Stop OUSD Security Assault: Parents & Community Members At Parker School Press Conference

A Parker school supporter and school board candidates Joel Valasquez who also said the closing was directly related to privatization of public schools for charters and developers

Inside the school as teachers and community supporters are working to build the school

Rachelle Jenkins, a parent and bus driver spoke about the community support for the school.

Valery called out the OUSD district representative for not supporting the action.

A mother and daugher came to support the school.

OUSD Security Assault Parents & Community Members At The Parker Liberation School: School Board Candidate Unlawfully Detained; Multiple Activists Sustained Injuries

For Immediate Release
Oakland, CA
Date, 8/5/2022


PRESS CONFERENCE: OUSD SECURITY ASSAULT PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS AT THE PARKER LIBERATION; SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE UNLAWFULLY DETAINED; MULTIPLE ACTIVISTS SUSTAINED INJURIES

WHEN: FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 12 NOON
WHERE: PARKER COMMUNITY SCHOOL, 7929 NEY AVENUE, OAKLAND

Yesterday, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), acting at the direction of Chief Governance Officer Josh Daniels and Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, sent a group of OUSD security officers to change the locks and clear people from the community-liberated Parker Elementary School of East Oakland, CA. For the last two months, a group of parents, children, and public school community members have reclaimed the space, which as of February 2022 was slated to be closed and privatized by OUSD. The security officers physically ejected several people and unlawfully detained one parent in the building in handcuffs, injuring the parent in the process. Within two hours, nearly 60 people from the public education community and neighborhood had amassed outside with a single demand: let go of this parent. After an hour, OPD arrived with 4 officers. As they opened the building, the group of people who were amassed outside entered the building, and were met with excessive force by the OUSD security forces. More than ten people sustained minor to moderate injuries, and two people went to hospital for treatment.

Although the Parker School Liberation organizers knew that OUSD might raid the property in an attempt to continue their privatization efforts, we are shocked that the district would fail to give notice that an eviction was impending, or to warn the people in the building of an imminent physical attack by their security forces. It was unthinkable that the District would send a group of poorly trained security officers to injure, aggress, and antagonize a peaceful community where children were receiving services, located in a predominantly Black neighborhood of East Oakland, which already experiences disproportionate police violence. This attack comes in addition to the first act of violence from OUSD to the Parker Elementary community: the closing of one of Oakland’s oldest elementary schools, where 90% of the students are Black.

Since May 25 – the final day of classes in OUSD for the 2021-22 school year – parents, teachers, students, and community members have been engaging in a 24/7 occupation of Parker K-8 School, reclaiming it as Parker Community School. Organizers have held the space in protest of OUSD’s racist closure plans, in service to the surrounding community, and in

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celebration of the power of the people united. In the 72 days since the Liberation began, Parker Community School has served the surrounding community in numerous and varied ways, including running a summer program for school-age children, youth empowerment initiatives, free food distribution, voter registration drives, and hosting community town halls and other events devoted to arts and crafts, performance, political education, and civic engagement.

Parker Liberation activists also engaged in multi-level negotiations with OUSD throughout the Liberation. The Liberation issued demands of OUSD in early June: culminating in a collectively-written resolution calling for the reversal of school closures and historic investments in services at the sites the District would have closed.

The Liberation was able to make all of this happen despite ceaseless attempts at intimidation and harassment by numerous OUSD officials, including Chief Governance Officer Josh Daniels, Risk Management Officer Rebecca Littlejohn, Buildings and Grounds Manager Marc White, Buildings and Grounds Coordinator Mark Cavalli, and other employees from OUSD’s legal, facilities, buildings and grounds, and security staff. These included: physical intimidation and threats, spurious claims of “unsafe conditions” (all originally created by OUSD’s shoddy site maintenance), attempts to cut off the Liberation’s access to hot water and safe food storage, attempts to block fire escape and emergency exit routes, and numerous other attempts at intimidation, harassment, and endangerment.

Parker Liberation activists will be holding a press conference at Parker at 12pm on Friday, August 5, to discuss yesterday’s assault and next steps.
7929 Ney Avenue, Oakland 94605
linktr.ee/ParkerforthePeople