lead contamination crisis in Oakland Unified School District<\/a> schools. As the judges pointed out, the pair filed dozens of Public Records Act requests over many months to learn what led to the crisis, how the district bungled its response, and whether the district\u2019s 34,000 students were finally safe. They found that students and teachers were drinking from contaminated water sources for months after contamination was discovered and that remediation was incomplete years after lead was first detected back in 2017.<\/p>\n\u201cFollowing their series, the district has committed to several transparency reforms, including notifying school communities of lab test reports within 72 hours; creating a public dashboard online that summarizes test results; and establishing an automatic system that notifies school leaders about new test results,\u201d the coalition wrote. \u201cThe school board allocated $20.5 million for lead abatement efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s honorees also include Robert Earl Council, Melvin Ray, and Ricardo \u201cRaoul\u201d Poole for a documentary film, \u201cThe Alabama Solution,\u201d about abuses in the Alabama State Prison system, and Brian Howey, Jerry Mitchell, Mukta Joshi, Nate Rosenfield, Najib Aminy, and Steph Quinn of Mississippi Today, who partnered with The New York Times and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting to investigate the brutal treatment of people in county custody.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to see Ashley and Callie\u2019s dogged work get this recognition,\u201d said Esther Kaplan, deputy editor of The Oaklandside. \u201cAshley broke the story of the lead contamination crisis, and then she and Callie just kept digging until they\u2019d exposed all that went wrong at the district. I\u2019m especially grateful, as a public school parent, that they kept on the story until the district finally said it had guaranteed safe drinking water for all of our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the only dedicated Oakland schools reporter, I knew it would be up to me and The Oaklandside to dig in and find out how the district allowed a lapse like this to happen, and hold them accountable to fixing the problem,\u201d McBride said. \u201cWe\u2019re so humbled and grateful for this recognition, and we\u2019re glad to provide this service to Oakland\u2019s students and families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The First Amendment Coalition is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works to advance a free press, freedom of expression, and the people\u2019s right to know in the state of California.<\/p>\n
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