X.-1 20-1335 Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 1920-0260 - George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department
I'm commenting in solidarity with the Black Organizing Project to support this resolution to eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. None of us can continue to ignore the fact that the police more often traumatize and harass than serve and protect; therefore, each of us must use the power we have to end the police occupation of our communities. The effects of police in our schools are well-documented: they disrupt the learning environment, criminalize our students, and perpetuate the racist school-to-prison pipeline. And yet, we not only tolerate them -- we are paying them for the privilege! We can no longer afford to pay the police to traumatize our young people. Please support this resolution, and eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department.
I am a resident in Oakland and I am in full support of the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Oakland is the only district in all of Alameda County that has its own police department. The Oakland School Police Department and other school security costs OUSD a combined $6M+. However, school policing services are ineffective in both reducing school crime and improving safety. It is unacceptable that essential student programs are cut and basic needs like paper are insufficient at our schools while we overspend on obsolete policing that only serves to reinforce the systemic racism of policing practices and bolster the Oakland school-to-prison pipeline. It's unacceptable that while black students only make up 26% of those enrolled in OUSD, they make up 73% of student arrests. I urge you to support this resolution in its entirety!
As an Oakland resident and future parent, I want my children to go to a school where the people in charge of the safety of the students are first and foremost caretakers and not disciplinarians. We do not need police, we need social workers. We need people trained to help a misbehaving student, not arrest them. We need love for our children, not violence. Please pass the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department.
Police officers in schools are at best a waste of resources and at best a threat to our community's youth safety. I support eliminating the Oakland Schools Police Department.
I am an OUSD parent and Oakland resident, and I support this resolution to get police out of our schools and redirect those resources to more constructive ends.
As an educator and Bay Area resident I strongly support Oakland Public Schools to cut ties with the police department and use those funds to support programs that actually help students well being and make them feel safe in the schools that serve them.
As a community member I am deeply concerned over the lack of support for the defunding of the school police force from this school board. Having police in schools is not only extremely expensive, but it has caused emotional and physical harm to Oakland students. Research has shown that students do not thrive when they are policed. Given the budget crisis our school district is facing, we should move swiftly to defund the police department within the schools and reallocate those $6M funds towards teachers, aides, nurses, and counselors and resources for our students.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly support the elimination of the Oakland Schools Police Department and the redirection of funds to more productive and supportive initiatives like restorative justice and social services. Police make OUSD students feel unsafe, cause unnecessary tension and conflict, and take away vital resources from already underfunded classrooms. Students deserve a supportive and productive environment to learn in, unfettered by trauma and unnecessary policing.
Born and raised in Oakland, I support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. I strongly believe that law enforcement do not belong in schools. Their presence creates an environment of fear and punishment and places black and brown students at risk of serious physical and emotional harm. Oakland is already a leader in school-based restorative justice programs, so there is no reason that we should not expand those programs and remove police from our schools. Oakland, we can do better. With our city's long history at the forefront of black freedom movements, we can show the nation that we stand in support of black lives. Please act now, act today.
I am a parent of two OUSD middle school students and I whole-heartedly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate The Oakland School Police Department. No police belong in our public schools. Invent those funds in counselors, librarians, and after school programs. The time is now OUSD!
I am an alumni of Oakland Technical High School and a born and raised Oakland resident and I support the George Floyd Resolution. The OSPD does not keep Oakland students safe, and has actively harmed young people on multiple occasions. I’d like to echo others who have commented here in my support of reallocating the funds towards restorative justice practitioners, social workers, and mental health professionals.
I support the removal of police from the Oakland school system. Funding should be re-invested in programs that actually benefit the education, health, and wellbeing of all students.
Hello, I’m a Bay Area resident who is an ally to black people in our community. I strongly support resolutions that help black people feel safe for themselves and their families. I support this initiative of BOP to remove policing from schools. There should be other ways to provide safety for children that doesn’t create danger for them.
