Emboldened by a recent legal victory, a group of parents seeking to use a 鈥減arent trigger鈥� law to overhaul a low-performing California elementary school have begun publicly courting outside organizations to help guide them through that complicated process.
If the plans for Desert Trails Elementary School take hold, it would be the first time in the nation鈥檚 history that a parent-trigger law has been used successfully to bring about changes to the structure and operations of a school, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
But while the parents in Adelanto, Calif., say they are moving forward, it remains unclear whether legal obstacles remain. Adelanto鈥檚 school board president said that the district is still considering whether to appeal a judge鈥檚 ruling, issued last month, which allowed parents to begin the process of converting Desert Trails to a charter school.
Meanwhile, a group representing the parents who led a petition drive to overhaul the school, calling themselves the Desert Trails Parent Union, released an eight-page set of guidelines for organizations seeking to work with them to overhaul the elementary school.
The parents were requesting that potential operators of the school submit 鈥渓etters of interest,鈥� including descriptions of their plans for the school and for engaging the community, by late last week. Qualified applicants would then have to submit detailed proposals by Sept. 21, which would be evaluated in accordance with the state鈥檚 parent-trigger policies. The parents who signed the petition to transform Desert Trails would then vote to choose the operator they want.
The parents鈥� group envisions a school serving about 740 students in grades K-6. All students currently enrolled who want to stay at the school will be guaranteed admission, according to the parent group鈥檚 guidelines. The goal is to have a restructured school in place by fall of next year.
Complex Debate
To date, much of the debate over parent-trigger laws has focused on their implications for giving parents the power to convert traditional public schools to charters, or replace schools鈥� staff.
The Desert Trails parents, however, said they would consider proposals not just from nonprofit charter operators, but also from labor organizations, other school districts鈥攁nd from the 8,000-student Adelanto school system itself.
Teachers鈥� unions would, on one level, seem unlikely collaborators on any such project. The California Teachers Association fought the Adelanto parent-trigger venture. And the union and a group helping the parents, Parent Revolution, have traded accusations for months that the other side was misleading the public about the petition drive and the school鈥檚 future.
In their document inviting operators鈥� letters of interest, the Desert Trails parents document the school鈥檚 academic woes, saying it has been 鈥渃onsistently failing its students for years.鈥� The parents say they envision creating a restructured school that operates with autonomy, but is also held accountable for strong academic performance.
Collaboration Possible?
Doreen Diaz, a parent who helped organize the petition effort, said the parents favored converting the school to a charter. She added that she hoped the district would submit a plan to restructure the school and improve its academic performance. 鈥淟et鈥檚 work together,鈥� said Ms. Diaz, whose daughter attends the school.
鈥淲e鈥檙e prepared to handle whatever comes our way,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his has not been an easy process. ... We want a school that鈥檚 going to have a core belief that our children can learn and sets high expectations for our children.鈥�
Seven states, including California, currently have parent-trigger laws, according to the NCSL. Those laws typically allow parents to bring about restructuring of schools through a majority vote of parents. Trigger policies have drawn praise from some quarters for their potential to cut through bureaucratic and political obstacles and bring changes to schools. But they have also been criticized by those who predict they will set in motion poorly conceived plans for school change, written by organizations with little interest or ability to serve schools鈥� needs.
In California, efforts to use parent-trigger laws to bring changes to struggling schools in the community of Compton, and until recently Adelanto, have been derailed by legal challenges. In other states, the laws are relatively new, meaning that in some cases, low-scoring schools have not been struggling for long-enough periods of time to be subject to the trigger policies.
Legal Boost
The Adelanto effort received a boost last month when San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Steve Malone overruled district leaders who questioned the validity of many of the signatures and argued that parents were given false information about the petition drive. The judge ordered the Adelanto school board and district to 鈥渋mmediately begin the process of soliciting and selecting charter school proposals.鈥�
Carlos Mendoza, the school board鈥檚 president, said he supported appealing the judge鈥檚 ruling but he was not certain if the full board would favor taking that step. He said the school board would consider cooperating with the parents to make any structural changes to the school mentioned in the parents鈥� petition鈥攁s long as the parents did not go beyond the parameters of that plan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 limited to the petition,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not willing to be part of some political experiment about how far you can stretch the parent-trigger law.鈥�
