With early morning rallies, a district-wide fire drill and sporadic walkouts, Oakland Technical High School students joined protestors throughout California to demand more money for education.

March 4 started off quietly for Oakland Tech as 80 students, teachers and community allies stood together in the cold, holding signs toward drivers reading, “$ for Education, Not Banks and Tanks!” and “Support Oakland Teachers.”

Many students took part in a 9:15 a.m. fire drill and some left campus to join UC Berkeley protestors at the Sather Gate student blockade to participate in the Day of Action to Defend Education.

About 300 Oakland Tech students walked out of class to join the 800 protesters marching from UC Berkeley to Oakland’s City Hall via Telegraph Avenue.

“I walked out around lunch time because I’m a senior and I want to make sure that I can attend college when I graduate. But many of my sister’s friends… weren’t allowed to walk out by their parents,” said Kieva Perry, 17.

Students with notes from parents allowing them to skip afternoon classes were given excused absences. Students who walked out to march or rally without parental consent received unexcused absences.

Tania Kappner, an English and history teacher at the high school, and a board member for Oakland Education Association, took a leave of absence for the day to march.

Many teachers at Oakland Tech and other schools in the Oakland Unified School District used March 4 as a chance to engage students about the economy, taxes and civil rights.

In the past few weeks Kappner’s students have studied the civil rights movement, the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, tax structure changes from Reagan to Bush and the ascension of the Obama administration. Students have combined these civic lessons with literary analysis.

“This is larger than the district. This is about getting money from California and from the federal government for public education, one of the most important democratic gains in this country,” Kappner said. “What will cutting schooling say for our students, our future?”

About Irene

Irene Florez is a sustainable development enthusiast and an Oakland resident of seven years. She writes on issues related to East Oakland, Latinas/os in California, and Colombian Human Rights.