About The KPTO

The Korematsu Parent Teacher Organization (KPTO) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit – a partnership among parents, teachers and staff in support of Fred T. Korematsu Elementary School at Mace Ranch. KPTO provides enrichment to the school by raising funds and providing volunteer support to benefit all students through events, programs, school news, student club and field trip sponsorship, recycling, and garden-based learning, among others.

Parents and teachers are encouraged to become members. All are welcome to attend meetings and to volunteer, but dues-paying members may vote or hold elective office. Dues are modest and provide a core base of funding.

The school is named in honor of Oakland native and civil rights activist Fred T. Korematsu (1919-2005). A Japanese-American shipyard welder at the beginning of World War II, Mr. Korematsu challenged the federal government’s war order to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps. Mr. Korematsu was arrested and lost a legal challenge in a 1944 Supreme Court decision but was vindicated decades later by the overturn of his conviction in 1982. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Clinton in 1998.

Some of Mr. Korematsu’s teachings and lessons learned have been incorporated into the educational program and culture of at the school. More information about Fred T. Korematsu can be found here, here, and here.