Eight parents and teachers filed a federal lawsuit against
the Oakland Unified School District on Thursday alleging that police officers used
excessive force against them in a confrontation at a school board meeting in
October in which some of them were injured.
The confrontation occurred at an Oct. 23 meeting at which
parents and teachers protested against the large number of charter schools in
the district and the district’s plan to close some schools and merge them with other
schools.
Video from the meeting showed police officers striking the protesting
parents with batons as they approached a metal barricade. Six protesters were
arrested at the meeting.
Speaking at a news conference outside Oakland Technical High
School, civil rights attorney Dan Siegel, who represents the plaintiffs, said that
in addition to alleging that officers used excessive force the suit alleges
that the school district violated the protesters’ First Amendment free speech
rights by denying them the right to speak at the board meeting.
School district officials and school board members have
alleged that protesters who oppose the plans to close schools have disrupted
numerous board meetings, but the suit claims that by cracking down on
protesters the district intended to “chill and interfere with plaintiffs’
constitutionally protected rights to speech, assembly and association.”
School district spokesman John Sasaki declined to comment on
the lawsuit, saying, “We don’t comment on pending litigation.”
A day after the Oct. 23 meeting, school district Police
Chief Jeff Godown defended the use of batons on protesters, saying officers
were using enough force to keep the protesters from pushing forward and from
getting on the stage where school board members were seated.
Godown said officers were injured during the confrontation
as well.
Saru Jayaraman, a University of California at Berkeley
professor, activist and author who has two daughters at a school slated to be
closed, said she was thrown to the ground and the force police used against her
caused her to suffer two torn ligaments and a torn meniscus in her knee, requiring
her to undergo major knee surgery on Dec. 31.
Amy Haruyama, a first-grade teacher with 25 years of
experience, said an officer shoved her with a baton and knocked her off her
feet, causing her to suffer neck injuries and a bruised arm.
Haruyama described the officer’s actions as “very
traumatizing.”
The lawsuit seeks an injunction requiring the district to
change its practices as well as unspecified damages for medical expenses and
loss of employment. It also seeks unspecified general, punitive and special
damages.
In addition to the school district, the suit names Godown
and Sgt. Donald Perrier as defendants.
Jayaraman also announced that a group called the Oakland Not
For Sale coalition is launching an effort to recall Oakland school board President
Jody London.
Jayaraman said the coalition is seeking to recall London
because it believes London and other board members have an agenda “to shut
down public schools” and replace them with charter schools that she said
are backed by billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Bill Gates and members of the Walton
family that founded Walmart.
Jayaraman said the coalition will begin gathering signatures
next week and needs 9,000 people to sign its petition to put the effort to
recall London on the ballot in a special election in May or June.
Jayaraman said the coalition also plans to launch similar
recall efforts against other school board members in the future.
Jayaraman said, “They’d better watch their backs!”
In addition, Jayaraman said the Oakland Not For Sale
coalition is backing new school board candidates who are pro-public schools and
will fight against charter schools.
Candidates Alicia Johnson, who will run in District 1, and Cherisse
Gash, who will run in District 4, spoke at the news conference.
Source: NBC Bay Area
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