ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — While Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have been arresting those suspected of being in the country without documentation across the country, there have been no reports of that taking place in Tampa Bay-area schools.

Nonetheless, school leaders are taking precautionary measures to protect their students.

The Pinellas County teachers’ union sent out a notice to teachers across the district. The goal of the memo is to help teachers navigate some of the fear students feel.

Lee Bryant is the president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and has been an educator for the past 29 years. He says questions and concerns started happening once the safe zone designations were lifted.

He says many educators have questions because they haven’t faced situations like this. Some of the directives sent out in the email by the union advise teachers to not put themselves or anyone else at risk.

The union’s memo also reminds teachers they have the right to remain silent if they are questioned.

“We care so deeply for our children that we worry when they are in fear and there are students out there that are in fear, and so as a result of that we try to calm the fears of the students, but we also try to make sure that the educators are being safe in what they do,” Lee said.

Bryant says there are measures in place so that ICE agents are not allowed into the classroom.

Those measures start at the front office, which then administrators are told to contact the area superintendent.

The teacher’s union also said it’s against the law to ask a student about their immigration status or about their parents, so that those students don’t feel singled out.

School leaders have said there have been no reports of immigration on campus in at least the last 20 years. They say ICE can access the school even without a warrant if they have reason to believe that the student is in violation of any law.

If that happens, schools have the option of having an administrator present.