San Diego teachers on patrol Election Day to keep voters safe – inewsource

San Diego teachers on patrol Election Day to keep voters safe  inewsource

Two dozen San Diego teachers will patrol Hoover High School in City Heights on Election Day to ensure voters are safe and know their rights. Escalating immigration enforcement has led to fears of federal agents’ presence near polling sites on Election Day. These teachers are organizing to make sure their school’s voting site is safe. On Wednesday afternoon right after the school bell rings to end class for the day, English teachers Valerie Woodfill and Mary Richardson-Davidson don bright yellow vests and walk up and down Highland Avenue outside of Herbert Hoover High School. They and two dozen other teachers are looking for the type of vehicles they’ve come to recognize as belonging to federal immigration agents: black SUVs, with tinted windows and missing or out-of-state license plates, looping around.

These 20-minute patrol began about a month ago, before and after school, amid escalating immigration arrests throughout California. Hoover High School serves a particularly vulnerable community in the culturally diverse City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, and the teachers want to look out for their students and their families. On Election Day, the patrol won’t end after 20 minutes. It will last all day long. The teachers plan to take what they’ve learned in safeguarding their students to protect the rights and safety of the entire community. It was, of