Students, faculty and community members gathered Thursday at Cal State Bakersfield for a panel discussion on mass incarceration, part of the university’s daylong symposium on the issue.

The panel featured three local organizers: Reyna Olaguez, president and CEO of Building Healthy Communities Kern; Camila Chavez, executive director of the Dolores Huerta Foundation; and Ucedrah Osby, founder of Community Interventions and president of All of Us or None. 

The discussion was hosted by CSUB’s Ethnic Studies Department.

Moderator Dr. Nora Cisneros opened the event and talked about the role of community partnerships and the ongoing work to address the school-to-prison pipeline in Kern County.

During introductions, each panelist spoke about their background and why issues such as mass incarceration and unequal schooling systems drive their work. 

Olaguez talked about disparities in health access and education. 

Chavez described her experience growing up in the farmworker movement and returning to Kern County to organize local residents. 

Osby shared her perspective as a Bakersfield native who has witnessed the justice system’s impact on Black families and neighborhoods.

During the panel, speakers discussed how local data reflects long-standing racial disparities in Kern County schools and how those patterns contribute to the criminal justice system. 

Chavez said that in the 2009–10 school year, the Kern High School District expelled about 2,500 students. 

A 2011 report showed that most expulsions involved Black and Latino students, and that 90% did not fall under mandatory expulsion categories under state law, leading several organizations to form the Justice Collaborative.

Chavez said community groups attempted to work with the district for three years, but after repeated refusals, the coalition filed a lawsuit in 2014 that was settled in 2017. 

She pointed to a decline in expulsions during those years as evidence of the lawsuit’s impact.

Osby described how these patterns continue to affect students today. 

Although Black students make up roughly 5% to 6% of the local population, she said suspension rates remain disproportionately high. 

She added that these disparities weaken family stability and contribute to economic hardship.

Osby said the cost of incarceration, estimated at about $132,000 per person, shows how public dollars could instead be used to support families. 

She said the effects extend beyond the justice system, contributing to housing instability, mental health challenges and school environments where students do not feel respected or culturally understood.

“These conditions don’t contribute to public safety,” Osby said. She added that safety also depends on basic community resources such as well-maintained parks, lighting and sidewalks.

Panelists also reviewed recent suspension and expulsion data from the Kern High School District, noting that the highest rates continue to appear at schools east of Highway 99. 

Olaguez presented districtwide discipline trends since 2019, showing a sharp decline following the 2017 lawsuit settlement and a rise in suspensions in the years that followed. 

According to her presentation, the district recorded 6,057 suspensions and expulsions last school year.

Olaguez said that about 20% of students who are suspended are more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system, in part because they lose instructional time and are pushed out of the school environment. 

She pointed to Mira Monte High School, which recorded 645 suspensions in the 2023–24 school year, as an example of how discipline is concentrated on certain campuses.

The data shared during the panel showed that Latino students accounted for 508 suspensions at Mira Monte last year, while Bakersfield High School suspended the highest number of Black students districtwide, with 172 suspensions. 

Panelists said that over a five-year period, Latino students made up 55% of district enrollment but 60% of expulsions, while Black students represented 8% of enrollment and 15% of expulsions

“We’re essentially telling the student they don’t really belong here,” Olaguez said during the discussion.

During the final question of the panel, moderator Dr. Nora Cisneros asked speakers to share how they are rethinking the future and what actions communities should take next.

Chavez shoutout to several organizations working on statewide and local reforms, including Dignity in Schools, its California chapter, and Central Valley Movement Building. 

She outlined four goals from Dignity in Schools: ending racial and structural discrimination, redefining public safety, ending mass incarceration and breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty.

Chavez said addressing institutional racism takes time, noting that even the work her parents began in the 1950s continues today.

“As a mother, I would love to see schools that are welcoming and have all of the services any family would need,” she said. 

She pointed to California’s progress in expanding free school meals and increasing access to mental health providers.

Chavez recalled a viral video of a Black student whose desk was flipped by a police officer, which  the girl was grieving the recent death of her grandmother.

“There are hurt children being raised by hurt families,” she said. “Every student, no matter their color or their identity, should be loved and supported when they walk into a school and their families should be too.”

Chavez also mentioned the California Partnership for the Future of Learning, a statewide coalition of nonprofits and parent groups. 

She said the coalition helped secure $4.1 billion for “community schools,” which are required to include parent and student advisory groups.

“There’s power in the people,” Chavez said. “Parents and students have to be part of deciding what their school needs.”

She told the audience to hold schools accountable for using the money effectively and described local examples, including a Lamont campus that now offers telehealth visits with doctors.

Chavez also mentioned districtwide programs implemented after the lawsuit against the Kern High School District, such as positive behavior interventions and support, known as PBIS, and restorative justice practices. 

She said these approaches aim to shift schools away from punitive discipline and toward healing and positive reinforcement, though implementation can vary.

Osby closed the panel with a call for community involvement.

“Solidarity is not an option, it’s a necessity,” she said. “Whether you know how to write, speak or stand, you’re needed.”

She encouraged attendees to start with simple actions such as making phone calls, sending emails or responding on social media when community organizations issue calls to action. Small efforts, she said, help hold decision-makers accountable.

Osby mentioned the anniversary of Ruby Bridges’ 1960 school desegregation walk, and said the struggles Bridges faced still echo today.

“Our Black students are still experiencing environments of segregation,” she said. “There is no way we should still be having this discussion.”

Osby said parents must learn to advocate for their children, noting her own experience supporting her son in school.

“Our educational system must change,” she said. “Holding people accountable is not a bad thing, it’s a good thing.”