Parents, teachers sue Oakland school district over violent board meeting
They seek damages in complaint from Oct. 23 meeting; drive to oust school board president progresses.
OAKLAND — With Oakland Technical High School as the backdrop, a group of parents and teachers announced Thursday they are suing the Oakland Unified School District for injuries they say they suffered by police officers at an Oct. 23 school board meeting.
The complaint is “for violation of our clients’ Constitutional rights, specifically their Constitutional right to engage in free speech and to engage in public activity without being beat up or injured,” said the group’s attorney, Dan Siegel, at the press conference which began with a loud chant of “No more closures. Oakland is not for sale.”
Big Education Ape: OUSD meeting Violence - Oakland Not For Sale – No More School Closures! #Oaklandnotforsale - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/10/ousd-meeting-violence-oakland-not-for.html
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and names as defendants the Oakland Unified School District, district police Chief Jeff Godown and Sgt. Donald Perrier, among others. It was filed after the school district rejected the group’s excessive force claim, which was filed in November.
The legal action by the eight plaintiffs stems from an Oct. 23 meeting in which parents and teachers protested against the large number of charter schools and the district’s plan to close schools, including an earlier decision to shut Kaiser Elementary in the Oakland hills.
The complaint seeks unspecified monetary and punitive damages and asks for a jury trial.
At the meeting, protesters clashed with police inside the meeting room, which was separated by a barricade from the school board.
“We were there protesting peacefully with guitars,” said Amy Haruyama, a first-grade teacher with the OUSD. “We had no idea what was about to happen …. I didn’t even see them coming. I fell. I thought I was trapped or something.”
According to the complaint, Haruyama was standing on the auditorium side of the barrier when Sgt. Perrier used his baton to shove her, knocking her to the ground. Haruyama was “bruised and suffered from whiplash from falling,” the complaint stated.
The most visibly injured individual at the Thursday press conference was parent Saru Jayaraman, who was on crutches. According to the complaint, three or four officers “jumped CONTINUE READING: Oakland school district sued over violent meeting
