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DANSIEGEL,SEN56400ANNEWEILLS,SEN139845MICHAELSIEGEL,SBN269439SIEGEL&YEE49914thStreet,Suite300Oakland,California94612Telephone:(510)839-1200Telefax:(510)444-6698AttorneysforPlaintiffsTHEARSEPECOT,
et
al.
ENDORSED
F1U3.D
J.\L/"I'JiED/.\COUNTY
MAr<
:2
\:J
2012
;U:::PKOFTHE
SUPERIORURT
By
CaroiynLemos,Oepu
SUPERIORCOURTFORTH~STATEOFCALIFORNIACOUNTYOFALAMEDATHEARSEPECOT;SOPHIAHOWZE;MADELINEJACKSON;
URAL
C.DIXON;
8.J.,
aminorbyandthroughherguardianadlitem,MadelineJackson;S.P.,aminorbyandthroughhisguardian,SophiaHowze;U.D.,aminorbyandthroughhisguardian,UralC.Dixon;K.W.,aminorbyandthroughhisguardian,ThearsePecot;
K.W.,
aminorbyandthroughherguardian,TbearsePecot;and
K.W.,
aminorbyandthroughherguardian,ThearsePecot,Plaintiffs,
v.
ANTHONYSMITH,inhisofficialcapacityasSuperintendentoftheOaklandUnifiedSchoolDistrict;andBOARDOFEDUCATIONoftheOaklandUnifiedSchoolDistrict,Defendants.CaseNo.~
12
6
22~
6
5
VERIFIEDCOMPLAltITFOR
DECLARATORY,INJUNCTIVE,ANDOTHERRELIEF
Pecotv.Smith,
No.
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-
PlaintiffsTHEARSEPECOT,SOPHIAHOWZE,MADELINEJACKSON,URALC.DIXON,S.J.,S.P.,U.D.,K.W.,K.W.,andK.W.(collectively,"Pecot")complainofdefendantsANTHONYSMITH,SuperintendentoftheOaklandUnifiedSchoolDistrict,andBOARDOFEDUCATIONoftheOaklandUnifiedSchoolDistrict(collectively,"theDistrict"),andallege:
PRELIMINARYSTATEMENT
1.
As
theCaliforniaSupremeCourthasdeclared,thisState"hasbroadresponsibilitytoensurebasiceducationalequityundertheCaliforniaConstitution."
Buttv.StateofCalifornia
(1992)4Cal.ath668,681.
"[T]heequalprotectionclauseprecludestheStatefrommaintainingitscommonschoolsysteminamannerthatdeniesthestudentsofonedistrictaneducationbasicallyequivalenttothatprovidedelsewhere."
Id.
InOakland,unfortunately,theDistricthasperpetratedapolicyofschoolclosuresoverthelasteightyearsthathasdisproportionatelyimpactedlowincomeandAfrican-AmericancommunitiesinNorthOakland.Atthepresentmoment,theDistrictisseekingtocloseSantaFeElementarySchool("SantaFe"),potentiallythefifthNorthOaklandelementaryschoolservingpredominantlyAfrican-AmericanstudentstobeclosedsinceJune
2004.
ByorderingtheclosuresofWashingtonElementary,GoldenGateElementary,FosterElementary,LongfellowElementary,andnow,potential1y,SantaFe,theDistricthasdeniedbasiceducationalequityto
North
Oakland-studentsandfamilies.
1
The
five
targetedschools-fourclosed,onefightingforsurvival-haveallbeenlocatedwestofTelegraphAvenue.Fourwereinthe
94608
zipcode;thefifth,WashingtonElementary,wasintheadjacent
94609
zipcode.Theareamightbestbedescribedas"North-WestOakland";however,suchatermhasnopurchaseinOakland,andthecolloquial"NorthOakland"isused.
Pecotv.Smith,
No.
"\,prifif'n
rOlTlnh-ilntfOl'f)p,.bT'~tnr"
T
n;l1nf'tiup!lnrl
t1th"r
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2.
Specifically,theDistrict'sdecision-tocloseSantaFehasdeniedbasiceducationalequitytostudentswhotakeadvantageoffull-dayspecialeducationservices.TheDistricthastoldfull-dayspecialeducationstudentsthatbecauseoftheproposedschoolclosure,beginningnextschoolyeartheywillbeforcedtotravelfromNorthOaklandto
a
campusonSistAvenueinEastOakland,atatraveltimeofupto
90
minutesineachdirection.Byimposingthisextremeburdenonyoung,NorthOakland-basedspecialneedsstudents,theDistricthasviolatedthestudents'EqualProtectionrightsundertheCaliforniaConstitution..3.Inaddition,theclosingofSantaFe
win
alsodisproportionatelyimpactlowincomeNorthOaklandfamilieswhowalkbetweenhomeandschool.BecausetheDistrictbasclosedallofthepublicschoolsintheaffectedareaofNorth
Oakland,
studentsandtheirfamilieswillbeforcedtowalk
40
minutesandmoretoarriveattheirnextscboollocation.AlthoughtheDistricthasofferedtoholda"lottery"toawardbuspassestosomestudents,itbasfailedtoaccountforthesafetyimplicationsofelementaryschoolstudentstakingpublicbuses.Furthermore,theDistricthasnotofferedtoprovidebuspassestoparentsandguardians.
In
thisway,theDistricthasimposedextremeburdensontheability
of
lowincomeandAfrican-AmericanNorthOaklandstudentstoaccessanequitableeducation,inviolationofEqualProtectionrights.Furthermore,theDistricthasviolatedtherightsofparentsandguardianstocontroltheirchildren'seducation,asguaranteedbytheSupremeCourtoftheUnitedStates.
Meyersv.Nebraska
(1923)262
U.S.
390.
4.TheDistrict'sdecisiontocloseSantaFealsoviolatestherightsofOaklandtaxpayers,whorecentlysawtheDistrictspendover
$700,000
inpublicfundsduringthesummerof
2011
toprovideforanewplaygroundontheSantaFecampus.The.
Pecotv.Smith,
No.
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Cornnlain+
fornpf'hr::ltor"IT
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