So Flores entered the dim apartment at Jordan Downs, to a surreal scene: "There's literally guns on the counters, and they're smoking pot. And they're all wearing bandannas on their faces."
It brought back memories to Flores of another time and place: Medellín, Colombia.
The pastor spoke first. "And she basically tells these guys, 'You know, there's these people who are trying to improve Weigand — and they're with this organization called Parent Revolution.' "
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Suddenly, one man nodded in assent. James. Flores pegged him to be in his early 20s, meaning he probably went to Weigand in the 1990s and attended Markham Middle School, a violent dropout factory.
"James stood up and he reached out his hand," Flores recalls, "and the guy was huge. Just a huge, huge guy. And he pulls down his mask and he says to me, 'Just make sure you fix it.' " Flores chuckles. "It was like a threat. Then what he said was, 'I went to that fucking school, and I know a lot of kids in the project go that fucking school — and they're not learning anything.' Every other word was bad words."
In the months to follow, "There were times I saw James' people, and they were thumbs-up in greeting. But there were other times, we saw the purple color gathering. And then I told my people to get off the streets. And then maybe something would go down. A shooting."
In the end, though, it wasn't the Crips these activists had to worry about.
Instead, they faced a fiery foe in Weigand principal Cobian, who waged a cunning PR battle. She was backed quietly by a powerful LAUSD administrator and much more loudly by teachers union activists, a band of parents and teachers and a crew of anonymous dirty tricksters who spread rumors that Parent Revolution was going to turn parents' signatures over to immigration — or give Weigand to a for-profit charter school chain. Activist parents were even threatened with police.
Only Cobian was targeted by the reformers. But the stakes couldn't have been higher. If powerless Latino and black parents in Watts could change an ossified school in which many children were falling further behind each year they remained at their desks, the status quo was in serious danger.
The pressure was palpable on the moms — and a few fathers — to return to less confrontational activities such as school committees. But rather than back down, they committed to fight alongside Flores. Gloria Aroche, 24, a mother from El Salvador, who wears snap-button cowboy shirts and floor-length skirts with ruffles, shyly explains through a translator: "Once we parents got united, we lost our fear and felt the power. Felt it. Like a warm thing inside you."
In the end, these parents won. Just before school opened this week, Deasy praised the parents, saying, "Having met them, these mostly mothers, what struck me was the courage it takes to raise your voice and demand that things be better — rather than just kind of tolerating what was there."
One year ago, Maria Alvarado came poking around the "one-ways" — the narrow Watts streets where the City of Los Angeles maintains a brutal regime of precision car-ticketing on street-sweeper day. Her job for Parent Revolution is to randomly visit areas, asking locals if they have children in school — and if they like the school.
In 2012, Alvarado and Flores had battled the administration at Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, the first in U.S. history to be taken over by parents using California's Parent Trigger law. While that complex battle was still being waged in the courts, she was on to her next assignment, scouting Watts.
Alvarado immediately encountered parents who said the principal had driven out more than a dozen teachers, played favorites with parents and children, and did not champion classroom skills. So Alvarado paid a surprise visit to the dowdy little school, where three forlorn shrubs in a square of dirt act as the entry garden.
Once inside the administrative office, Alvarado was stunned by the principal's reaction to her request to visit the school's Parent Center to explain the Parent Trigger law to a few parents, as she has done at other schools. "Cobian just went off — yelling at Maria, this very short, non-intimidating, sweet person," Flores says. "We were kind of used to it from Adelanto, but you don't expect it from the actual principal. It was weird, you know?"
Parent Revolution canvassed a broader area around Weigand; several families quickly agreed to provide their homes for meetings where neighbors could learn about the Parent Trigger law.
That's when they met Maudine Clark.
"We were holding a house meeting four houses down from what turned out to be Pastor Clark's house," Flores says. "The Latino parents we were explaining the law to said, 'You need Pastor Clark's help. She's been battling Weigand for years.' Maria and I went right over there with our fliers about Parent Trigger in our hands. Pastor Clark took one look at us and said, 'It's about time.' "
Green Beret? Doubt it.
Lost a kidney in Somalia? Yeah, right. Check out his LinkedIn profile - I never heard of Purple "Stars". Flores - I think you meant Purple Heart.
Did this reporter even ask for proof he was Special Forces?
It's a sad day when even mentors can't tell the truth.
