Crime

Racial Harassment at Alameda’s Encinal High School

Published

12 years ago

December 20, 2013

Encinal High School in Alameda is known for its academic rigor, athletic achievements, school pride and diversity. But the recent failure of the school administration to respond to an incident of racial harassment on campus is raising concerns about a lack of cultural sensitivity at the school.

On Dec. 6, a student allegedly left a piece of paper depicting a Ku Klux Klan mask on a Black student’s desk, causing a dispute in the class. According to sources, the teacher sent both students to the office without addressing the issue.

According to a statement released by the district, “School administrators began an investigation and took immediate corrective action,” which included “talking extensively to the students involved, their parents, and staff.”

However, sources who know the student and her family are saying the victim’s parents were not informed about what happened did not learn about the incident until the student returned home.

According to staff members at the school, the incident was swept under the rug and ignored until the victim’s parents filed a police report.

It was not until Dec. 16– more than a week after the incident occurred and just a week before the school is scheduled to close for the holiday break – that the student was finally suspended.

The student who left the illustration of the KKK mask has a history of similar behavior at the school, according to a staff member. Earlier in the school year, he tied a small rope in shape of a noose and gave it to the same student. He was not reprimanded nor was he disciplined by the school, the staff member said.

Barbara Adams, Assistant Superintendent of the Alameda Unified School District, says the district is taking the student’s behavior very seriously. “ It violates school and district policies against discrimination and as such always results in discipline for the students who engage in it,” she said.

Adams insists the school district is handling the case, and school administrators and staff are “planning ways to engage the entire school community in intensive instruction and dialogue on the impact of this situation.”

“This type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable in our schools and our community,” Adams said.

However, another source at the school says that many incidents have taken place at Encinal in recent years that show a lack of sensitivity towards African American students – even from teachers.

One teacher reportedly created a PowerPoint presentation to discuss inappropriate school dress attire. The presentation focused “sagging pants,” commonly associated with Black male students but did not mention “crop tops and short-shorts,” more commonly worn by white female students, according to a staff member.

The culture and the fabric make up of the school must be addressed and changed, said the source.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

1 week ago

December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

2 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.