Oakland Unified to shed police department in wake of George Floyd’s death

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell says “alternative safety plan” will be ready by year’s end

OAKLAND – Mirroring similar actions across the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, the Oakland Unified School District is preparing to cut ties with its police department.

A majority of the school board on Wednesday voiced support for the “George Floyd Resolution to Eliminate Oakland Schools Police Department,” which would redirect about $2.5 million spent on sworn officers and police administrators to student support services and coordinators for restorative justice, EdSource reported. A vote is set for June 24.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell also backed the idea of shedding the police department.

“Together, we can re-imagine how to keep our schools safe, healthy and welcoming in a way that builds on our strong restorative justice roots, strong foundation of community schools, and critical partnerships throughout the city to protect our students’ physical and psychological safety,” she said in a letter to the community.

The district is the only one in Alameda County with its own police department. The 20 sworn officers and 120 school site officers serve an estimated 40,000 students and 5,000 employees.

Johnson-Trammell said she was directed by the school board in March – before Floyd was killed – to craft an “alternative safety plan” that could be put in place if the board opted to reduce the police department. She has since had conversations with the police chief, community leaders and others about the development of the plan.

“Given these conversations, and the understandable and justified community advocacy in solidarity with the national call for racial justice and police reform, I intend for this plan to be completed, and ready for adoption and implementation by the end of December 2020, pending negotiations with labor,” Johnson-Trammell said.

Last week, the Minneapolis school board voted to end its security contract with the Minneapolis Police Department following the death of Floyd while a white officer pressed his knee into the black man’s neck, the Associated Press reported. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Closer to home, the West Contra Costa Unified School District Board of Education on Wednesday voted to end its contracts with local police departments, EdSource reported.

In her letter, Johnson-Trammel described the impact of Floyd’s death on her personally.

“As an individual, I continue to process my own raw emotions of anger, hurt, frustration and grief for this current moment and all the other moments, just like right now, that have plagued my community for multiple generations, while also doing the necessary work as a parent of two black children to prepare them for a world that I fear will continue to view and treat them in ways that will try to strip away their human dignity,” she said.

“And at the same time,” she continued, “while I hold and work through my own personal grief, I recognize, as a leader of a system that often contributes to the unequal treatment of black and brown adults and children in this country, that I have a leadership responsibility to stand united, in community, and call for racial equity and justice in our national, state, and local institutions, our workplaces, and our schools.”

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