OAKLAND — Chanting “keep our rapists our of school; we have tried to keep our cool,” hundreds of high school students marched down Broadway on Wednesday to protest what they described as a failure by district administrators to address sexual assault, harassment and abuse complaints against fellow students and some teachers.
The students walked out of classrooms shortly after 10 a.m. and congregated at Oakland Tech High School, then took to the streets for the two-mile trek to a district office at the corner of Broadway and 11th Street. There, they sat and took turns speaking out about being groped, abused or otherwise harassed on campuses.
One trans student condemned the “history of trans students being assaulted in a men’s bathroom,” at Oakland Tech.
“This is not OK,” the student said, sharing their own story of being told by a security guard they had to go into the men’s bathroom after trying to use a different ]restroom.
Leah Marquez, an Oakland Tech senior, said a culture of harassment has been prevalent there for years, even before she arrived as a freshman and was warned by upperclassmen to avoid a particular teacher accused by multiple students of sexual harassment.
More than 3,500 students signed an online petition to remove and “charge” that teacher last year.
District spokesman John Sasaki would not comment specifically about the investigation into that teacher but said no teachers “like that” are currently with the district.
Marquez and others said that wasn’t the only case, however. They want the district to take a more proactive approach in dealing with sexual assaults and harassment, which they said students fear reporting out of concern nothing will be done.
Amara Romero, a 16-year-old Oakland tech student, said a recent report of a student who was sexually assaulted was an impetus for Wednesday’s march, which she helped organize, and a previous one on Friday.
A list of demands the students sent to the district included the creation of a “safer, better” policy to address sexual misconduct allegations, which Romero said should include confidentiality options for survivors of assault who often fear retaliation or other consequence for reporting a fellow student.
They also demanded a “survivor support system” that involves talking to a perpetrator’s parents and doing an immediate, transparent investigation of allegations. The students also wanted a Title IX coordinator designated for Oakland Tech, not just the district as a whole. A title IX coordinator is supposed to assure compliance with a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives federal money
In addition, they demanded more training for staff and teachers about how to handle reports of sexual misconduct, the elimination of a dress code that “sexualizes” students — particularly girls and other feminine-presenting students — and creation of a committee to review teachers and students accused of sexual assault or harassment.
Sasaki said the district is taking the concerns of students seriously.
Starting next week, the district will offer classes to students of all grades on sexual consent and other topics, as well as how to report assault, abuse or harassment.
On Wednesday, the district hosted a “professional development” session for staff about the issue, he added.
An Oakland Tech faculty member who requested to be anonymous texted after the march that the “urgency of our students on the streets today was fueled by OUSD’s neglect and improper handling of sexual misconduct. … I have witnessed the admin and district clumsily handle sensitive and traumatizing situations with little humanity and grace. The students want to feel safe in their school and know that policies, protocols, and systems are in place to protect them.”
Wednesday’s demonstration came in the wake of similar ones in Oakland and surrounding cities.
Early last month, for example, the Oakland School of the Arts canceled classes after hundreds of students demanded that school administrators more clearly explain the school’s policies about sexual abuse.
Even as the #metoo movement helped fuel a national conversation about widespread sex abuse, schools have struggled to prevent and properly handle sexual abuse and harassment incidents. This news organization in 2017 and 2018 found that many school administrators treat the problem as isolated exceptions.
In 2016, the nonprofit group Alliance for Girls commissioned a study to learn more about the experiences of girls of color in the Oakland Unified School District. The study found that peer relationships, conflicts and aggression were the primary source of stress and cause of suspension for girls of color. Many girls said a lack of response and intervention by adults made them feel unsafe.
The district’s sexual harassment policy was out of date, and there was a lack of knowledge across school administration and faculty about what Title IX was, Alliance for Girls told this news organization in 2017.
The group, along with Equal Rights Advocates, worked with Oakland Unified to update the district’s policy. According to Alliance For Girls’ website, Oakland Unified’s ombudsperson has trained all of the district’s principals and school security officers in the new policy.
Still, students are seeing a persistent problem and want immediate action.
“For far too long, OUSD and surrounding districts have perpetuated a culture that has made sexual misconduct seemingly go unpunished, and it will take deep structural change to change this,” the students wrote at the bottom of the list of demands to the district.
Source: www.mercurynews.com