in February. Subsequently, in response to public records requests, the district provided heavily redacted versions of this plan. However, a lawsuit was officially filed with the Ohio Supreme Court on February 25th, demanding the immediate and unredacted release of the complete document. The school district has been given a deadline of March 21st to formally respond to this legal challenge.
Curt Hartman, the Cincinnati-based attorney who initiated the lawsuit, contends that the school district's justification for withholding the full response plan relies on a state law intended to protect schools from threats of "attack, interference or sabotage" or potential "acts of terrorism." Hartman's argument is that ICE agents do not fit the definition of terrorists and do not inherently pose a threat to schools, their educators, or their students. Therefore, he asserts, the school district lacks a valid legal basis to keep its protocols for handling the potential arrival of ICE on school grounds a secret.
"It does seem to be a hostility toward law enforcement doing their job," Hartman commented, suggesting a potential bias in the district's stance.
While Forest Hills district spokesman Josh Bazan did not directly address the specific claims made in the lawsuit, he issued a statement defending the school board's position. "The district is confident the redactions made to the ICE Response Plan document for purposes of safety and security of students and staff are legitimate," the statement read, emphasizing the district's belief in the validity of their actions.
This legal confrontation arises amidst a broader national context where public officials in various cities have grappled with how to address the presence of masked and heavily armed ICE agents in their communities. These increased enforcement activities are part of a wider immigration crackdown initiative. This initiative has led to the apprehension and detention of thousands of individuals, including U.S. citizens.
Instances of aggressive ICE tactics have been reported in cities like Minneapolis, where agents allegedly employed physical force, pepper spray, and conducted searches of vehicles and residences without warrants. Tragically, in January, ICE agents in Minneapolis were involved in an incident that resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
The concerns regarding student privacy within the Forest Hills district reportedly intensified for board member Jeremy Ward in February. This heightened concern stemmed from information indicating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was requesting data from social media accounts that expressed opposition to ICE.
The DHS has previously stated its practice of utilizing "publicly available information on the internet and on social media platforms" to assist in the apprehension, detention, and deportation of immigrants. Fears for the safety of schoolchildren were amplified in late January when a poignant incident occurred in Minnesota. Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained in his driveway alongside his father, who is an asylum seeker, shortly after returning home from school.
"We know they're looking online, they're searching," Ward stated last month, expressing his apprehension. "Our whole point was if we can do this as part of a safety meeting and keep it out of public record, that seems like a better choice."
Hartman, however, views the district's stance as politically motivated rather than genuinely driven by safety concerns. He argues that equating ICE agents with terrorists to justify withholding public records constitutes an misuse of Ohio's public records laws.
Within the legal filing, Hartman drew a parallel between the Forest Hills school board members and protesters who have actively encouraged public resistance to immigration enforcement and sought to impede the operations of ICE agents. The lawsuit itself notes, "A narrow and extreme element of society and anarchists have sought to disrupt and interfere with such law enforcement efforts."
Hartman also pointed out the apparent lack of evidence suggesting ICE has any specific interest in conducting enforcement actions on school properties. "The far left radicals are freaking out," he stated. "It's a non-issue. Where is the threat of ICE? It doesn't exist."
In addition to seeking the unredacted ICE response plan, Hartman is also pursuing public records related to any interactions school officials may have had with students who have participated in walkouts to protest ICE activities. This aspect of his request suggests a concern that some school officials might be implicitly condoning truancy by supporting or allowing such protests. Student-led walkouts protesting ICE have been observed in schools across the nation, including within the Greater Cincinnati area.
Hartman clarified that he chose to file the lawsuit directly with the Ohio Supreme Court, bypassing lower courts, due to a provision in state law that permits public records cases to be heard directly by the state's highest court.
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