Let's deal with real legal facts. The California "Parent Empowerment", Trigger, law, rules and regulations state that signatures cannot be obtained with intimidation, promises of any kind or any other kind of persuasion of that nature. I like the Parent Empowerment Law for use against terrible districts like LAUSD who do not listen to parents and students as least under the last boards of education. I do not like the illegal way in which Parent Revolution has used it in California and everywhere else in the U.S. they have been. First ask the question of why is it that on their front page they have the button Parent Trigger Laws. Hit the button and go to the bottom of the page and hit the button law and regulations and gee it is empty; Try to find any information on their website of their involvement in Florida or anywhere else. Nothing. In Florida they had a 15 page law and a misleading video up all produced by Ben Austin here in L.A. Ben Austin is a political professional. He knows what he is doing.
Mrs. Stewart, are you really so bad as a reporter that you did not check the California law, rules and regulations and how those signatures were obtained all of which is in the public sector before you wrote this false story of what happened and with no mention of the illegal methodology which they used in obtaining those signatures? If so, you should not be a reporter. A reporter is not supposed to be a "True Believer" who does not double check. The simplest of checks would have found out this information. Parents, teachers and community testified at the LAUSD Board at the 24th Street and other time and in the San Bernadino Papers on this I found the stories and you cannot with Lexus Nexis? This is not believable or credible. Green Beret's are highly trained in intimidation and psychological warfare and every sign of that is here. Why do you think our military is so hated around the world? It is because of these arrogant illegal acts by Green Beret's and others like that on them. It is not OK there and it is not here. You should not praise these kind of acts. The district is dirtier than you think or have the capacity to know. I can give you $20 billion in documented theft, 117,000 student not coming to school every year cost them only $1.35 billion last year alone, I know their budgets and how they lie to state agencies about their numbers and facts. I have them documented and with the state of California and with Torlakson with this information way over your head as you simply do not want to know and have been told not to know or print or it is your job as so clearly shown with this article. I have the proof of this do you?
I work at a charter as a part-time instructor for less that $20/hr. This is not gainful employment and I am constantly in debt from student loans for attending public universities that are in the process of being privatized. The "charterization" (yes, that's a term) of our public schools means profit for shareholders and managers alongside the cheapening of each educators' life. I would happily work full-time as a salaried employee for $45k/year, which is still not enough to buy a home in L.A. But, instead, I am always seeking more work so that I can survive. Make no mistake about it: the privatization (i.e. charterization) of our K-12 educational system is a sham. Teaching must be recognized as a career and not an act of charity or semi-volunteerism.
Alfonso was peeling potatoes in Somalia. He quit as a teacher. Now he plays judge and jury sentencing educators to termination. That's no way to achieve reform. Support building on the talents of educators, track successes, and bring together stakeholders. Celebrate our educators who are brave enough to show up everyday in Watts to lead and teach without sensationalizing it. Celebrate our educators who do not seek fame and make themselves out to be heroes because they know and help improve the lives gang members' children. Our educators have always been the true heroes; they don't need a rag-mag to declare it. They do the job daily, selflessly--what would our city look like without them? Alfonso is looking for credit because he deserves none. Read about Parent Revolution in Time Magazine--they call it toxic. This LA Weekly story is a desperate attempt to repair their soiled image--they don't care who they harm. Sad.
So, despite all the studies showing that Charters are less effective than public schools, the LA Weekly continues to run one sided pro-charter articles. I guess the corporation that runs the Weekly must have big money invested in a charter corporation.
@JoeyJoeJoeJr Yes, teaching at a school raped by Parent Revolution (chartered or not) turns teachers into those who work on an ad-hoc basis, never knowing if some unhappy parent or stakeholder has an axe to grind, and instead of looking towards their own generational failures, takes it out on teachers. The future of education especially in LA Unified is bleak at best. Even schools experiencing an increase in API scores still graduate functional illiterates. Very troubling.
@rbettleman Let's see them roll up their sleeves and help on campus prepare new principals and support teachers. It's one thing to oust a principal, but what about true help. Or are they just planning on destroying until no one will risk working in our schools? By the way, the people who "look out for the kids" are at schools right now all over the city today providing them with care; they are principals and teachers. Parent Revolution does not interact with children--they have no idea what it takes.
@rbettleman Don't believe it. Parents Revolution is for profit (for the profit of its employees). They empower ineffective parents and get them to project their failures onto the teachers and staff of inner city schools. You can change the staff of a school, but the pervading culture remains. Do some research into the organization and its staff.
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