July 22, 2024—Telemundo 48 reporter Pilar Nino spoke with Public Advocates’ Law Fellow Karissa Provenza, and Senior Policy Advocate and Richmond Teacher’s Union president Francisco Ortiz about the lawsuit Public Advocates filed with co-counsel Munger, Tolles & Olsen on behalf of six petitioners (educators, parents and students) against West Contra Costa Unified School District’s (WCCUSD) for failing to address staffing and facility issues from 50 Williams complaints across schools in the district. This is the first case filed after the Williams vs. California settlement in 2004, which led to new legislation establishing standards and accountability measures for educational resources and funding. They explained the dangerous health issues that had gone unaddressed for more than a year: “Learning in a classroom where there is mold, where the temperature reaches over 90 degrees, those are not only uncomfortable but dangerous conditions for learning,” said Angelica Salazar, an advocate for Public Advocates. ““Conditions where students, depending on their health, may become dehydrated, may become ill, when they are learning in a place where there is mold, is something serious where the district has to respond immediately.”

Moreover this is compounded by unaddressed teacher shortages.

“If students don’t have a permanent certified teacher, they don’t have the opportunity to achieve not only academic success, but also connections with an adult they can trust,” Ortiz said.

“It really is a crisis, and while it is a statewide problem, in this case it is the way they are using substitute teachers in an inappropriate way that does not provide stability, when there are legal ways for those teachers to stay longer,” said Kanssa Provenza, a plaintiff attorney with Public Advocates.

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