I.-1 20-1335 Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 1920-0260 - George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department.
As an OUSD educator, I strongly urge you to pass the George Floyd Resolution and end all contracts with Oakland Police and eliminate Oakland School Police. These funds can be redirected to highly needed mental and emotional health resources for students. I work at a school that has only one counselor for almost 400 students and only one part-time nurse for nearly 800 students. Our special education services need more funding and we need more tools for intervention for students that are struggling academically. School police serve to intimidate and physically force students, most often Black and Brown students, to comply, which further alienates them from the school environment and harms them physically, mentally, and emotionally. I support Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including eliminating the school police department by August and reinvesting that money in mental health, restorative justice, and educational resources.
I support the George Floyd Resolution. Increased policing in schools has failed on multiple counts: a) calls to increase school safety have resulted in an increasingly punitive system of school discipline aimed at students of color and b) school policing has failed to make students of color safer. Even the United Nations has called to remove police officers from schools (source: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17000&LangID=E). I want to live in a community where children's mental health and well-being are being invested in; I see that investment as more school-based counselors, social workers, and nurses,” the report authors note. These professionals are trained to de-escalate community members in distress, whereas law enforcement are trained to meet force with force and to neutralize potential threat. Oakland can invest in our youth by removing police from schools.
As an Oakland resident, I am strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution and urge the Board to terminate all contracts with OSPD and OPD and to reinvest the funds into restorative justice, special education, and mental health services. How can OUSD claim “Every Student Thrives" when our Black and Brown youth are met with oppressive forces on grounds that they should feel safe on? We will not tolerate institutional racism within the school district. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including eliminating the school police department by August. Please be leaders in this long over-due and much needed change.
As a resident of the city of Oakland, I strongly urge you to pass the George Floyd Resolution. The Oakland Schools Police Department does not provide a safe and healthy learning environment for the students within Oakland's schools. Conversely, the presence of the police within the schools creates a hostile and oppressive environment, particularly for Black and Brown students, where criminality has all too often been assumed and where over-policing dehumanizes and subjugates our students during their formative years. We no longer will tolerate institutional racism within the school district and the severe consequences students must endure as a result of the police department's presence. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including abolishing the school police department and re-investing these funds into restorative justice, mental health, and student-educator led projects.
I'm an Oakland resident in District 3 and an educator (I teach in the UC system), and I strongly support the George Floyd Resolution as written. Much of what I teach and research at the university level is about the deep histories of racial violence that have foundationally shaped policing from its origins, but I'm acutely aware of just how many students never make it to my classroom because of decades of divestment from the public good, including public education, in favor of massive expansions in the carceral state. Policing in schools is a major component of the school-to-prison pipeline, and the criminalization of children has no place in an educational environment. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety that centers restorative justice, mental health, and other real investments in students' safety and well-being.
I am a mental health clinician at Havenscourt School-Based Health Center (La Clinica de La Raza) on the CCPA campus and have also worked in the same role at Roosevelt Health Center on the Roosevelt Middle School Campus. I have witnessed time and time again the harm caused by policing in Oakland schools. I urge all board members to support the George Floyd Resolution as written and move quickly to abolish school police before the new school year begins. The community will not tolerate the dehumanization and criminalization of our Black and Brown children and youth by OSPD a day longer. I strongly support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety. Schools should be 100% police free, and police should not be involved in developing the new safety plan. Please re-invest these funds to restorative justice, mental health, and student-educator led projects.
I teach in an afterschool program in Oakland and my students live and learn in Oakland, and I strongly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Black and Brown students deserve to learn in an environment free from over-policing of their bodies and the terror connected to histories of racialized policing. I urge the board to adopt this resolution and to ensure that police are not involved in the development of a school safety plan moving forward. Please be leaders in the movement to defund and disband police presence in our communities.
As a longtime Oakland resident and school-based therapist, I have witnessed and heard countless testimonies from students, families, and school-based mental health providers, that amplify how school policing reinforces racial inequality, negatively impacts the mental health of students, and creates a negative school climate. We must get police out of our schools and redirect funds into services that protect and serve the well-being, safety, and dignity of all OUSD students and families.
I am a mental health counselor at a school in San Leandro and I am strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution to defund and divest OSPD. Our school staff are all trained in how to de-escalate conflicts and are also trained in using physical management when necessary, which ultimately leads us to calling the police less for minor offenses and conduct violations. Teachers and staff within OUSD cannot promise all students a safe space if they have to involve the police. We need to eliminating the OSPD and replace it with a model of putting mental health and restorative justice first.
