Oakland is at the forefront of a national movement to abolish police from K-12 schools
Amid a national conversation about cops and racism, Oakland Unified abolishes their school police force
Oakland, Calif.— Last week, amid national cries for defunding and abolishing the police, the Oakland school board voted unanimously to abolish the Oakland Unified School District Police Department, a police force specific to the school district.
The resolution, which was drafted by the Oakland community-led organization Black Organizing Project (BOP), abolishes the Oakland Unified School District's police force of 10 sworn officers and 50 unarmed campus safety officers. The resolution also calls on the superintendent to reallocate the funds — $2.5 million — used for sworn police officers to support services such as social workers, psychologists and restorative justice practitioners.
As the resolution details, throughout the 2013 and 2018 school years, Oakland Unified School District spent over $9.3 million on the Oakland Unified School District Police Department. Meanwhile, in the last three years, 33 restorative justice coordinators were laid off.
Known as the George Floyd Resolution, this action is partly a result of the protests that have erupted since Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis by a white police officer, but it also comes after nearly a decade of pressure from Oakland activists at BOP.
"While the murder of George Floyd was the catalyst for the uprisings across the country, and rightfully so, if we are being transparent, in 2011 there were very few people, individuals, and organizations who would agree with us and support us in identifying that police in schools was an issue," Ni'Keah Manning, a member of BOP and program coordinator, told Salon in an interview. "It definitely was not popular, it was seen as extremely radical." CONTINUE READING: Oakland is at the forefront of a national movement to abolish police from K-12 schools | Salon.com
