While we commend their passage of the “Clean Drinking Water Policy” which requires the district to replace or fix taps at schools and early childhood centers that contain lead levels higher than five parts per billion; we insist that Oakland Unified School District amend it to immediately begin testing at the one parts per billion standards recommended by the The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) rather than delaying the decision until 2019.

Currently, the Massachusetts and Washington state legislatures are pushing their states to meet the one parts per billion standard set by the AAP and Oakland Unified School District can help lead the call to meet these standards in California. The American Academy of Pediatrics has found that even low levels of lead can cause permanent cognitive, academic and behavioral difficulties in children--prevention before any exposure whatsoever is the best way to stop children in Oakland from being exposed and having their lives permanently altered.

Call the Oakland Unified School District and ask them to amend their policy today.