I want to encourage you to support the resolution to remove police from Oakland Public Schools. This is an important step towards making our schools safer, and reducing the criminalization of black and brown young people. Our students deserved to be treated as learners not as criminals, and the presence of police in schools contributes to the school to prison pipeline. Oakland has a chance to be a leader in improving school safety without police, and I encourage you to take this opportunity to set an example for other communities.
As an OUSD teacher and community member, I wholeheartedly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Our students are policed enough in the streets and deserve to come to school and feel safe. The millions spent on OSP each year will be INFINITELY better spent on counselors, therapists, RJ, nurses, social workers, and all other trained professionals. We need a healing-centered mindset and framework for PK-12, not punitive vehicles on the School to Prison pipeline/containment. Now is the time to listen to students— the leaders of this movement. Now is the time to listen to teachers- the organizers of this movement. Now is the time to listen to parents and community, the backbone of our school cultures.
I am in full support of the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Police have no place in our schools and the George Floyd Resolution will shield our community's children from police violence, help to stop the school to prison pipeline, and invest this money to support better futures for the children. Divert the OSPD funding to school-based social workers, psychologists, restorative justice practitioners, or other mental or behavioral health professionals, as the budget supports, to meet the needs of students.
My name is Courtney Castleman. I have a Masters in Sociology, and I work in in an after school program in Oakland with Black and Brown youth. I also support families with children with disabilities throughout Alameda County. I strongly support removing police from schools. Please do this NOW!!! The trauma that the police enact in the lives of my students is horrifying, cruel, and uncalled for, adding to their generational trauma . Please reallocate that money for social workers, counselors, restorative justice practitioners, and nurses. Students need support! Police in Oakland are terrorizing youth, and they deserve the right to a free education where they feel safe. Police DO NOT make them feel safe and inhibit their learning! The school to prison pipeline in Oakland must be stopped. I demand that you take this seriously and do something. Otherwise, their blood is on your hands!! Prove that thier lives matter! #acab #blm
I'm commenting in solidarity with the Black Organizing Project to support this resolution to eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. None of us can continue to ignore the fact that the police more often traumatize and harass than serve and protect; therefore, each of us must use the power we have to end the police occupation of our communities. The effects of police in our schools are well-documented: they disrupt the learning environment, criminalize our students, and perpetuate the racist school-to-prison pipeline. And yet, we not only tolerate them -- we are paying them for the privilege! We can no longer afford to pay the police to traumatize our young people. Please support this resolution, and eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department.
I am a resident in Oakland and I am in full support of the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Oakland is the only district in all of Alameda County that has its own police department. The Oakland School Police Department and other school security costs OUSD a combined $6M+. However, school policing services are ineffective in both reducing school crime and improving safety. It is unacceptable that essential student programs are cut and basic needs like paper are insufficient at our schools while we overspend on obsolete policing that only serves to reinforce the systemic racism of policing practices and bolster the Oakland school-to-prison pipeline. It's unacceptable that while black students only make up 26% of those enrolled in OUSD, they make up 73% of student arrests. I urge you to support this resolution in its entirety!
As an Oakland resident and future parent, I want my children to go to a school where the people in charge of the safety of the students are first and foremost caretakers and not disciplinarians. We do not need police, we need social workers. We need people trained to help a misbehaving student, not arrest them. We need love for our children, not violence. Please pass the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department.
Police officers in schools are at best a waste of resources and at best a threat to our community's youth safety. I support eliminating the Oakland Schools Police Department.
I am an OUSD parent and Oakland resident, and I support this resolution to get police out of our schools and redirect those resources to more constructive ends.
As an educator and Bay Area resident I strongly support Oakland Public Schools to cut ties with the police department and use those funds to support programs that actually help students well being and make them feel safe in the schools that serve them.
As a community member I am deeply concerned over the lack of support for the defunding of the school police force from this school board. Having police in schools is not only extremely expensive, but it has caused emotional and physical harm to Oakland students. Research has shown that students do not thrive when they are policed. Given the budget crisis our school district is facing, we should move swiftly to defund the police department within the schools and reallocate those $6M funds towards teachers, aides, nurses, and counselors and resources for our students.
