Lessons of 'parent trigger'

11-14-2011

Editorial/Los Angeles Times

The so-called parent trigger option was first used nearly a year ago when parents at McKinley Elementary School in Compton presented a petition to the local school board demanding that a charter management organization take over the campus. California's trigger provision, which had been included in 2010 school reform legislation in an unsuccessful effort to win a federal education grant, empowered parents to force major change at a "failing" school if half of them signed a petition. What followed in Compton was the stuff of high educational drama — claims of intimidation from both sides, an intransigent school board that put parents through ridiculous hoops to verify their signatures and, eventually, legal defeat when the petition was found lacking on largely technical grounds. (more...)

Document Actions

Send this
Print this

Personal tools

Sections

Lessons of 'parent trigger'

Document Actions