‘Kids’ voices matter!’ Students march in partnership with Sacramento Sheriff’s Office

Second-grade students at Dyer-Kelly earlier this month learned about fighting for their rights in a unique partnership with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.

Dozens of students at Dyer-Kelly Elementary School, an Arden Arcade school in the San Juan Unified district, participated in the Feb. 17 event. Supervised students marched to nearby Bohemian Park, holding rally signs and chanting, “Kids voices matter!”

The activity helped foster better communication between students and the Sheriff’s Office. Dyer-Kelly Principal Jamal Hicks said some families — particularly new immigrant families — don’t often call on the police if they need them.

Of Dyer-Kelly Elementary’s 700 students, 514 students are English language learners, and 257 students are refugees. Most students who are learning English at the school are from Afghanistan.

“That’s really the push that we hear at Dyer Kelly, empowering our student voice, echoing our student voice, magnifying our student voice,” said Hicks. “When you magnify that student voice, you have to be able to speak to have a voice, and that’s what we are doing at Dyer-Kelly.

The 30-minute march also helped bridge the gap between youth and law enforcement early on.

The march comes after a 17-year-old boy was shot and injured by Tracy Police in January after being seen chasing his older brother with a knife.

Advocates said the family arrived in the U.S. from Afghanistan two months ago, and many criticized the police’s use of deadly force rather than a taser.