NEW YORK — New York City’s public schools have updated their policy for responding to federal immigration enforcement to protect students during dismissal and after-school programs, a concern revived during the recent ICE shooting in Marble Hill that happened around pick-up time.

The previous guidance typically barred federal agents from entering school buildings while class is in session without a judicial warrant, presented to a principal and shared with trained attorneys.

The revisions, made just days before the start of this school year, expanded the guidance to cover all situations in which a school is responsible for student safety, including arrival and dismissal, and after-school or weekend programs and field trips. The update has largely gone unreported, with many of those interviewed by The New York Daily News unaware of its existence.

In the hours that followed the Oct. 8 shooting of Oscar Belgal, an undocumented Dominican immigrant, Mayor Zohran Mamdani quickly condemned how close the threat of gunfire came to nearby schoolchildren.

“School had just gotten out,” Mamdani told reporters during an emergency news conference that night. “The street was crowded with families and children. When ICE agents opened fire, a 5-year-old child — a 5-year-old child — was in the back seat of the car. Thank God that child is physically unharmed.”

In court documents filed Wednesday, lawyers for Belgal, 28, wrote that he “picked up his five-year-old son from school and, before heading home, stopped at McDonald’s to get him an afterschool snack.” Father and son were just getting home when ICE agents, who Belgal claimed were masked and did not immediately identify themselves, rushed the driver-side window of the car with the firearm. ICE, who cited Belgal’s previous arrests, alleged he “weaponized his vehicle” and agents “had to use force.”

Belgal’s lawyers wrote that several high schools, a charter school and at least three daycares were in the vicinity of the shooting. Those included English Language Learners and International Support Preparatory Academy, a specialized high school for older immigrant students without a diploma. The city’s first known student to be detained during President Donald Trump’s second term, Dylan Lopez Contreras, attended the school, better known as ELLIS Prep.

The new protocols say that teachers and staff who “observe” or “are made aware of” the presence of ICE near school should escalate the matter to the principal, who is tasked with conducting an “initial investigation.”

If a report is validated, the principal or their designee may invite parents and guardians into the building and activate a shelter-in “until the threat has been resolved.” School staffers are explicitly advised not to “move or conceal” a person “for the purpose of frustrating or impeding” ICE.

The school then notifies the borough safety director and Project Open Arms, a citywide initiative responding to new immigrant students and their families. Administrators work with their superintendent to alert the school community, and can implement a “rapid dismissal” or provide Know Your Rights resources.

If ICE tries to enter the school building, the long-standing protocols go into effect, requiring a warrant signed by a judge and reviewed by education lawyers for its legitimacy.

Chancellor Kamar Samuels told a citywide education panel last month he updated the protocols to protect “new New Yorkers” after school and on field trips. Samuels, a Jamaican immigrant, called the changes “really important … to me personally.”

“We have many more protections, but those are the ones that we added,” Samuels said.

In the aftermath of the ICE shooting, which education officials stressed occurred off property in a personal vehicle after dismissal, the principals of nearby public high schools sent a letter to families that included the updated guidance.

Before the episode, officials said the protocols were disseminated to principals twice last month via newsletters, and another time via direct email to school leaders and superintendents alerting them to a new required training. Trainings have also been offered to after-school providers and other organizations that work in public schools.

But some immigration advocates feel the reforms did not go far enough and have not been circulated widely. Many called for the hiring of additional school officials focused on immigrant students and investing in resources to escort young people to and from school and subway or bus stops. But the easiest fix, parents and teachers agreed, is to better share the information that is already available.

“You don’t help allay the fears of parents and teachers who are trying to help who may not be in the loop, and the students for sure — who should be busy doing school work or whatever else kids should be doing,” said Naveed Hasan, who represents Manhattan parents on the Panel for Educational Policy and a public school dad.

“This is not what we expected from the Mamdani administration,” Hasan added. “We really thought it would be bolder. We’re not seeing boldness.”

Martina Meijer, a Brooklyn elementary school teacher, learned of the guidance second-hand through another teacher in the Movement for Rank and File Educators, a teachers union caucus, and helped circulate an informal survey about outreach.

“The answers were the same: What guidance? What are you talking about? And then we sent the guidance to them, and that was great. But why are we doing the schools’ job for them?” Meijer said.

Meijer’s students are learning to speak English. She said that after weeks of “perfect attendance,” three of her students were absent on the Friday after the shooting, and a fourth was late. She thinks that schools can do more to ensure that students feel safe to attend their classes, including better communication and more hires at Project Open Arms.

“We never know when these things are going to happen unfortunately, so we need to be ready all the time,” Meijer added. “I work in a system about education, but the people who work here don’t seem to be educating other people about this information.”

Gina Cirrito, the co-founder of Mañana Otro Día and a Manhattan public school parent, credited the Mamdani administration with a “real want to protect New Yorkers, but there’s only so much capacity schools have.”

“School are schools — they’re trying to teach kids, and kids to learn. There’s no blame here. There’s just not enough resources,” said Cirrito.

“Last week, with the shooting of the man with his son in the backseat, a lot of people saw the humanity in that. This is a moment to talk about it and say, this has been happening around us. We’ve been inching toward this. And we have things in place that can help — and people just need to be prepared.”

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