<p>[U.S</a>. News - Faces of reform? Parents seek control of failing California school](<a href=“http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/20/10779326-faces-of-reform-parents-seek-control-of-failing-california-school]U.S ”>http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/20/10779326-faces-of-reform-parents-seek-control-of-failing-california-school )</p>
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A 2010 California law permits parents at the state’s worst public schools to band together and effectively wrest control from the district. The parents can enact dramatic changes, such as firing teachers, ousting the principal, or converting the school into a charter institution run by a private management firm. Several other states – Mississippi, Texas and Connecticut – are considering similar laws.
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<p>More signs that people are no longer willing to simply accept the failing schools and want to do something, anything, to get a change. I’d rather move. But, I’m lazy like that.</p>
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Trigger backers say the mechanism isn’t intended to convert local schools into charters in every case. Parent Revolution is working with several parent groups in California that have used the threat of pulling the trigger as leverage to negotiate more modest changes, such as cleaning up filthy school bathrooms.</p>
<p>At Desert Trails, the trigger team is negotiating with the district in hopes of reaching a solution that stops short of moving to a fully independent charter school.</p>
<p>“When big decisions about schools are made, there typically are only two players at the table, the teachers union and the district,” said Ben Austin, executive director of Parent Revolution. “What we’re saying is, we need a third seat at the table for parents. Before, when they complained, they’d be told to go do a bake sale. Parent trigger utterly changes the game.”
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