Even Judy Perez, president of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, the principals union, repeats the fantastic story that a festival-loving preschool teacher, who left Weigand last fall, was the catalyst for major education reform in Watts. (Reached by the Weekly, the teacher, now in another city, begged not to be dragged back into the bizarre, old drama.)
Many parents are buying into it. Pro-Cobian parent Iris Magallanes got special permission from Cobian to enroll her high-achiever daughter at Weigand instead of Grape Street Elementary. But she's now moving her child to Grape Street, explaining that the girl was taunted by the children of activist parents. Magallanes insists that Cobian and her teachers had no role in the school's academic collapse — it was the fault of activist parents who stopped helping with homework, and, yes, the preschool teacher, who resisted Cobian's 2011 crackdown on festivities, "which really emboldened the parents here."
Parent Revolution founder Ben Austin says, "Ah, that is fascinating. You have a school incapable of teaching small children, and they point in every direction but, 'Oops, we blew it on the math, the reading, the history, the grammar, the vocabulary.' "
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Monica Ratliff: The Woman Who May Change L.A.Flores, sitting at his parents' spotless home in Koreatown, can barely contain his disgust. "They are very caught up with this story about this poor preschool teacher. You can see how this myth gives school officials a way to marginalize what has happened in Watts, the reform of a bad school by serious parents. We have unfortunately heard this very same tale even from the instructional superintendent for LAUSD, Katie McGrath, saying, 'This is a conspiracy.'
"My reaction: It is really sad."
There are two bitterly divided schools of thought among the mostly liberals, and mostly Democrats, who dominate the ranks of teachers, principals and school reformers in America. They are at war over how to fix the schools, and Parent Trigger has uncomfortably illuminated their growing divide.
On one side are intelligent, dedicated educators like McGrath, whose politics are far left of the average, liberal L.A. resident — but not unusual in education.
On the other side are progressives like Derrick Everett, a young black attorney and USC Ph.D. who worked for a Washington nonprofit before Parent Revolution, and Jesus Sanchez, born in East L.A., who worked at nonprofits helping the underserved gain access to college before he joined Parent Revolution. They believe children have a fundamental civil right to an education that trumps the adults, their bureaucratic ways and their unions.
McGrath refuses to discuss her views on the record, saying, "I can't comment due to my position in LAUSD."
But she has told multiple people who spoke with the Weekly that charter schools and nonprofits such as Parent Revolution, and anyone else who accepts funding from education-reform philanthropists such as Bill Gates, are capitalist entities trying to shift public resources from the schools into private hands. She believes their motivation is not primarily student achievement.
Cobian, too, views Parent Revolution's victory in Adelanto as a dark moment, saying, "Parent Revolution left a trail of community destruction in Adelanto, to borrow a line from The Avengers, yet they fear these parents being educated about what this movement is really all about. It's about schools being taken away from the public and handed over to private groups — just because you make some parents mad."
McGrath, strolling through Weigand last June, tells the Weekly, "We had meetings to discuss with teachers what should go into the Public School Choice plan [written by Cobian]. We invited the parents; we had a panel that ruled it. We had order. It's about being intelligent, careful and mindful. Parent Revolution is callous with its power. It's a sloppy process."
For 30 years or so, education higher-ups have stressed orderliness in education reform. But the groups now driving reform are increasingly comfortable with disorder. The Parent Trigger law can be messy, but it's also pure parent power that uses true community organizing, as parents challenge a seemingly indestructible power structure — that of public school districts. Naturally, it scares the hell out of teachers unions, who've used their clout to protect veteran teachers and fight against evaluations. (Warren Fletcher, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, declined comment.)
"What we are seeing now is that parents are driving the whole process, collaboratively, with a great grasp of power," says Ben Austin, who became executive director of Parent Revolution when it was founded in 2009 and has since become a leader in the reform movement.
Teachers at Haddon Avenue Elementary School in Pacoima voluntarily reopened their union contract recently, and while UTLA doesn't like to admit it, the impetus for that unusual move was the fact that, with Parent Revolution's help, Pacoima's economically disadvantaged parents had gathered 30 or 40 percent of the signatures they needed to enact Parent Trigger.
"Then the parents stopped — to see if the teachers would react," Austin says. "And the teachers did react, the right way. This was an incredibly sophisticated decision by these parents, to pause like that. In each community, the parents are deciding how to use their power. In Watts, the people in power are fundamentally offended that poor parents now have as much power as the quote-unquote professionals."
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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