Above: Joyner Elementary Chapter Chair Oscar Jiménez speaks to a reporter about classrooms reaching temperatures of over 90 degrees.

For years, educators and students at Joyner Elementary in Watts have had to withstand 90+ degree classrooms because of a broken air conditioning system ignored by the district. Not until Joyner Elementary Chapter Chair Oscar Jiménez made a call to reporters at Univision Los Angeles did the district finally send someone out to make the needed repairs.  

“I just took a chance and reached out to the network, and they immediately picked up the story,” said Jiménez. “It happened really fast, they came out the next day.” 

This isn’t the first time Joyner Elementary had to resort to calling the press to get the district to make repairs. In August 2023, Univision came out to interview students and parents about the school’s unsafe temperatures after a fed-up parent called in the story. In response, the district installed a temporary A/C system.  

Months later, the district claimed the permanent system had been fixed — but it wasn’t. The A/C would randomly shut off and only some classrooms were getting cool air. On very hot days, the air outside was cooler than inside, and students were even getting nosebleeds because of the heat. After repeated repair requests and no help from the principal or the district, Jiménez decided to call up Univision reporters to see if they would come out for a follow-up story.  

“That same day the reporters came out, the district finally sent out a repair person to fix the A/C,” said Jiménez. “We now have cool air in all the classrooms.”