Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Oakland High School and Williams Settlement

PT01: Tyesha Johnson is standing inside one of the girls? restrooms at Oakland High School.

[Sneak BathAmbi up & under - sound toilet flushing and peeing.]

There's graffiti all over the walls, and no paper towels. But Tyesha says that's not the worst thing.

TJ01: ?It smells like period and bowel movement? (giggle). (:08)

PT02: Some students say the bathrooms are so gross; they wait until the end of school to use a bathroom somewhere else.
TJ02: ?It's dirty. The soaps are watered down and sometimes we don't have paper towels? it'll be trash everywhere and the toilets be leaking on the sides. Water be coming out everywhere therefore if you lay your stuff down, it'll be all wet. And the doors, some of the locks don't work, and they be coming open. We need toilet seat covers because it?s nasty." (:25)

[Fade BathAmbi under PT03]

PT03: There isn't a whole lot your average high school students can do if they don't like the way their school looks. But these students are different they have the law on their side? in fact, they have several laws on their side.

Since 2004, students have been able to file complaints about shabby school buildings, outdated textbooks, and unqualified teachers under new state laws. Those laws were passed after a group of California students successfully sued the state for better learning environments. It's known as the Williams settlement.

AJ01: ?Any student, teacher, or community member can file a Williams complaint.? (:05)

Angelica Jongco is an attorney with Public Advocates. That's a non-profit law firm in San Francisco that helps low-income communities. Jongco says students filed hundred of complaints at Oakland High in the first year after the settlement. But she says those complaints went unanswered.

AJ02: ?They were many that were, appeared to be ignored, or perhaps lost, and it became apparent that the district lacked the structure to be able to handle the complaints.? (:14)

[TAPE TO TAPE]

GV01: ?Initially, yes, we didn't respond as quickly as we could. That was the first time we dealt with Williams, and principals weren't really prepared for the onslaught we received.? (:10)

PT04: Gabriel Valenzuela is the ombudsman for the Oakland Unified School District. He says the district now has a system in place to track complaints brought under Williams.

GV02: ?95-percent of them have been resolved. So I think we?re improving our tracking system, as we?re better able to respond to complaints, and principals are more aware of it as well.? (:14)

In the first few years after the settlement, the district and the students were butting heads. Now, they're working together.

Students at Oakland High formed a club to learn how to file complaints under Williams. That allows them to tap into the millions of dollars lawmakers made available to fix up the state?s lowest-performing schools. Jocelynn Evans is one of the members of that club. She says finding out about the Williams settlement has raised her expectations for a cleaner school.

JE01: ?I'm not even going to lie. Sometimes I would litter. But now that I'm involved in this club and I got involved and I like it, I see people litter I'm like, 'you better pick that up and throw it away because I'm in this club and we're trying to make this school better and clean it up, so you can't do that.?? (:17)

[Sneak HallwayAmbi up, run under next track, fade out going into JB01]

PT06: Jocelynn has an uphill battle. Potato chip bags, candy wrappers, and crumpled papers litter the hallways and the grounds outside the school. Students like Jennifer Bustamante say nobody wants to go to a dirty, run-down school.

JB01: ?If the school is clean, makes you want to go to school again, you wake up every morning looking forward to going to school, learning new things? instead ?Oh it's dirty anyways, why would I want to go??? (:10)

PT07: Students involved with the clean-school campaign say they plan to make sure the state and school administrators get their school the resources it deserves.

Juan Muoz graduated from Oakland High last year. But he's still fighting for improvements for his old school. He says there?s a reason he cares what happens to his alma mater.

JM01: ?My little sister, she's in middle school right now?and in 2009, she's going to be a freshman here. I want to give her a better experience of her high school than what I had.? (:16)

Oakland school officials are waiting to hear whether the state will approve an application for 13 million dollars in improvements to Oakland High.

In 2000, when adults weren't doing a good enough job keeping schools in working order, the students took charge, pursuing the Williams lawsuit. That class has graduated. But high-schoolers in California haven't forgotten that they hold the tools to improve their own education. Today, a new wave of students is following up on the Williams victory. They're fighting for the rights their predecessors won.

For Next Generation Radio, I'm Pon Thoummavong.

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