Oakland protests school closures
June 19, 2012The Oakland Unified School District has planned to close five public elementary schools and hand children’s school buildings over to private charter schools and district administration offices. Hundreds of the displaced students have been placed by the district in elementary schools that are 10 miles away, and the school district has offered no guarantee that transportation will be provided for families. Hundreds of teachers, families & students have been protesting at Lakeview since Friday.
The same group of protesters plans to open “The People’s School for Public Education” on Lakeview’s campus this summer, at which a group of volunteers will teach courses ranging from art and gardening to social justice and activism.
“This is going to be the hub in Oakland, the place for public education,” Joel Velasquez, whose son attended Lakeview, told Oakland North. “We are going to take back our public education system—it belongs to us.”