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The next month the girls called a community meeting, inviting representatives from the school district and environmental agencies. After Maria, Fabiola and Nevada got through with them, they may have been sorry they went. When a schools official claimed that in an emergency, Jefferson's children would be evacuated to 9200 South Broadway, the girls pulled out photos proving that this was the address of a vacant lot. "We really nailed him down," Fabiola recalls. "We said, 'If you made a mistake like that, what other mistakes have you made?'"
Among the girls' allies is state senator Tom Hayden, who has taken up the issue of toxins in schools. Says Hayden: "They're very focused, very educated, very driven to understand the way the system works around them." The girls have been regulars at hearings the senator has held. Los Angeles plans to build 51 schools over 10 years--some of them possibly on old industrial sites.
Unafraid of confronting their elders, Maria, Fabiola and Nevada are proud of what they've done--and plan to keep doing. "We're the new generation," says Nevada. "One day you're going to have to stand up on your own two feet for something you believe in. Why not get an early start?"
--By Deborah Elder Brown/Los Angeles