Teachers union criticizes OUSD’s response to lead contamination in school water

OAKLAND, Calif. ( KRON ) — The Oakland Teachers Union is the latest to raise concerns over the school district’s handling of elevated lead levels in school drinking water . The teacher’s union says the district tested and got results months ago and then sat on the information until the beginning of the school year.

Signs saying “do not drink” for water fountains are common across the oakland school district following the discovery of elevated levels of lead in 186 water fountains and faucets, 70 of which are over the state and federal limit.

“The district continues to drop the ball,” said sixth-grade teacher Stuart Loevl at Frick United Academy of Language. “They continue to drop the ball in communication. They continue to drop the ball in providing answers for what has happened.”

Loevl, a math and science teacher, said his biggest concern and that of the teachers union is OUSD knew there were unsafe lead levels as early as April but did not take steps to address the issue or inform the school community until this month.

“They made a catastrophic failure in which they tested this water, and they did not,” Loevl said. “They tested this water, and they did not immediately take the water sources offline.

“That is a horrendous failure.”

“Any delay in notification is problematic, and it also triggers a lot of people’s fears from things that have happened in the past in OUSD, and it’s not acceptable,” said OUSD Board Vice President Mike Hutchinson.

Hutchinson says the superintendent is looking into who dropped the ball and what can be done going forward so it doesn’t happen again. At this point, it’s unclear how long students were exposed to the tainted water.

Attempts to reach the school district for comment were ignored but in this letter to parents the district says 61 fixtures have been fixed so far and are awaiting retesting before being brought back online.

The entire repair process is expected to take three weeks. They also advise students to bring their own reusable water bottle to school.

“The district kind of has their heads in the clouds with that one,” Loevl said.

Loevl says a single station for filtered water for more than 300 students simply isn’t cutting it. It is also unreasonable to ask students with limited means to have their own reusable water bottle.

“Water should be provided at schools, where the students are to attend to their health needs,” he said.

The OUSD board is expected to be briefed on this issue at their meeting on Aug. 28.

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