As an Oakland resident, I strongly support the elimination of the Oakland Schools Police Department and the redirection of funds to more productive and supportive initiatives like restorative justice and social services. Police make OUSD students feel unsafe, cause unnecessary tension and conflict, and take away vital resources from already underfunded classrooms. Students deserve a supportive and productive environment to learn in, unfettered by trauma and unnecessary policing.
Born and raised in Oakland, I support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. I strongly believe that law enforcement do not belong in schools. Their presence creates an environment of fear and punishment and places black and brown students at risk of serious physical and emotional harm. Oakland is already a leader in school-based restorative justice programs, so there is no reason that we should not expand those programs and remove police from our schools. Oakland, we can do better. With our city's long history at the forefront of black freedom movements, we can show the nation that we stand in support of black lives. Please act now, act today.
I am a parent of two OUSD middle school students and I whole-heartedly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate The Oakland School Police Department. No police belong in our public schools. Invent those funds in counselors, librarians, and after school programs. The time is now OUSD!
I am an alumni of Oakland Technical High School and a born and raised Oakland resident and I support the George Floyd Resolution. The OSPD does not keep Oakland students safe, and has actively harmed young people on multiple occasions. I’d like to echo others who have commented here in my support of reallocating the funds towards restorative justice practitioners, social workers, and mental health professionals.
Police do not belong in schools.
I support the removal of police from the Oakland school system. Funding should be re-invested in programs that actually benefit the education, health, and wellbeing of all students.
Hello, I’m a Bay Area resident who is an ally to black people in our community. I strongly support resolutions that help black people feel safe for themselves and their families. I support this initiative of BOP to remove policing from schools. There should be other ways to provide safety for children that doesn’t create danger for them.
Best regards,
Rasa Petrauskaite
Dear OUSD,
I want to encourage you to support the resolution to remove police from Oakland Public Schools. This is an important step towards making our schools safer, and reducing the criminalization of black and brown young people. Our students deserved to be treated as learners not as criminals, and the presence of police in schools contributes to the school to prison pipeline. Oakland has a chance to be a leader in improving school safety without police, and I encourage you to take this opportunity to set an example for other communities.
Sincerely,
Sarah Seiter
As an OUSD teacher and community member, I wholeheartedly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Our students are policed enough in the streets and deserve to come to school and feel safe. The millions spent on OSP each year will be INFINITELY better spent on counselors, therapists, RJ, nurses, social workers, and all other trained professionals. We need a healing-centered mindset and framework for PK-12, not punitive vehicles on the School to Prison pipeline/containment. Now is the time to listen to students— the leaders of this movement. Now is the time to listen to teachers- the organizers of this movement. Now is the time to listen to parents and community, the backbone of our school cultures.
I am in full support of the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Police have no place in our schools and the George Floyd Resolution will shield our community's children from police violence, help to stop the school to prison pipeline, and invest this money to support better futures for the children. Divert the OSPD funding to school-based social workers, psychologists, restorative justice practitioners, or other mental or behavioral health professionals, as the budget supports, to meet the needs of students.
My name is Courtney Castleman. I have a Masters in Sociology, and I work in in an after school program in Oakland with Black and Brown youth. I also support families with children with disabilities throughout Alameda County. I strongly support removing police from schools. Please do this NOW!!! The trauma that the police enact in the lives of my students is horrifying, cruel, and uncalled for, adding to their generational trauma . Please reallocate that money for social workers, counselors, restorative justice practitioners, and nurses. Students need support! Police in Oakland are terrorizing youth, and they deserve the right to a free education where they feel safe. Police DO NOT make them feel safe and inhibit their learning! The school to prison pipeline in Oakland must be stopped. I demand that you take this seriously and do something. Otherwise, their blood is on your hands!! Prove that thier lives matter! #acab #blm
The police does not belong in schools. This should be a safe place for students to learn, not to be potentially criminalized.
Eliminate the oakland schools police department.