Parent trigger laws divide communities
Toxic tactic allows parent petition drives to close schools, fire staff members or allow takeover by private charter operators.
Parental involvement plays a critical role in student success. Teachers know that students whose parents take an active part in their education are far more likely to succeed.
However, "parent trigger" laws — which allow parent petition drives to close schools, fire staff members or allow takeover by private charter operators — don't really involve parents in their children's education. Instead, they encourage parents to organize against schools, teachers and, often, against each other.
OUR VIEW: Extraordinary step worth trying
While characterized by proponents as grass roots efforts, parent trigger campaigns are largely "AstroTurf" projects organized by Parent Revolution, a well-funded outside group with ties to big money interests. These outsiders have poured thousands of dollars into signature gathering efforts, sending in paid staff, even renting houses in school neighborhoods to serve as campaign headquarters.
Parent trigger efforts don't get to the root causes of a school's performance struggles or take into account reform efforts already under way. At Weigand School in Los Angeles, the trigger fired a principal who was well regarded and respected by the teaching staff without any evidence that student performance was being hindered by her efforts. At Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, the parent trigger replaced the staff with new teachers operating under a private charter operator. Yet trigger proponents offered no answers for how to address student transiency and other factors that were impacting student learning. At McKinley Elementary School in Compton, paid organizers targeted a school that had a brand new principal and was
