I am 17 years old. The last few months of my high school life should've been spent having fun with my friends and preparing for college. Instead, I spent hours upon hours waiting at city council meetings so I could get three minutes to beg Mayor Sartor and Surprise City Council Members to stand up for students who will have to go to school near a massive ICE detention center.

Kevin Sartor isn't just a mayor, he is also the Student Safety Coordinator for Dysart School District. When he took that role, he vowed to protect students. He has failed to do his one job. I am calling on Dysart Schools to remove him as our school district's Safety Coordinator, as we no longer trust him.

1. He told me during our meeting on April 15th that he doesn't have a student safety plan for the new ICE detention center opening less than a mile from our school. Students will be completely on their own facing everything from dodging prison buses, news reporters, protesters, possible escapees, ICE agents coming on campus, etc.
2. He neglected our emergency preparedness. Our first shelter-in-place drill didn't happen until March 13th, over seven months into the school year. We went almost the entire year without a lockdown drill until this Monday, April 27th. Every freshman student spent the whole year not knowing what to do in an emergency.
3. He never warned us about the hazardous chemical storage company sitting less than a mile away from our school. We had to find out about it at Attorney General Kris Mayes' press conference. He knew the danger it posed to students, and he chose to do nothing and say nothing. The chemicals being stored there are extremely toxic and have the potential of creating a mass casualty event. If this building catches on fire, the students at Dysart High School will have absolutely no idea what to do.

The same person who refused to fight to keep a massive federal jail off our path to school is the same person who let almost a full school year pass without a single lockdown drill. The same person who never warned us about a chemical warehouse right next to our school is the same person responsible for our safety if it explodes.

Being the Safety Coordinator of a school district is not an honorary title. It has one job: to keep students safe. And, he can't be trusted to do it. I am calling on Dysart School District to remove him from this position immediately.

Please email the Dysart school district governing board and superintendent at super@dysart.org to demand that they remove Mayor Sartor as the Safety Coordinator.

Sincerely,

Cali Overs
Student Body Vice President
Dysart High School

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OTHER NEWS:

• On April 21st, I was invited onto NPR's podcast, 1A, to discuss my 3-mile buffer zone proposal and my experience trying to get elected leaders to support it. Listen to it here: What It Means to Have an ICE Detention Center in Your Backyard
• On April 24th, I was invited to speak at AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes' press conference where she announced that the state is suing DHS. Watch the full press conference: Attorney General Announces DHS Lawsuit
• Please sign and share my 3-mile safety buffer zone petition to keep ICE detention centers three miles away from K-12 schools: www.3milebuffer.com