News Statement

CONTACT:                                                                          Shannon Haber 213-241-6766                                                  

Student Board Member Kamarie Brown Statement
Black Student Achievement Using Funding from School Police

School Board Member Kamarie Brown made the following statement during the Special  Board of Education meeting on Tuesday:

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I am proud to say that I have supported the work to reimagine school safety and do more to support Black student achievement long before I became the Student Board Member for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD.) But more importantly, I have experienced the need for this work firsthand, long before there was ever a campaign to do so. I have been speaking to this Board for years about the need to equitably fund our highest need schools. And today, I return with the same message. Believe in our Black students. Invest in our Black students. Show it today by passing this resolution. To end the war on Black students, and to put LAUSD on a path based on principles of community and justice. 

I was very encouraged by the Board’s vote to amend the Los Angeles School Police Department’s (LASPD) budget back in June, reallocating $25 million dollars to support a new approach to school safety, particularly focusing on Black students’ achievement. But now, even more, I am excited by the Board’s opportunity to actually spend that money in ways that I, my peers, and the community at large have expressed time and time again. Our students have spoken, and the same message rings true. I hear the students. Police do not equal peace. Police do not equal safety. On the contrary, police and the culture of policing, that runs across staff, faculty, and administrators, is one of the longest standing contradictions of educating Black students in LAUSD. Today is our chance to right the ship, and sail into promising waters flushed with the support of our student body and our community which has long advocated for this necessary change.

To conclude, I want to say to the Board members and to the Superintendent, on behalf of my fellow students, peers and the generations to come, this initiative to improve Black student achievement must only be the beginning. Black people have endured so many negative things throughout our entire history in this country and in many ways still do. This means that it will take so many different types of supports and resources to truly cultivate Black student achievement in the fullest sense. Black student achievement is more than just better grades and higher test scores. Therefore our education, and continued investments into our education must go beyond the traditional ways used to help students. We need an education that will not only help us succeed in spite of the tough social and economic conditions we face, but also one that will equip us to eliminate those conditions all together. We need to learn more about Black people year-round, using all of our contributions to science, math, literature, government, and society to teach us. We need to learn about financial literacy, how to own and run businesses, how to purchase property, etc. We need to have more first-hand experiences with all that life has to offer. We need to be provided with an empowering and enriching space that helps us to develop into knowledgeable, confident, proud, and productive anchors of our families and community, ready to build the future we all deserve.

In order to do so, you must be brave. You must hold dear to the vision of a truly equitable school system whose greatest asset is its diverse student body. But at this juncture, it seems as if we have forgotten our Black students. We have forgotten to hold ourselves as a district accountable to the families that have fought for justice within our school system. We have forgotten to follow through on its promise and implement what needs to be done. In this Black History Month, after a profound year of awakening, will we as a district keep this promise?