In light of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation threat, Denver Public Schools officials are encouraging parents to opt out of updating their school directories information.

Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, or FERPA, limits access to certain student documents.

But not a school’s directory.

“Directory information is public,” said Bill Good, a district spokesperson.

The information can be requested via the Colorado Open Records Act.

Through a school’s “Parent Portal” families enter their emergency contact information for each student.

District policy does not require these individuals to be family members. Emergency contacts can be any trusted adult known to the family.

“Government agencies may seek directory information without a warrant or other legal justification,” Superintendent Alex Marrero wrote in a memo last week.

Marrero also reiterated to school leaders that policy does not permit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on campus.

“Per DPS Administrative Policy JIH (Student interviews, interrogations, searches and arrest), federal immigration law enforcement activities would not be permitted at our schools on transportation routes on DPS property or during school activities,” Marrero wrote.

The student policy was first adopted in 1971 and revised in 2019.

Marrero urged school leaders to use a building’s intercom system to communicate with federal officials.

Ahead of Trump’s inauguration Monday, Marrero provided guidance and training to district staff, who may be tasked with dealing with immigration authorities under the new administration’s mass deportation effort.

The memo takes on a new urgency with Trump on Tuesday rescinding an Obama-era procedure known as the “sensitive locations policy,” which instructs ICE and Border Patrol agents to avoid enforcement actions in certain locations such as schools, churches and hospitals.

Exceptions include imminent threats to public safety or national security.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said: “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”

Education in the United States is a right of every student — regardless of their immigration status — since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1982.

Subsequently, neither the Colorado Department of Education nor Denver Public Schools tracks students’ immigration status.

Newly arriving immigrant students have strained Colorado’s education system.

Last year, Gov. Jared Polis signed a bipartisan bill authorizing an additional $24 million, which equates to a one-time payment of $4,500 for each “new arrival student.”

That translated into $4.9 million for Denver Public Schools, said Jeremy Meyer, a Colorado Department of Education spokesperson.

The law went into effect on April 18, 2024.

Denver has experienced an enrollment decline temporarily buoyed by the influx of new-to-country students, many of whom likely crossed the border illegally with family members.

In Colorado, enrollment is tied to funding.

The district has about 1,000 more students enrolled this school year than district officials had projected — marking a second year of consecutive gains.

The Denver metro area has been grappling with a humanitarian crisis that started two years ago. Since then, nearly 43,000 immigrants have arrived in Denver.