As a longtime Oakland resident and school-based mental health counselor, I have witnessed and heard countless testimonies from students, families, and school-based mental health providers, that amplify how school policing reinforces racial inequality, negatively impacts the mental health of students, and creates a negative school climate. We must get police out of our schools and redirect funds into services that protect and serve the well-being, safety, and dignity of all OUSD students and families.
In order to ensure the safety and mental health of these student and the next generations of student to come, we must remove police from our school. Divest from the police force and redistribute those funds to invest in mental health services, arts, after school program funding, etc. this is crucial to developing a well rounded student body and therefore a critical thinking & confident bunch of adults. What happened to George Floyd can happen to any black or brown person. Is this the risk you are willing to take in our schools ? In our schools in Oakland ? Where the majority democratic is Black & Brown students.
As an Oakland resident, I’m strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution and I‘m urging the Board to terminate any contracts they have with OSPD and OPD and to divert their funds to programs that will benefit students such as hiring more counselors, social workers, and expanding on mental health services available to students. OSPD and OPD are not a sustainable option for students in regards to conflict resolution and as long as they take up space in schools, they will exist as a boundary for students who realistically need restorative justice. I support BOP and the George Floyd Resolution because Oakland students deserve to be served by a district that will protect them from police violence and instead will provide them with the services they need to succeed in life.
Prior to working in a non public school, I worked closely with students and educators in Oakland. I witnessed how teachers worked tirelessly to find the solutions to develop safe spaces for their students with the knowledge that systemic oppression, interpersonal oppression, and internalized oppression affected their students daily. I also witnessed how difficult it was to do so with systems in place that increased a student's negative belief about themselves, like having police on campus. As the assistant principal and special education teacher at a non public school, we receive several refferals from OUSD and witness how students from OUSD thrive when they are provided a safe environment to learn with therapeutic supports. I urge the board to pass the George Floyd resolution and invest in their students and community by investing in mental health counselors and therapists for both students and families. Models already exist for safe schools, it is possible.
As an OUSD parent and Public Advocates education justice lawyer with a fierce commitment to eradicating anti-Black racism in our public schools, I write to strongly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the OSPD. If ever there was a time to stand with BOP to defund police & invest in structures of support and care for our youth, NOW is that time. In the midst of the twin pandemics of COVID 19 & racism, we must build schools of belonging & inclusion where Black students will thrive. As stated in the 3/4/20 letter to the board from legal orgs PA, EBCLC, ACLU, NCYL, LSC, & EJS, school police are part of a carceral system that has long been a tool of racial oppression & anti-Blackness & inevitably contributes to the criminalization of Black & Brown youth. Let's seize this opportunity to build a holistic safety plan in partnership with BOP & community, prioritize the services & supports that Oakland students need & deserve, & commit deeply to dismantling racism as a district.
As resident of Oakland, working in Oakland schools, and with three Black/Latinx grandchildren attending OUSD schools, I have a vested interest in seeing police removed from our schools and communities. As a therapist working with middle school students, there are times when a student in danger of harming self or others must be hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. As trained mental health specialist and social worker, I am in a position to support this process in a manner that serves to deescalate any difficult situations, and soothe the youth and their family as we help them navigate the challenges of this scenario. According to current regulations, we are required to call the OUSD police to come in and do an additional mental health assessment in these moments. This only delays the process and ensures that it is traumatizing for all involved. Also, I do not want police in my grandchildren's school for any reason. The police do not offer protection, but are an oppressive force.
I am a resident of Oakland and strongly urge the Board to adopt the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. I intend to enroll my child in OUSD schools when she's of age, and that decision will be much more steadfast if I knew that OUSD is operating police-free schools, and re-directing that funding departments and services that will better serve our children and communities. Please let Oakland be a leader on this front.
Research & Data has shown that Black and/or Disabled students in k-12 are disproportionately arrested/harmed by school resource officers. These officers are also not trained in implicit bias and de-escalation for k-12 students. It is a stain on educational policy for SRO’s to be walking around hallways arresting and terrorizing students; especially in lower-income neighborhoods. Hire counselors, train teachers on culturally responsive curriculums and punitive measures, invest in more mental health resources for students. They deserve better. Our communities deserve better. SRO’s are not efficient.
