Amityville school nurse wore jacket with 'ICE' on the back, teachers' union president says

An Amityville elementary school nurse wore a jacket to work Wednesday with the letters "ICE" on the back, appearing to reference the federal immigration agency, according to the district teachers' union president.

In a statement, district officials said they were aware of the allegation that a district staffer “affixed an acronym to their clothing that was perceived by some members of the school community as offensive or inappropriate in the educational setting.”

The employee was “immediately reassigned to a non-school setting pending a full review,” the district’s statement read.

District officials declined to say what the acronym was but Nakia Wolfe, president of the Amityville Teachers' Association, said the letters spelled out “ICE."

District officials said they could not provide further details because it is a personnel matter.

The district and Wolfe declined to name the employee, but Wolfe said the nurse works at Northwest Elementary School, a K-2 building.

Wolfe said he was “shocked” to learn of the alleged display, which occurred on the same day the school had a moving-up ceremony for its kindergartners. 

“Why would you come into a setting of learning to make any type of political stance like that?” Wolfe said. “It’s just completely inappropriate.”

Wednesday was also a superhero day in school and some students dressed up in Spider-Man or Batman outfits, according to Hilda Brown, a teacher at the school.

Tensions have been running high in recent days, as protests have broken out across the nation over the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's deportation efforts.

Here on Long Island, protestors rallied in Westbury Sunday against those deportation efforts, which are targeting immigrants in the country illegally, Newsday previously reported. Glen Cove police told Newsday Wednesday that ICE agents placed multiple people in custody near a train station parking lot. 

Brown, a teachers' union representative who teaches first grade at Northwest, criticized her colleague's alleged action.

“You work in a school environment where 60% of the population is Hispanic,” she said, citing the student demographics. “It's just a lack of empathy and a lack of caring for the students that we serve.”

Brown, a bilingual teacher whose parents emigrated from Ecuador, said she had seen the fear on the faces of her students.

“One of our parents was scared to drop off a water bottle for her daughter because of ICE,” she said. “Our parents are terrified, terrified. And for her to come in wearing that to our school. … I thought it was cruel, insensitive, mean.”

David L. Hudson, an associate professor of law at Belmont University in Tennessee, said public employees lose some of their free speech rights in school.

“You balance the right of a public employee to speak on a matter of public concern versus the school's interest in efficiency and a [disruption-free] workplace,” he said.

If the Amityville matter ends up in court, Hudson said a number of factors could be at play.

“If they punished her simply because they didn't like it, or they feared that it might possibly cause a problem, then that would tend to weigh more towards her,” he said. “If the wearing of that jacket caused great fear or concern on the part of parents and students, then the balance would seem to tip more towards the school.”

The district said in its statement that its “top priority is to ensure that our schools remain safe, inclusive and welcoming spaces for all students and families.” 

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.