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OP-ED: Assemblymember Mia Bonta Says No to Closing Schools, No to Cutting School Resources

We come together today to be reminded of a common condition that we all have, that our children deserve a public education. Our children deserve an opportunity to be educated with our teachers, our educators, and to know that we stand beside them every single day.

Published

2 years ago

December 26, 2021

Oakland Post

“I want to stand again in solidarity for our children, our teachers, our educators, our superintendents and our school board because they need us now more than ever,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

Bonta decries impact of state receivership on Oakland school district

By Mia Bonta

Editor’s note: Education advocates, parents, and elected officials held a press conference last Thursday, Dec. 16, at the Oakland school district headquarters, 1000 Broadway, to oppose what they view as a hostile takeover of Oakland’s public schools by the Alameda County Office of Education and the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT), representing the state. The following is Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s statement at the press conference.

I am proud to represent the children, the educators, the parents, the people of Oakland in this moment. I am here today to stand in solidarity with Oakland’s children, our school district, our Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell, our school board — because right now they need us more than ever.

We also come together today more specifically to address the letter of ‘Lack of Going Concern’ received from the Alameda County Office of Education and the required response from this district.

In this response, I want to be crystal clear: I stand with Oakland, I stand with our children, I stand with our teachers, our educators, and I stand with our families.

I stand with our superintendent who has worked every single day through COVID, through a pandemic. I stand with our board who has worked every single day together to be able to provide community help for health, to be able to provide education every single day for our kids.

At a time when their education has been absolutely disseminated and disrupted, teachers, educators, our superintendent, the district and this board have come together to be able to address these problems.

So, what in the world are we doing thinking, right now, in this moment, that we should do anything but support that system that has come together for our children?

I also want to be sure that you all know that I am standing here in my role as a legislator, now, in this moment, and in the spirit of restorative justice, to recognize that the state has had a role in dismantling our system. We have a responsibility right now. It’s been decades of the creation of schools that we haven’t supported at the level that we should have.

It’s been decades of introducing schools that haven’t been fully accountable to all the children of Oakland, and it’s been decades of having to withstand the impact of a state receivership that has been devastating for this school district.

I wasn’t there, (OEA President) Keith (Brown) wasn’t there, but we are now here, stuck with this problem that we need to help solve. And I want to make sure that we all know that no child has ever benefited from adults not telling the whole truth.

No child has ever benefited from adults not presenting the full picture of what needs to happen for our community. Making sure that you’re focused on garnishing the wages of a superintendent’s, while they have been a saving grace, that’s not a solution I can stand for.

Garnishing the wages or threatening the wages of a school board, that is actually not provided enough funds themselves to do their jobs effectively, that’s going to get to a solution that we want.

Focusing on closing schools, disrupting the spaces that keep our children safe and whole, while the whole world around them is telling them it is not a safe time — that’s not going to get us to where we need for our children.

I know that what we do need to do is make an investment. Let’s put it this way. What if we thought about Oakland investing in community schools, investing in mental health practices, investing in paraprofessionals, investing in educators, investing in more head count, to be able to actually serve the needs of our children in this moment right now a this most disruptive moment in our children’s educational history in our country. What [if] that’s the answer?

What [if] we just flipped it? So right now, I know that my role is to make sure that we invest more in this state. And I am committed right now to working at the state level to get relief from this loan that was put on the school district by the state. I am going to work to make sure that we get more resources for OUSD, to make sure that you all, that we all, can do the job we need to do for our children right now.

I want to stand again in solidarity for our children, our teachers, our educators, our superintendents and our school board because they need us now more than ever. Not a slap on the hand, they need us to show up, invest and make sure we are delivering for our children.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

Published

3 days ago

April 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

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1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Oakland Schools Honor Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice. His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.

Published

1 week ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

Fred Korematsu. Courtesy of OUSD.

By Post Staff

Every Jan. 30, OUSD commemorates the legacy of Fred Korematsu, an Oakland native, a Castlemont High School graduate, and a national symbol of resistance, resilience, and justice.

His defiant stand against racial injustice and his unwavering commitment to civil rights continue to inspire the local community and the nation. Tuesday was “Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution” in the state of California and a growing number of states across the country.
One OUSD school is named in his honor: Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy (KDA) elementary in East Oakland.

Several years ago, founding KDA Principal Charles Wilson, in a video interview with anti-hate organization “Not In Our Town,” said, “We chose the name Fred Korematsu because we really felt like the attributes that he showed in his work are things that the children need to learn … that common people can stand up and make differences in a large number of people’s lives.”

Fred Korematsu was born in Oakland on Jan. 30, 1919. His parents ran a floral nursery business, and his upbringing in Oakland shaped his worldview. His belief in the importance of standing up for your rights and the rights of others, regardless of race or background, was the foundation for his activism against racial prejudice and for the rights of Japanese Americans during World War II.

At the start of the war, Korematsu was turned away from enlisting in the National Guard and the Coast Guard because of his race. He trained as a welder, working at the docks in Oakland, but was fired after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Fear and prejudice led to federal Executive Order 9066, which forced more than 120,000 Japanese Americans out of their homes and neighborhoods and into remote internment camps.

The 23-year-old Korematsu resisted the order. He underwent cosmetic surgery and assumed a false identity, choosing freedom over unjust imprisonment. His later arrest and conviction sparked a legal battle that would challenge the foundation of civil liberties in America.

Korematsu’s fight culminated in the Supreme Court’s initial ruling against him in 1944. He spent years in a Utah internment camp with his family, followed by time living in Salt Lake City where he was dogged by racism.

In 1976, President Gerald Ford overturned Executive Order 9066. Seven years later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco vacated Korematsu’s conviction. He said in court, “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

Korematsu’s dedication and determination established him as a national icon of civil rights and social justice. He advocated for justice with Rosa Parks. In 1998, President Bill Clinton gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom saying, “In the long history of our country’s constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls … To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.”

After Sept. 11, 2001, Korematsu spoke out against hatred and discrimination, saying what happened to Japanese Americans should not happen to people of Middle Eastern descent.
Korematsu’s roots in Oakland and his education in OUSD are a source of great pride for the city, according to the school district. His most famous quote, which is on the Korematsu elementary school mural, is as relevant now as ever, “If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don’t be afraid to speak up.”