Wednesday, February 23, 2011

School Board Rejects Historic 'Parent Trigger' Petition

School Board Rejects Historic 'Parent Trigger' Petition

Watch Chris Wolfe's report.

Parents holding up signs at  Compton Unified School District Meeting. (KTLA-TV / February 22, 2011)
Parents holding up signs at Compton Unified School District Meeting. (KTLA-TV / February 22, 2011)


COMPTON (KTLA) -- School Board Members in Compton did not approve a historic petition Tuesday that would allow parents to have an upper hand in their children's education.

The school board claimed that the McKinley Parent Trigger petition, signed late last year by 62-percent of parents at McKinley Elementary School, did not comply with state regulations.

Parents believed that their children, attending one of the lowest performing schools in the state, were not being provided with their constitutional right to an equitable education.

The McKinley Parents for Change and Parent Revolution groups, both of which believe that Compton Unified School District has actively been preventing parents from taking on a larger role at the school, have also threatened the school board with a lawsuit. They are the first to act on California's Parent Trigger law.

The law, which was passed in January 2009, stipulates that a district must make radical changes at a school that has failed to meet progress benchmarks for four years. The parents are asking for conversion to a charter school, replacing the principal and staff, rebudgeting, or even closure.

The parents say they will continue to seek legal action since the petition was not passed.

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