For-Profit School Opening in For-Profit ICE Family Prison

[Celerity]

Stride, Inc., is hiring multiple teachers to run a new school at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.

https://prospect.org/2025/12/10/for-profit-school-opening-in-for-profit-ice-family-prison/


In this August 2019 photo, immigrants seeking asylum walk at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center, in Dilley, Texas. Credit: Eric Gay/AP Photo

A for-profit virtual education company accused of defrauding investors and other harms is set to run a new school at an immigration prison in Texas, according to job advertisements. Stride, Inc., an S&P 600 corporation based in Virginia, is hiring across various positions, including a school principal, counselor, and teachers for English, math, and science. All will work on-site at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, one of the largest detention centers in the U.S., the job ads state. The facility is managed by CoreCivic, one of two major for-profit prison operators, whose fortunes have risen drastically under the Trump regime, as I reported in August.

The establishment of a school is an effort to sanitize the extended detention of hundreds of children at Dilley, which violates a court settlement established 28 years ago. Under that settlement, children may not be held in immigration prison for more than 20 days unless the facility is nonsecure and licensed. But a recent court filing claims that ICE has held hundreds of children for well beyond that limit, in some cases for multiple months, and subjected them to neglect and abuse. Immigration prisons are not licensed child care facilities, and even if they were, living in one “is going to be harmful and detrimental to kids in lasting ways,” RAICES legal director Javier O. Hidalgo said in an interview. “You’re in jail, and you’re going to school in jail. It’s never going to be appropriate and adequate.”

There’s no indication how big the school will be or when it will open. A spokesperson for Stride said in an email response to questions that details about the program, “including staffing, enrollment, and timing, are being finalized by CoreCivic and will determine the specific nature of service we may provide them.” The posting for the school’s principal says whoever holds that job will directly supervise 15 to 30 full-time equivalent regular employees and/or contractors. Postings for instructors, such as one for a high school English teacher, say they will be responsible “for a minimum of 20 students” in two daily four-hour sessions. Immigration advocates said they expect the school to open in January.

“As part of our mission to provide equitable, high-quality education to all students, Stride Learning Solutions is opening a new school site at an ICE Detention facility in Dilley, Texas,” says a posting for a special education compliance coordinator. The ads note that the company is “currently seeking to create a pipeline of experienced Educators.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment on the court filing or to provide details about the school. Stride, also known as K12, Inc., is a $2 billion online education company that reportedly served 220,000 students in 31 states last year. Former McKinsey & Co. consultant Ron J. Packard founded the company in 2000 with $40 million in venture capital backing from Oracle’s Larry Ellison and junk bond king Michael Milken, among others.

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