Previous spread:
Destiny Sousa
celebrates the
next-to-last day
of school at Roots
International
Academy.
Top: Alejandra
Martinez, a Roots
alum who returned
to teach. “I know you
think that Roots is a
low-quality school,”
she told the Oakland
Board of Education
before it voted to
close the school, “but
they produce high-
quality students.”
Left: Principal Geoff
Vu with eighth
grader Alejandro
Garcia Cabrera
after Roots’ final
promotion ceremony