A teacher is accusing the water company at the Oakland Unified School District in California of “poisoning” students after staff learned that the district’s water supply contained levels of lead that far exceeded acceptable limits.

Reports documenting the lead levels were reportedly received in the spring, KRON4 reported, but the district did not notify teachers and parents of the situation until this month, meaning some students — such as those who were in school for summer classes — were exposed to the water.

Teachers are now asking why it took so long to inform those affected about the dangerous water and are demanding that OUSD take action.

“How could we poison our students for so many months?” said teacher Stuart Loeble, according to the KRON4 report.

Loeble went on to say it was “criminal” that students were exposed to lead without their knowledge, and the district acknowledged poor communication in a message sent to district families Monday morning.

“Despite our attention to detail and care for our sites, we did not effectively communicate to members of each school community when testing began, when we received results and when corrections were implemented,” the district said. “We are putting systems in place to ensure that a lack of effective communication does not reoccur and that school communities are notified in a timely manner when this type of testing occurs on their campuses.”

When asked for comment, an OUSD spokesperson said: Newsweek to the district’s message. In it, OUSD asked parents to give their children a reusable water bottle to bring to school that they can use at filtered water stations.

The statement also explained that the district’s limits on allowable lead concentrations in water are much stricter than state and federal limits.

“In most cases, the valves tested were below the district’s limit,” the statement said.

More than 10 percent of the district’s water fixtures — such as faucets and taps — had readings below the state limit but above the district limit. More than 6 percent of fixtures were above the state limit. Fixtures that were below the district limit will remain in service, and all others will be taken out of service until they are repaired and retested.

“A total of 61 valves have been repaired so far and are now waiting to be retested before being put back into service,” the district said. “We expect the repair process to take approximately three weeks.”

The disturbing discovery comes several months after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would allocate an additional $3 billion from President Joe Biden’s “Invest in America” ​​agenda to help states and territories identify and replace lead pipes. The project aims to prevent lead contamination in drinking water.

“Lead can cause a range of serious health effects, including irreversible damage to brain development in children,” the EPA said in a statement. “To protect children and families, President Biden has committed to replacing every lead pipe in the country.”

In 2023, the EPA released data showing that Florida has the most lead pipes in the country, with 1.16 million pipes, or more than 12 percent of the total number of pipes in the state. Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and New York also have higher rates of lead pipes.

However, California was one of the states with the lowest percentage of lead pipes, according to EPA data. At the time, there were 13,476 lead pipes, representing 0.15 percent of the total number of pipes in the state.