Some student absences in Utah likely due to federal immigration policies

SALT LAKE CITY — Many Utahns stayed home from work and school Monday to demonstrate what a Day Without Immigrants would look like. But Monday’s absenteeism could also be related to illness or to President Trump’s executive order calling for the removal of undocumented immigrants.

While numbers have not been collected on Monday’s attendance or student absences, Granite School District Spokesperson Andrea Stringham confirmed their district saw an increase in absences. However, Stringham says they cannot pinpoint the exact reason.

“Norovirus, influenza, were really big coming back from winter break, which also just happened to coincide with the time of the inauguration, so it’s hard to tell who’s absent because of the executive orders or who’s absent because of an illness.”

School district “doesn’t ask for specifics”

She said families can indicate if the absence is for medical appointments, illnesses, or personal reasons. But school districts do not ask for specifics. 

On Jan. 23, the Granite District released a statement acknowledging President Trump’s executive order allowing immigration enforcement actions at formerly “sensitive areas,” including schools. 

In the statement, Granite School District also cited U.S. Constitutional and Supreme Court precedent finding undocumented children and young adults have a right to attend public primary and secondary schools. Granite officials also said they could not provide immigration status information about their students because the district does not collect that information. 

Student absences in the Alpine School District

Word from the Alpine School District’s Director of Communications, Rich Stowell, was similar to the message from Granite District — they couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason for more absences on Monday.

“What we’ve heard anecdotally is that some schools have noticed an increase in absences,” Stowell said. “The directives that came out from the Department of Homeland Security last month probably are a factor in some of those absences.

“At the same time,” Stowell said, “January is a month when illnesses can become unpredictable.”

Stowell explained that the Alpine School District has been tracking absences closely since President Trump signed the executive order cracking down on immigration, but it is too soon to connect the dots.

At the time of publication, the other school districts KSL NewsRadio reached out to had not replied with whether or not they have seen more absences.