Teachers at Oakland middle school raise money for water bottles to help kids safely drink water

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- As a new academic year begins, several schools in the Oakland Unified School District are still dealing with unsafe drinking water.

Teachers at United For Success Academy, a middle school in the Fruitvale neighborhood, are taking matters into their own hands.

Through a GoFundMe campaign, Assistant Principal Cass Chen raised more than $2,300 to provide aluminum water bottles for the more than 360 students at the school.

On Monday, students spent the day personalizing them with stickers.

"So hopefully students can keep track of them," said Maura McMichael, a teacher at the school. "But all of that was out of our own fund. OUSD did not provide these water bottles."

RELATED: Some OUSD schools continue to face high amounts of lead in water, testing shows

The Oakland Unified School District said that the school year was off to a great start and that kids and staff members were drinking water from more than 230 FloWater and other water dispensing machines across the district, adding that more 40,000 reusable bottles were delivered to schools. FloWaters dispense purified water and claims its machines remove 99.9% of contaminants.

"We've been told to rely on a station called a FloWater. A FloWater is not a drinking tap. It is just a stream that comes down. So you need a bottle to put it under," said McMichael of why students needed water bottles. "So it's somewhat of an inadequate situation, especially for Title I schools where the majority of our students are in poverty to be providing their own water bottles."

McMichael said United For Success Academy did not receive the bottles the district distributed and that the three FloWater machines on campus are often overwhelmed and sometimes, not working.

"As public educators, we are at the intersections of oppressions on a daily basis," said McMichael of how concerned she is over the safe water issue. "To know that it affects a child's brain, it attacks, affects, their ability to grow up their whole functioning, nervous system is affected by lead. It is one of the top concerns, that our facilities, you know, I think as an educator, my number one job is actually to keep them safe."

Eighth grader Marlene Aguirre is involved with environmental justice projects and said she is concerned for her peers.

RELATED: Unsafe lead levels found in drinking water at multiple Oakland public schools

"If they have it, they might, you know, not want to come to school. And I think I might not see them and not be able to hang out with them," Aguirre said. "And it's going to cause many issues to them, like, you know, hearing, seeing and like growth, development."

Seventh grader Jayceon Gray Gibbs said he didn't have enough money to buy a water bottle for school.

"The teachers and the principal had to bring out all the money," said Gray Gibbs."

His classmate Nellie Eurin Rivas is also concerned.

"We drink out of the water fountain every single day," said Eurin Rivas. "I'm kind of worried."

Marcue Cinque Harris is the director of programs and community engagement for Frontline Catalyst. He said the problem is beyond OUSD and goes citywide.

"And if we can't protect our youth, what kind of message are we sending to youth when we tell them that they can't drink water?" said Cinque Harris. "We're telling that that their health does not matter. We're telling them that water is something to be scared of."