Students and their fathers walk around Centennial Avenue Elementary School in...

Students and their fathers walk around Centennial Avenue Elementary School in Roosevelt on Sept. 20 as they celebrate the Million Fathers March. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp

Keep federal agents out of our schools

Schools are places of learning and safety — not arenas for immigration enforcement [“LI educators express concern, caution for students,” News, Jan. 23]. The presence of federal agents on school grounds creates fear, disrupts education, and erodes trust between schools and families. No child should worry that stepping into their classroom could mean separation from loved ones.

At Roosevelt Union Free School District, we stand firm in our commitment to protecting our students. Federal agents cannot remove or question students without a judicial warrant or parental consent.

Schools are legally bound to protect student information and will not share records without a court order. Any law enforcement official seeking access to a student must go through district administration and legal counsel. These safeguards are essential to maintaining an environment where students focus on learning without fear.

For many students, school is their only safe space. When that security is compromised, the effects are devastating.

Students who fear immigration enforcement are more likely to disengage from studies, suffer anxiety, and avoid school. Fear cannot become an obstacle to learning.

New York policymakers must take decisive action to reinforce these protections statewide. Every school should have clear guidelines ensuring that federal agents cannot disrupt education or violate student rights.

Education is a right, not a privilege, and we must stand together to defend it. Schools must remain places of knowledge and opportunity — not enforcement zones.

— Shawn K. Wightman, Roosevelt

The writer is the superintendent of the Roosevelt Union Free School District.

Air crash calls for a ‘healer in chief’

Blaming diversity, equity and inclusion hiring for the air collision tragedy over the Potomac River in Washington is rank politicization of the most egregious and odious kind [“Trump puts crash blame on DEI hiring,” News, Jan. 31]. An irresponsible, insensitive message is not what families of the victims need to hear from a supposed “healer in chief.”

— Nick Santora, Roslyn Heights

I understand that President Donald Trump rejects DEI in favor of hiring the best and the brightest, which he believes is inconsistent with DEI. What he fails to say is that the applicant needs to be among the best and brightest Trump loyalists [“New conspiracy theory fringe for GOP,” Opinion, Jan. 31]. Thus, our country faces the prospect of having Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard installed into significant government positions for which critics believe they are unqualified.

— Andrew Keen, Long Beach

Newsday’s editorial board apparently found time to review Kash Patel’s high school yearbook in which he took stances that are different from his feelings today [“Mixed bag on Trump’s LI picks,” Editorial, Jan. 29].

In its condemnation of Patel, the editorial does not say if he lied or where he was wrong. The Russian collusion story was found to be a “hoax” and somehow Patel was wrong for helping prove it? He is the perfect person to take charge of the FBI.

— Dan Martin, Babylon

Gender is determined by a person’s brain

The article “Concerns over gender” [News, Jan. 22] says that some people view President Donald Trump’s order as “a return to common sense by interpreting gender based solely on biological and scientific terms.” The opposite is true.

Gender, like sexual preference, is determined by the brain, which is a biological process. Just as sexual preference and orientation are determined by the biology of each person’s brain, a person’s gender identity is also determined in the brain as a biological process, and not as a magical non-material process. Just as you cannot legislate away a person’s sexual orientation, you cannot legislate away a person’s gender identity.

Sometimes people are born with an incongruency between their body and their brain, often to their great discomfort. It was not a choice, it’s not a lifestyle, and they have done nothing wrong. It poses no danger to others.

The question then becomes: “What is best for society?”

Since there is no evidence of legitimately transgender persons causing problems using the bathrooms of their identity (if you do not count non-transgender men posing as women) other than the bigotry of others, and there is greater evidence of violence against transgender persons, this order will cause far more harm and practically no good. We should be striving to protect them from bias, not punishing them.

— Gerald Dantone, Coram

The writer is coordinator for Center for Inquiry, which defends science and critical thinking in examining religion.

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