On September 23, students at Berkeley Elementary School in Bloomfield, New Jersey, spent part of their school day sheltering in place. Federal immigration agents were making an arrest on the public sidewalk nearby. According to local officials, the person taken into custody had no link to the school.

No one at the school was reported hurt. But for young children and their teachers, a lockdown triggered by an arrest outside is frightening. Parents are left asking what happened, why it happened so close to a classroom, and whether it could happen again.

Mayor Jenny Mundell has said every township agency follows a New Jersey Attorney General directive that limits local police from taking part in immigration enforcement. Superintendent Joseph Flores has said state law and New Jersey Department of Education policy also limit the district's role. Those rules matter. But they don't tell families what happens when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity reaches a school's front door, or how quickly parents will hear about it.

The Bloomfield Immigrant Justice Network, a local civil rights group, has asked township and school leaders to revisit the rules for when ICE officers can enter public buildings and to follow the latest guidance from the state. That request deserves a real answer.

The Bloomfield Board of Education and the Bloomfield Township Council can act now. They can adopt a clear, public policy on ICE access to school buildings and grounds, bring it in line with current state guidance, and require fast, plain-language alerts to families whenever police activity sends a school into lockdown or shelter-in-place. Every family deserves to know their school has a plan.

Sign the petition to ask Bloomfield leaders to put clear protections for students in writing before another school day is disrupted.