Students cut class to protest state takeover

Students cut class to protest state takeover

Castlemont boycott aims to hold Oakland school
district 'accountable'

By Alex Katz, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Hundreds of students ditched classes at
Castlemont High School on Monday after an activist
group called for a boycott to protest the state
takeover of the Oakland schools.

School district officials said between one-third and
one-half of the school's roughly 1,500 students were
not in class, although it's impossible to say how many
were out because of the boycott.

Principal Debbra Lindo said some students were aware
of the boycott's issues, and others just wanted to get
out of school during the week when the campus is
preparing for finals.

The boycott was organized by the International
People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, an activist group
with headquarters a few blocks away from Castlemont on
MacArthur Boulevard.

The group, which says it speaks for the
African-American working class, posted fliers around
the neighborhood calling for the boycott.

"Teachers told us if you all don't want to come you
don't have to," student Viliami Lauti said.



The state took over the Oakland schools last year
after massive financial breakdowns led the district to
spend millions of dollars it did not

have. The school board was stripped of its authority,
and an influential public agency called the Fiscal
Crisis and Management Assistance Team was assigned to
grade the district's progress toward recovery.

"The state of California and a corporation called
FCMAT have plans for your child: The Prison System ...
The Drug Economy ... The Military ... The Grave," the
fliers promoting the boycott read.

The fliers cite State Administrator Randolph Ward's
controversial decision to close five schools in
neighborhoods with declining enrollment.

"The point is they're not accountable," organizer
Bakari Olatunji said of state officials in charge of
the district. "There's no democracy right now."

Monday's absences will cost the district up to $20,000
because state education dollars are tied to
attendance, district officials said.

Lindo said she would have welcomed a debate on the
issues at school.

"The issues are clearly important," Lindo said. "But a
lot of kids were put at risk today by being in a
community that is not always safe for some of them."