November 19 Board Meeting

Greetings Community,

Thank you all for your consistent support and to those who attended our community forum on police free Schools this past Sunday. Our dialogue was the start of something new, building community across generations and understanding how we all have power to create the community we want to see. We hope you learned something new, made a new friend, and found more ways you can commit to making our schools safer in our community, whether you are a student, parent, teacher, community organizer, or elected official.

Next steps to pass the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution

CALL TO ACTION:

Share this with your networks, and make a public comment at the School Board meeting this Thursday 11/19/2020 either by email (by 11/19 by 12pm) or in person (11/19 at 6:00pm).

All comments should be one minute long. Here are 3 sample scripts on different aspects of our work. Please choose one, or make a combo, and as always personalizing it is great.

1) "My name is ________ and I am (role in the community/member of _______). The San José Unified Equity Coalition hosted a community forum on police free schools this past sunday. Thank you to the board members who attended and participated thoughtfully. Starting this community dialogue was a great way to address each other's concerns and understand our needs as we rethink safety in our schools. At the end of the forum, we all made commitments to making our schools safer, and you can do that by voting in favor of the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution. After learning about the school-to-prison pipeline, it is clear that reallocating funds from SRO’s to counseling, restorative justice, and other student services is vital to the well being of our students, especially under the stress and anxiety of a global pandemic. Despite being fully remote, the Fremont Unified School District recently voted to remove SRO’s, setting a precedent that this can be a priority even during distance learning. The Derrick Sanderlin Resolution is so much more than eliminating the contract with SROs, and we hope you will agendize it as soon as possible. Thank you.”

2) "My name is ________ and I am (role in the community/member of _______). I am calling/writing to ask the board to commit to voting on the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution. This is an all-encompassing resolution that addresses the racist history of school policing. The resolution also calls for replacing punitive discipline with restorative justice practices, implementing an ethnic studies curriculum, providing holistic student health services, and investing in a community-created district safety plan. These important changes will take time and thoughtful collaboration, which is why the discussion and planning needs to begin now. The Derrick Sanderlin Resolution is so much more than eliminating the contract with SROs, and we hope you will agendize it as soon as possible. Thank you."

3) "My name is ________ and I am (role in the community/member of _______). I am calling/writing to ask the board to update the MOU with SJPD to reflect Senate Bill 203, which guarantees that any youth age 17 or younger who is being questioned by police must have access to an attorney. We have also heard from a number of youth advocates that it is not advisable to request parents to be present during a potential questioning, as they may affect the voluntariness of a confession. Instead, we recommend sending know your rights materials to students and families, notifying parents when a student is being questioned, requiring police and school officials to clearly let students know if they are free to go or are being detained. We also ask that the board listen to the concerns of young organizers as they give you additional feedback on the MOU with SJPD. Thank you."

If you are emailing your comment to be read aloud, send it by noon on Thursday 11/19/20 to: superintendent@sjusd.org with the subject line "Public Comment for 11/19/20 Governing Board Meeting". Please also cc all board members, so that they also get the comment in their inbox. The board member emails are:

tcastellanos@sjusd.org,

bwheatley@sjusd.org,

jmagana@sjusd.org,

ccollins@sjusd.org,

kmeek@sjusd.org.

If you are calling in to give your comment live, do so during the public comments period right after 6:00 pm. Join the meeting at the link above with your email and your name/alias, and then click on the Q&A box and type “public comment + your name/alias”. Unfortunately using the raised hand feature does not work for public comment, so be sure to use Q&A.

Thank you!

San José Unified Equity Coalition

SJUEC is a grassroots coalition of parents, educators, students, and community members, who are committed to racial equity, the safety of our schools, and the health of our community.

Jeffie Khalsa <jeffiekhalsa@gmail.com>

Wed, Nov 18, 2020, 1:55 PM

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Hi everyone,

The email that went out with instructions for commenting at tomorrow’s board meeting was missing a link to the meeting. Here is is again, with the link added! :)