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Richmondside: WCCUSD case could set precedent that classrooms can be staffed with ‘unqualified’ people
March 17, 2026—Richmondside reporter Jana Kadah covered Monday’s appellate hearing in Cleare v. WCCUSD — the first case ever brought to enforce California’s Williams Act guarantee of a credentialed teacher in every classroom. West Contra Costa Unified has spent years flouting that promise, openly staffing its highest-poverty schools with rotating uncredentialed substitutes — hitting a record 140 district-wide at one point. When staff attorney Karissa Provenza recently spoke with Kennedy High students about their right to a qualified teacher, nearly all of them were shocked — they’d grown so accustomed to a revolving door of subs that they didn’t know anything different. Managing attorney John Affeldt told the court that in 22 years since Williams was settled, no district had ever claimed impossibility as an excuse — until now. A ruling is expected within 90 days. As Karissa put it: if WCCUSD gets away with this, other districts across California will take note — and that 20-year promise becomes meaningless.