California's Parent Trigger
How McKinley in Compton became the first school taken over by parents under a radical new law
On a recent afternoon in Compton, Mary Najera of Boyle Heights is making a sale in the peach-colored dining room of a tidy home. But she isn't selling cosmetics or Tupperware. She's pitching to a young mother a radical new tool of school reform in California — the Parent Trigger.
"If we get 51 percent of the parents to sign a petition and favor a transformation," Najera tells the mother, Carolina, in Spanish, "you can create a change."
Najera shows Carolina the petition. It presents parents with the power to take over and open a charter school at Compton’s McKinley Elementary School.
Carolina regards Najera with a serious expression. On a nearby wall, a colorful ceramic mural depicts Jesus and his apostles at the Last Supper. Najera says: "This is going to be historic. It's never been done anywhere before. And we want you to take full advantage of your rights. But we need to work together. Power comes in numbers, and we need parents to join to make the