In the wake of the brutal murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Roland Greene, George Floyd, and the countless others that preceded and followed them, we witnessed a summer of upheaval against structural racism in our nation and locally, that has disappointingly been followed by a lack of significant and meaningful structural change. As an educational institution, Mountain View High School owes its students, community, and each other to challenge the deep-seated racism that continues to linger and effect students of color in our diverse school, and take steps to become an actively anti-racist institution. As a community that preaches diversity, inclusion, and equity, we must put actions to these words by both acknowledging and addressing the issues young people of color continue to face during their high school experience. 

As concerned MVLA alumni, current students and family/community members, we are calling on MVLA to take immediate action to design and implement a curriculum which adequately addresses the reality of systemic racism and oppression in America, and to foster an inclusive and safe learning environment for all students. We believe that our district can and should be a leader in this process. We also want to acknowledge the limitations of both the scope of our group and the list of actions we’ve collected here. 

Remove law enforcement (School Resource Officers) from Mountain View Campus. 
Declare our status as a sanctuary school, and make resources for undocumented community members more obviously and easily accessible. 
Reform discipline and counseling policies, and work transparently with students, educators, and community members (inclusive of those with BIPOC backgrounds) to create a new public safety plan for MVHS. 

MVHs should follow the examples of schools across the Bay Area and the country, including Los Altos High School, that are ending the presence of police in schools. The very presence of this institution on school grounds perpetuates an unsafe learning environment for students who come from communities profiled, abused, and often brutalized by the police, including BIPOC students and community members. We have gathered extensive testimonials from BIPOC students and staff about negative experiences with the police in our schools, as well as from community members with the LAPD and MVPDs overall. We do not intend to accuse every individual police officer of misconduct against our school population. However, the police as an institution has been harmful to the quality of students' education both here and in the United States in general. Removing law enforcement from all campuses in the District will create a safer environment for students and staff of color, especially Black and Latinx students and staff. This must be an immediate action starting with the 2021 school year. We understand that this is a tight timeline -- but students, educators, and alumni have been calling on the school board and city council to take action for an entire year. We do not have a “better” time to act. 

California already has a “Sanctuary State law” (SB 54),  which was passed in 2017 and upheld by the US Supreme Court this summer, and Santa Clara County has its own sanctuary policy. However, it is imperative that local jurisdictions and school boards also pass their own clear sanctuary policies in protecting undocumented immigrants from ICE arrests on their school grounds. We ask that you clearly do so, publicly establishing that MVHS employees will not cooperate with ICE officials in any capacity whatsoever, including any possible information sharing about undocumented students and their families. As a sanctuary district, we also ask that MVHS t provide a full comprehensive resource page on their website that includes updated immigration rights, local organizations, mutual aid resources and legal services. We also demand that there be required training on ICE interactions for MVHS staff by the Santa Clara County’s Rapid Response Network.

Current punitive disciplinary actions such as suspensions should be removed and replaced with actions that value community healing and well-being through restorative justice. In order to provide all students with sufficient access to interpersonal and wellness counseling, the district should increase the number of counselors available on all its campuses. It is in their best interest to respond to students’ mistakes by encouraging their growth instead of creating roadblocks that hinder students from learning and moving on from their actions. 

We all have a responsibility in the fight against racism, and for the MVHS community, this must take the form of implementing concrete, institutional changes. These changes must allow our community to adapt to evolving social issues. As the MVLA mission statement says: “We are committed to creating a community of learners with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to combine personal success with meaningful contributions to our multicultural and global society.” It is incumbent on MVHS leadership to institute systematic institutional changes so that this is not simply a mission statement, but also a reality for all students. Provide your students with knowledge of historical and contemporary racial injustices they need to think critically and participate meaningfully in our contemporary society. Fulfill your role as an educational institution in addressing the uncomfortable truths of racism and giving students the skills for larger scale discourse within our communities and our nation. Listen to and amplify the voices of your historically unheard students, and show rather than just tell them their safety, wellbeing, intellect, and talents are valued. 

Now is the time to take action. We urge you to carefully review the actions we have proposed, and work closely with students and the community to immediately begin to implement them. 

Sincerely, 

MVLA Alumni, Students, Parents, Teachers, and Community Members.

• 1 Chavez, Nicole. “A Movement to Push Police out of Schools Is Growing Nationwide. Here Is Why.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 June 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/us/police-out-of-schools-movement/index.html
  • Harrington, Theresa. “Oakland School Board Unanimously Agrees to Eliminate Its Police Force.” EdSource, EdSource, 25 June 2020, edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/6
• 2 https://www.justicevanguard.org
• 3 https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/8/21284538/police-security-guards-schools-black-white-students-racism
• 4  Bojórquez, Kim. “California's Sanctuary Law Upheld by Supreme Court. Here's What It Means.” Sacbee, The Sacramento Bee, 15 June 2020, www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243546072.html
• 5 Bojórquez, Kim. “California's Sanctuary Law Upheld by Supreme Court. Here's What It Means.” Sacbee, The Sacramento Bee, 15 June 2020, www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243546072.html