By Voice & Viewpoint Staff
Photos by Gene Roberts
At the Longfellow Spanish Immersion campus today, local parents and community organizations held a press conference to bring light to what they are calling a persistent issue here in San Diego County: Historic exclusionary practices and racial discrimination involving San Diego County’s African American students. Local organizations who were represented today included Exhaling Injustice, Pillars of the Community, Racial Justice Coalition San Diego, Gender Phluid Collective, Coalition to Demand Equity in Education, Balmir Inclusive, American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee- ADC, North County Equity and Justice Coalition, Community Advocates 4 Coalition and Black San Diego
Of concern were “exclusionary practices, racially discriminatory discipline, assaults by adults, negligence, and violations of IEP/504 Plans” that “undermines students’ fundamental rights to education and jeopardizes students’ mental and social-emotional health” which subject San Diego’s Black students, the group said, to the school-to-prison pipeline.
The purpose of the press conference was to call on state and county institutions such as the State Superintendent, the California Department of Education (CDE), the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), and the San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) to adequately monitor or enforce regulations designed to protect students and improve the quality of education African American students receive, countywide.
“We are standing united to plead with attorneys across the state to step forward and represent parents in a class-action lawsuit against the State Superintendent, CDE, OCR, SDCOE for the negligence and harm done to many children across San Diego County, specifically towards Black children,” said Tasha Williamson, a local community advocate and activist.
Parents also advocated for the safety of all children and an acknowledgment that San Diego County’s Black children are not, in fact, safe.
