Families risk arrest in protesting school closure:

 

Families risk arrest in protesting school closure

Jill Tucker

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Dozens of students, parents and activists who have set up camp at an Oakland elementary school to protest a plan to permanently close the school were risking arrest Monday after police posted orders to vacate the school grounds.
The demonstration started as a sit in at Lakeview Elementary School Friday afternoon and bled into the weekend, organizers said. Roughly 15 students and parents remained at the school Monday morning, down from 40 or so over the weekend.
Citing budget woes and declining enrollment, the school board voted in October to close five elementary schools across Oakland: Lakeview, Santa Fe, Marshall, Maxell Park and Lazear. Parents have been fighting to save the schools ever since.
School district police officers assessed the encampment Monday morning and then posted signs advising the protesters that they were "interfering with the good order of a school," a