Teachers and parents shed tears and asked neighbors at a community meeting for more help and resources as U.S. federal agents leave a long-lasting impact on schools.
Ward 7 Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer hosted the community meeting with representatives from Ward 7 public schools at Lakes of the Isles Lutheran Church.
“I was supposed to have 10 kids coming back in person this week, and two ended up back,” ESL elementary school teacher Jessi Wightman said during a community meeting on Feb. 22, 2026. “They came one day, and their parents said that they were afraid to go to the bus stop the other days.”
It was long before Operation Metro Surge that teachers were managing students’ fears about ICE. Wightman recounted how students’ were planning to escape ICE by going to a nearby park when Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2024.
“If you tell us to go to the forest this is where we'll be,” the students told Wightman. “They sensed it a year and a half ago.”
“One of the hardest moments over the last few weeks has been when we had a family that elected to self deport,” Mastal Aamodt, a PTA leader at a Southwest school, said. “Preparing these children to leave and knowing that their classmates wouldn't be with them was really, really challenging.”
One parent at a Southwest elementary school, going by the name Marissa in this story, is the designation of parental authority for 12 families if children get separated from their parents.
Marissa said it was difficult to have conversations with families about what their plans are for their children while also working on system support where she helps manage a $1 million mutual fund for 400 families through Colectiva Bilingüe.
Still, Marissa finds hope.
“Our neighbors made 220 valentines for all of our home-bound children to get Valentines from neighbors that had never met,” Marissa said. “There's so many layers of neighborhood support, and that is just giving me so much hope.”
Small businesses in Bryn Mawr have also been donating at a scale that, according to Wightman, put their financial security on the line.
“People are really putting their long-term livelihood on the line for these families,” Wightman said.
What’s brought Aamodt hope is “how rapidly people have wrapped their arms around the school communities” in such a short amount of time.
As of mid-February, ICE operations have lessened in Minneapolis, but representatives at the schools report that the needs at the schools have not.
“Most of us are going back to our everyday lives, and yet there's still so many needs,” Erin Wise, a parent representing a Southwest middle school, said. “Recognizing the toll it's going to take on our teachers and the parents who are doing all of the front line work as they are also dealing with the emotional trauma of it.”
“Sustained participation is the biggest need,” Wightman said. “Find what you can do and just keep doing it for as long as you can.”
If you have any direct connections with the following schools, you can reach out to help in the specific ways listed or organize with neighbors to help:
Anwatin Middle School
Groceries and sustained monetary giving
Anwatin Middle School’s GoFundMe
Bryn Mawr Elementary School
Grocery delivery
Bryn Mawr’s Venmo is @ptabrynmawr (put “Mutual Aid” in description)
Emerson School
Become a buddy family for an Emerson student new to the United States. Fill out the volunteer form online.
Mamas at Emerson School are selling creative creations and would like to connect with churches and stores that could sell the goods at pop-up events or at store counters. Contact familiasdeemerson@gmail.com
Kenwood Community School
Drivers for students and bus buddies (walking students to and from bus stops)
Kenwood Community School’s GoFundMe
Wellstone International High School
Grocery delivery (funds are available for reimbursement)
Drivers to take students to and from school and to their jobs
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