Background
One of the most important accountability tools created by the landmark Williams v. California settlement was a process allowing students, parents, teachers, and community members to file a complaint when students are denied decent school facilities, sufficient textbooks, or qualified teachers. Since 2004, Public Advocates has supported many of our community partners in their efforts to use the Williams complaint process to win concrete improvements at their local schools and to build grassroots power. Many of their campaigns have been specifically focused on improving the quality of school facilities.
In the small Central Valley community of Huron, we supported a group of Spanish-speaking moms to organize a Williams campaign to address the contaminated drinking water coming out of the school’s water fountains. Not only did this organizing give rise to a powerful new grassroots group—Padres Unidos Mejores Escuelas (Parents United for Better Schools)—but “PUME” won the changes they had sought. Within two years, the group succeeded in getting the school district to treat the school’s corroded water pipes, replace the potable water lines, and install new drinking fountains so students could drink water at school.
In Oakland, we worked with longtime partners from the Campaign for Quality Education—Youth Together, Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL), and Californians for Justice—to launch a Williams campaign to improve students’ access to basic educational resources across the city’s high schools. Students from these three youth organizations filed nearly 500 Williams complaints focused on Oakland schools in conjunction with a press conference and rally. A major focus of the complaints had been the quality of the facility at Oakland High School, including classrooms being too hot, too stuffy, or far too cold and poor air circulation because many of the rooms had no windows. The complaints were buttressed by an independent report concluding that the school’s HVAC system was not providing adequate ventilation to classrooms or maintaining a reasonable indoor classroom temperature. The students’ campaign was instrumental in getting the district to renovate Oakland High School’s HVAC system during the summer of 2008. In the fall, students returned to classrooms that are well-ventilated and maintained at comfortable temperatures, with new lighting and ceilings—an environment that allows them to concentrate on learning.
