Oakland School Closures: Sign the petition!
“Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It’s like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won’t fatten the dog.” ~ Mark Twain People’s School for Public Education...
People’s School for Public Education
Every child deserves a quality neighborhood public school. The district has the power to keep Lakeview, Santa Fe, Marshall, Maxwell Park, and Lazear open next year. We demand that they do so. The district has announced plans to close up to 30 schools in the next several years. We won’t let them close one more school. School closures increase the instability in neighborhoods already suffering from the severe cuts to essential public services. School closures hurt black and brown communities. Four of the five schools slated for closure are predominantly black; the fifth is predominantly Latino. School closures are a national attack, denying working class, black, and brown students the right to a quality public education and destabilizing their communities. Philadelphia is closing 40 schools. New York City is closing 24 schools. Chicago has closed dozens of schools. Jefferson Parish (Louisiana) is closing several of its schools.
Closing the schools has traumatized children & jeopardized their safety
We demand that OUSD provide transportation for all displaced students
The Tony Smith and the school board have offered no plan to facilitate safe transportation to and from the new schools. Children will be put on public buses to make complex cross-town journeys alone, in many cases returning from afterschool programs after dark. Closing the schools will separate children from beloved