For the first time in Oakland history, teens vote for school directors. So what do they want changed?

Empty toilet paper rolls. Missing bathroom stall doors. Dirty sinks and desks. Those were among the top concerns identified by Oakland Unified School District students in a survey by their peers.

This year, students hope a new form of leverage will push the district to fix things: their votes. 

As Oakland teens prepare to cast ballots for the first time, students have been organizing to make sure their needs as students are heard by School Board candidates. 

“If our representatives can talk to us about these issues, that’s a bigger impact than if a bunch of adults are talking to each other when they don’t go through the experiences that we do,” said Edamevoh Ajayi, 17, a student organizer at Oakland Technical High School, who lives in District 4.

Ajayi is a member of the Oakland Youth Vote Coalition, which has been hosting events and presentations, and surveying their peers about what they want from candidates. The coalition is made up of student organizations, including AYPAL, Californians For Justice, the Oakland Youth Commission, and OUSD’s All-City Council Student Union.

The push gained steam in 2019, after the School Board approved school closures and cuts to student support programs. Concerned with their limited impact on district leaders, students organized the coalition and began advocating for youth voting rights. In November 2020, about two-thirds of Oakland voters passed Measure QQ, which allowed the City Council to lower the voting age to 16 for School Board elections.

According to Ajayi, students often bring up poor restroom maintenance, along with an insufficient amount of supplies and desks in classrooms. In a survey of 1,400 students conducted by the Youth Vote Coalition, 90% of students said the district needs to sanitize surfaces and desks, as well as provide sanitary supplies, and 91% of students said restrooms are a serious issue as they are not open, stocked or cleaned. 

“These are just bare necessities that we shouldn’t even have to worry about,” Ajayi said. “So, if we’re just hearing things like that from students, then we know that there needs to be a change, and there can’t be a change until us youth stand up for that.”

Rachel Latta, a candidate for District 1, said that when addressing restroom maintenance, custodial positions should be filled and custodial services staff should be paid appropriately.

“When you have a custodian that is consistent, it’s just like any other position at the school,” Latta said. “If you know your custodian — you know them by name, they know you by name — it always is much better for the school community than if you have fill-in custodians, which is sometimes what ends up happening.”

Her District 1 opponent, Benjamin Salop, could not be reached for comment.

More than bathrooms

The concerns of students go beyond addressing basic necessities. Students touched on health and wellness resources and a desire to cultivate an environment where students feel safe. Many also want schools to focus more on building essential life skills and improving relationships between students and staff. 

Maximus Simmons, 16, said he quickly noticed in his freshman year that students who fell behind in school did not seem to be receiving the support that they needed from staff.

Now a junior, Simmons sits on the School Board as a student director, a non-voting member who participates in discussions. He said that he spends his time talking to students about why their vote matters. 

“Seeing what students expect to see out of these new board members shows me what I need to focus on and what I need to advocate for,” Simmons said. 

For Sasha Ritzie-Hernandez, a candidate for District 5, the solution is in finding ways to train educators and staff to better support students. 

“One of the things I would love to do when I’m in office is to work with students to develop trainings for our teachers to get to know them a little bit more, and also to ensure that we have a full implementation of ethnic studies because that also brings that new level of visibility for our students,” Ritzie-Hernandez said. 

Her District 5 opponent, Patrice Berry, could not be reached for comment.

Student organizers say these demands speak to the first-hand experiences of students that are often missing from the conversations. 

“Whether it be in the bathrooms or the upkeep of facilities, or even student-staff relationships, I think a lot of what students are concerned about is part of their school experience, the most intricate parts that I think a lot of adults overlook,” said Ashley Tchanyoum, 16, a student organizer at Oakland Technical High School from District 3. 

Oakland youth voters may register to vote in person through Election Day at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, 225 Fallon St.

(Top photo: Organizers for the Oakland Youth Vote Coalition speak at a ballot drop event on Oct. 16, (left) Diego Garcia and Edamevoh Ajayi/, by Haydee Barahona)

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