A California school board has approved a plan to restructure a school at the center of a closely watched “parent trigger” dispute, but it’s not the plan that a group of parents wanted—nor the plan they say a judge ordered.
The Adelanto, Calif., board voted Aug. 17 to accept a petition circulated by parents seeking to become the first in the country to use a parent-trigger law to overhaul an academically struggling school. But the panel rejected the parents’ preferred option, which was to convert Desert Trails Elementary into a charter school, the board’s president, Carlos Mendoza, told Education Week in an email. The board instead decided to move forward with a form of “alternate governance,” which would result in a longer school day, improved technology, and other changes.
The Adelanto board’s actions drew an immediate, angry reaction from the parents seeking to change the school. They said the panel has run afoul of a court decision issued last month, which in their view calls for the creation of a charter.
It’s likely the parents will go back to court to fight the Adelanto board’s decision, said Ben Austin, the executive director of Parent Revolution, a group that has helped them with the trigger effort.
