Parents, Teachers Shut Down School Board Meeting, Protesting School Closures, Arrests

Nov 16, 2019

Ken A. Epstein
Protest at school board Wednesday evening. Photo by Ken Epstein.

By Ken Epstein

In ongoing protests, parents and teachers, including members of the Oakland Not for Sale (ONFS) coalition, shut down the school board meeting Wednesday, Nov. 14 . At one point over 200 people in the audience stood and turned their backs to the school board chanting, “No school closures, Oakland is not for sale.” Unable to continue its business, the school board moved the meeting to a private room elsewhere in the building.

A number of Oaklanders had come to the meeting in solidarity with the parents and teachers who were arrested and injured by school police at the Oct. 23 school board meeting. Before Wednesday meeting began, the Black Organizing Project (BOP) held a rally calling for defunding and dissolving the school district’s in-house police department.

Speakers at rally and school board meeting on Wednesday, November 13:

  • www.facebook.com/oaklandnotforsale/videos/576221736447010/
  • www.facebook.com/OaklandEA/videos/828526894231337/
  • www.facebook.com/OaklandEA/videos/953670491686847/