Editor’s Note: Families from Parker Elementary School in Oakland, CA, don’t want their school to close. So a group of half a dozen families has occupied Parker and doesn’t have plans to leave unless Oakland Unified School District reverses its decision to close the school. Below is a statement from Jasionna, who spoke eloquently from her written article, “My 23 Days at Parker Elementary,” at a recent school board meeting that had a massive student presence demanding that Parker reopen.
By Jasionna
OAKLAND, CA — My name is Jasionna and I’ve been at Parker for the liberation for 23 days. Some people asked me how I got involved in it. Well, I used to hear the marches every day and how they are taking over my community school. The first day I got here I did not believe that people were actually sleeping in the school. My little sister was the first person to be across the street, here every day. My sister transferred to Parker K-8 earlier this school year because, at Elmhurst Middle School, she and another student and their mom got into an altercation. The mom jumped out of her car while my sister was walking to the store and she was hitting her constantly. This was crazy because you are supposed to protect kids. My mom called OUSD [Oakland Unified School District] and they didn’t do anything about it. The principal never called or checked up on us. He just let us be. And this is why she moved to Parker. She started coming home every day with a smile on her face. I came over here a couple of times and talked to everybody. They were so nice and welcoming. Also, she made lots of friends.
Here at the liberation, I’ve taught an art class. I’ve gotten to learn how to roller skate. I got to see different people and interact with them. There have been some events here like BBQs, the skate day, the Warriors party, and many more. Occupying the school is a good idea because the kids need it. Where are we going to go if we don’t occupy this school? I know a lot of kids around here who aren’t going to go to school next year because they don’t have anybody to take them. We have to do this liberation because a lot of schools, not just Parker, are getting closed. If we don’t fight back, there won’t be any more public schools in Oakland. They want to close these schools because they are going to turn them into charter schools. I’ve been going to a charter school for 3 years. I do love it, but there are some things I don’t like. Even though me being a Black student, I feel like I did not get heard a lot. All students should have the right to feel comfortable at school. And that’s why I’m here today.
At some point, I started to give up because I thought we were just going to have our school taken away. But on June 9, I went to my first school board meeting and I got to see the ugliest people. Inside, they didn’t have a sense of humor. They were rude, and they just don’t care about children. They only care about their money and taking it away from kids. They like being racist – they are taking a school away from a Black and Brown community. Especially Josh Daniels. He’s the most racist of them all. He comes to Parker every week and takes pictures of little kids. He locks up our kitchen so we can’t eat. He takes all our funding. He sends 14 people here to put chains on our gates. When I went to that school board meeting, it made me not want to give up anymore because I got to be heard. And other youth got to say what they wanted to say, and everyone got to hear how this is affecting us. If Josh Daniels really thinks he is going to stop us, it’s not. Because we are all a team and we are never going to stop until we get our school back.
Background:
Parker School, 102 years old, has been occupied by parents, children, the community and supporters since May 25. The Oakland School Board voted to close Parker and 8 other schools earlier in the year. They claim that they need to save money, even though their own staff has said that it does not.
Oakland has closed over 20 schools in the last 20 years, while opening over 40 charter schools. All the closed schools are majority Black and Brown. In effect, the school board has eliminated neighborhood schools in the impoverished Flatlands, though students in the affluent hills still can walk to school. Closing schools forces students to travel across town and walk through gang territory, and past professional child sex-traffickers.
Closing schools is a real estate plan. Oakland is building massive market rate housing projects in the Flatlands.
Jasionna made this statement to the School Board on June 22. Josh Daniels was hired to be the school board legal-council. When he was in the Berkeley school district, the NAACP published a letter that detailed his racist and anti-labor activities.
