The Oakland Unified School District plans to close even more schools serving predominantly students of color. I am calling on you to intervene and stop these racist school closures.

The cry from our students, parents, and community is evident - school closures are not helping us create the Oakland we believe will nurture our children; it has only created a wider division between the rich and poor. We cannot stand by while decisions are being made without the democratic participation of our community.

It is extremely upsetting that the majority of schools targeted for closure are predominantly Black and Brown schools which would cause the displacement of thousands of children who already are treated as 2nd class citizens due to the color of their skin. Oakland Unified historically has already closed 16 majority Black and Brown schools in the past two decades claiming that they must do so to keep cut costs and balance its budget--several years later, the problem still persists, so it is clear that the budget problems are NOT solved by closing our schools. This has to stop.  DO NOT sacrifice our children's futures when doing so does not solve the problem of the District's own mismanagement of funds!

Please urge the school board and District to VOTE NO on school closures, join and stop OUSD's racist, harmful school closure policy, and make OUSD accountable for the budget crisis they have created--they must find another way.