Parent involvement at L.A. schools getting new look - latimes.com

Parent involvement at L.A. schools getting new look - latimes.com:

Parent involvement at L.A. schools getting new look

An increasing number of community and civil rights groups are reaching out to immigrants to boost activism in education.

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Adelina Garcia, left, and Adriana Serrano walk their kids home from Teresa Hughes Elementary School in Cudahy. The two mothers were leaders in a petition drive to oust the school principal. (Bob Chamberlin, Los Angeles Times / November 22, 2013)

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By Teresa Watanabe and Stephen Ceasar

December 2, 2013, 10:36 p.m.

In Cudahy, parents collected more than 600 signatures demanding a new principal. In Culver City, they fought attempts to unionize classroom aides and formed a group that elected a school board majority.

In Los Angeles, parents are organizing for more effective school disciplinary practices. And hundreds recently flocked to a Sacramento hearing to demand a voice in shaping rules for the state's new school funding plan.

This may well be the new look of parent power. While the PTA and other school-based groups used to be the primary vehicle for parent involvement, a plethora of new organizing models has proliferated — many of them reaching out to immigrants to boost their activism in schools.

"The face of parent involvement is definitely changing in California, as it should, given that 70% of our state's

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-parent-petition-20131203,0,1381947.story#ixzz2mQK8FUSD