Call to Action: Defund Police at San José Unified Schools

Most of the information provided below came from Victor Vasquez, Director of Organizing & Policy at SOMOS Mayfair.

The San José Unified Equity Coalition has created the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution, which calls for the San José Unified School District (SJUSD) to defund police presence at SJUSD schools and end its relationship with the San José Police Department. Click below to download and read the resolution.

The San José Unified Equity Coalition, along with SOMOS Mayfair and the Si Se Puede Collective, are calling for families, students, and community members to follow the lead of other Bay Area school districts and defund police in schools. Calls to action include:

Contact decision makers and tell them to stop stalling the process now AND to vote to end contracts with school resource officers now!

tcastellanos@sjusd.org – As board president, Teresa Castellanos has the power to set the agenda. We want her to hear from us so she will put the Derrick Sanderlin Resolution (end police contracts MOU) on the August 20th agenda.

ccollins@sjusd.org – Trustee Carla Collins (Willow Glen area) needs to hear from her constituents as she is currently appointed to the board and is seeking to be elected, so she needs to hear from the community that we support this.

kmeek@sjusd.org – Trustee Kimberly Meek (South San José/Almaden) is not seeking re-election and may be more inclined to support the resolution than she would normally be. 

Below we are providing an email template. Please note that templates make it easy for recipients to filter messages to their junk folder – writing an original message is ideal!

Dear ______,

My name is ______ and I am writing today because I would like The Derrick Sanderlin Resolution to Defund the police in the San José Unified School District on the August 20th, 2020 meeting agenda. We cannot continue to delay this decision that impacts the lives of Black, Chicano, and all students of color.

We are calling for the elimination of the Department contract with San José Unified School District and the sworn officers by not renewing the Memorandum of Understanding and pledging to have no new MOUs with SJPD in the future.

Justice should not be delayed.

Show up at the Zoom meetings!

https://www.sjusd.org/who-we-are/board-of-education/

https://agendaonline.net/public/sanjose

Sign the petitions!

For more information about the Derek Sanderlin Resolution, please contact Jeffie Khalsa of the San José Unified Equity Coalition at: jeffiekhalsa@gmail.com.

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