As an OUSD educator, I strongly urge you to pass the George Floyd Resolution and end all contracts with Oakland Police and eliminate Oakland School Police. These funds can be redirected to highly needed mental and emotional health resources for students. I work at a school that has only one counselor for almost 400 students and only one part-time nurse for nearly 800 students. Our special education services need more funding and we need more tools for intervention for students that are struggling academically. School police serve to intimidate and physically force students, most often Black and Brown students, to comply, which further alienates them from the school environment and harms them physically, mentally, and emotionally. I support Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including eliminating the school police department by August and reinvesting that money in mental health, restorative justice, and educational resources.
I support the George Floyd Resolution. Increased policing in schools has failed on multiple counts: a) calls to increase school safety have resulted in an increasingly punitive system of school discipline aimed at students of color and b) school policing has failed to make students of color safer. Even the United Nations has called to remove police officers from schools (source: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17000&LangID=E). I want to live in a community where children's mental health and well-being are being invested in; I see that investment as more school-based counselors, social workers, and nurses,” the report authors note. These professionals are trained to de-escalate community members in distress, whereas law enforcement are trained to meet force with force and to neutralize potential threat. Oakland can invest in our youth by removing police from schools.
As an Oakland resident, I am strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution and urge the Board to terminate all contracts with OSPD and OPD and to reinvest the funds into restorative justice, special education, and mental health services. How can OUSD claim “Every Student Thrives" when our Black and Brown youth are met with oppressive forces on grounds that they should feel safe on? We will not tolerate institutional racism within the school district. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including eliminating the school police department by August. Please be leaders in this long over-due and much needed change.
As a resident of the city of Oakland, I strongly urge you to pass the George Floyd Resolution. The Oakland Schools Police Department does not provide a safe and healthy learning environment for the students within Oakland's schools. Conversely, the presence of the police within the schools creates a hostile and oppressive environment, particularly for Black and Brown students, where criminality has all too often been assumed and where over-policing dehumanizes and subjugates our students during their formative years. We no longer will tolerate institutional racism within the school district and the severe consequences students must endure as a result of the police department's presence. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety, including abolishing the school police department and re-investing these funds into restorative justice, mental health, and student-educator led projects.
Keep the police out of schools.
I'm an Oakland resident in District 3 and an educator (I teach in the UC system), and I strongly support the George Floyd Resolution as written. Much of what I teach and research at the university level is about the deep histories of racial violence that have foundationally shaped policing from its origins, but I'm acutely aware of just how many students never make it to my classroom because of decades of divestment from the public good, including public education, in favor of massive expansions in the carceral state. Policing in schools is a major component of the school-to-prison pipeline, and the criminalization of children has no place in an educational environment. I support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety that centers restorative justice, mental health, and other real investments in students' safety and well-being.
I am a mental health clinician at Havenscourt School-Based Health Center (La Clinica de La Raza) on the CCPA campus and have also worked in the same role at Roosevelt Health Center on the Roosevelt Middle School Campus. I have witnessed time and time again the harm caused by policing in Oakland schools. I urge all board members to support the George Floyd Resolution as written and move quickly to abolish school police before the new school year begins. The community will not tolerate the dehumanization and criminalization of our Black and Brown children and youth by OSPD a day longer. I strongly support the Black Organizing Project's vision for school safety. Schools should be 100% police free, and police should not be involved in developing the new safety plan. Please re-invest these funds to restorative justice, mental health, and student-educator led projects.
I teach in an afterschool program in Oakland and my students live and learn in Oakland, and I strongly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. Black and Brown students deserve to learn in an environment free from over-policing of their bodies and the terror connected to histories of racialized policing. I urge the board to adopt this resolution and to ensure that police are not involved in the development of a school safety plan moving forward. Please be leaders in the movement to defund and disband police presence in our communities.
As a longtime Oakland resident and school-based therapist, I have witnessed and heard countless testimonies from students, families, and school-based mental health providers, that amplify how school policing reinforces racial inequality, negatively impacts the mental health of students, and creates a negative school climate. We must get police out of our schools and redirect funds into services that protect and serve the well-being, safety, and dignity of all OUSD students and families.
I am a mental health counselor at a school in San Leandro and I am strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution to defund and divest OSPD. Our school staff are all trained in how to de-escalate conflicts and are also trained in using physical management when necessary, which ultimately leads us to calling the police less for minor offenses and conduct violations. Teachers and staff within OUSD cannot promise all students a safe space if they have to involve the police. We need to eliminating the OSPD and replace it with a model of putting mental health and restorative justice first.
