X.-6 20-2034 Adoption by the Board of Education of Resolution No. 2021-0089 - Expressing the Intend of the Board of Education to Change the Oakland Unified School District's Enrollment and Student Assignment Policies, Regulations, and Practices and Adopting Board Policy 5116 - Student Assignment.
I commend Dir. Yee’s expresses goal of upending structural racism, however I would submit that a policy can only be deemed anti-racist by its outcome. I am concerned that the framing of integration and fiscal sustainability will likely preference the desires of whiter, wealthier communities as they are clustered at higher-demand, and thus, schools which cost fewer dollars. If this policy leads to closing or undermining schools and communities that are majority Black, Brown and low-income then this policy does not upend the system, it continues and upholds systemic racism and deepens inequity.
I commend Dir. Yee’s expresses goal of upending structural racism, however I would submit that a policy can only be deemed anti-racist by its outcome. I am concerned that the framing of integration and fiscal sustainability will likely preference the desires of whiter, wealthier communities as they are clustered at higher-demand, and thus, schools which cost fewer dollars. If this policy leads to closing or undermining schools and communities that are majority Black, Brown and low-income then this policy does not upend the system, it continues and upholds systemic racism and deepens inequity.