As a longtime Oakland resident and school-based mental health counselor, I have witnessed and heard countless testimonies from students, families, and school-based mental health providers, that amplify how school policing reinforces racial inequality, negatively impacts the mental health of students, and creates a negative school climate. We must get police out of our schools and redirect funds into services that protect and serve the well-being, safety, and dignity of all OUSD students and families.
In order to ensure the safety and mental health of these student and the next generations of student to come, we must remove police from our school. Divest from the police force and redistribute those funds to invest in mental health services, arts, after school program funding, etc. this is crucial to developing a well rounded student body and therefore a critical thinking & confident bunch of adults. What happened to George Floyd can happen to any black or brown person. Is this the risk you are willing to take in our schools ? In our schools in Oakland ? Where the majority democratic is Black & Brown students.
As an Oakland resident, I’m strongly in support of the George Floyd Resolution and I‘m urging the Board to terminate any contracts they have with OSPD and OPD and to divert their funds to programs that will benefit students such as hiring more counselors, social workers, and expanding on mental health services available to students. OSPD and OPD are not a sustainable option for students in regards to conflict resolution and as long as they take up space in schools, they will exist as a boundary for students who realistically need restorative justice. I support BOP and the George Floyd Resolution because Oakland students deserve to be served by a district that will protect them from police violence and instead will provide them with the services they need to succeed in life.
Prior to working in a non public school, I worked closely with students and educators in Oakland. I witnessed how teachers worked tirelessly to find the solutions to develop safe spaces for their students with the knowledge that systemic oppression, interpersonal oppression, and internalized oppression affected their students daily. I also witnessed how difficult it was to do so with systems in place that increased a student's negative belief about themselves, like having police on campus. As the assistant principal and special education teacher at a non public school, we receive several refferals from OUSD and witness how students from OUSD thrive when they are provided a safe environment to learn with therapeutic supports. I urge the board to pass the George Floyd resolution and invest in their students and community by investing in mental health counselors and therapists for both students and families. Models already exist for safe schools, it is possible.
As an OUSD parent and Public Advocates education justice lawyer with a fierce commitment to eradicating anti-Black racism in our public schools, I write to strongly support the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the OSPD. If ever there was a time to stand with BOP to defund police & invest in structures of support and care for our youth, NOW is that time. In the midst of the twin pandemics of COVID 19 & racism, we must build schools of belonging & inclusion where Black students will thrive. As stated in the 3/4/20 letter to the board from legal orgs PA, EBCLC, ACLU, NCYL, LSC, & EJS, school police are part of a carceral system that has long been a tool of racial oppression & anti-Blackness & inevitably contributes to the criminalization of Black & Brown youth. Let's seize this opportunity to build a holistic safety plan in partnership with BOP & community, prioritize the services & supports that Oakland students need & deserve, & commit deeply to dismantling racism as a district.
We need to invest in education not police departments. Spend the money supporting the kids not threatening them with police.
Keep police out of our schools. Defund the OPD
As resident of Oakland, working in Oakland schools, and with three Black/Latinx grandchildren attending OUSD schools, I have a vested interest in seeing police removed from our schools and communities. As a therapist working with middle school students, there are times when a student in danger of harming self or others must be hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. As trained mental health specialist and social worker, I am in a position to support this process in a manner that serves to deescalate any difficult situations, and soothe the youth and their family as we help them navigate the challenges of this scenario. According to current regulations, we are required to call the OUSD police to come in and do an additional mental health assessment in these moments. This only delays the process and ensures that it is traumatizing for all involved. Also, I do not want police in my grandchildren's school for any reason. The police do not offer protection, but are an oppressive force.
I am a resident of Oakland and strongly urge the Board to adopt the George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate the Oakland Schools Police Department. I intend to enroll my child in OUSD schools when she's of age, and that decision will be much more steadfast if I knew that OUSD is operating police-free schools, and re-directing that funding departments and services that will better serve our children and communities. Please let Oakland be a leader on this front.
Research & Data has shown that Black and/or Disabled students in k-12 are disproportionately arrested/harmed by school resource officers. These officers are also not trained in implicit bias and de-escalation for k-12 students. It is a stain on educational policy for SRO’s to be walking around hallways arresting and terrorizing students; especially in lower-income neighborhoods. Hire counselors, train teachers on culturally responsive curriculums and punitive measures, invest in more mental health resources for students. They deserve better. Our communities deserve better. SRO’s are not efficient.