The war in Watts came to a head April 4 in Weigand's auditorium. Under the Parent Trigger law, school districts are barred from using resources such as buildings, email lists, equipment and staff to fight the volunteer parents gathering petitions. But LAUSD and UTLA officials had assured Austin they planned to use school property to hold a thoughtful presentation on their ideas for fixing Weigand in the face of the Parent Trigger plan, and Austin agreed to allow the presentation.
It turned out to have been a setup. At the entrance, UTLA activist Ingrid Villeda spoke angrily, claiming the Parent Trigger moms were gathering signatures under false pretenses, calling it an attack on Latinos. Inside, instead of a serious presentation, a school coordinator spoke from notes scrawled on napkins, then declared, "if [Parent Revolution] knocks on your door, call the police!"
The timing was crucial. LAUSD lawyers were counting turned-in signatures, and parents were still circulating petitions to ensure they had enough for the trigger. The day after the "presentation" at the auditorium, signature gathering sank. Ultimately, the reformers eked out a victory with just 52 percent of parents signing.
'We the Parents' Premieres in Beverly Hills
Failing 24th Street Elementary Targeted for First Parent Trigger in Los Angeles Unified School District
First 'Parent Trigger' School in United States Opens Doors in California
LAUSD's Grumpy Old Man Richard Vladovic Could Squelch Reform
Monica Ratliff: The Woman Who May Change L.A.Parent Revolution, using the California Public Record Act, later learned that Katie McGrath had been involved. By law, district administrators must remain neutral in Parent Trigger campaigns. Yet the activists obtained emails showing that Alvaro Alvarenga, an administrator in LAUSD's Parent and Community Engagement Unit, sent McGrath and Cobian a flier as a "sample communication about Parent Revolution" and suggested, "Maybe we can use something similar."
The flier reads, "Please be wary about giving your information to an outside organization." (In fact, under the Parent Trigger law, signers must provide their information — to prove they really are parents at the school.) In an email to Cobian about the flier, McGrath doesn't discourage use of that language but calls the coming April 4 event a UTLA-hosted "community response."
McGrath says, "I never used my position or district resources to block the parents, and in fact I caught flak for not being more vocal, from those wanting to stop them. We followed the law at all times."
Deasy refuses to comment on "current LAUSD employees," including McGrath. But he says of the mothers of Watts: "These are pretty courageous acts in communities where there is tremendous impact, and in many cases families are just trying to keep it together, and trying to keep a roof over their head and trying to keep their kids healthy. And the district's goal is to work with them."
Austin believes the gauze has lifted from the eyes of too many mothers to stop the movement now. "They understand too much. They don't just believe what they're told anymore," he says.
He sees natural leaders like Llury Garcia one day running for Watts Neighborhood Council, even the school board.
Alicia Cardiel, a 30-year-old, single mother at Jordan Downs, who Cobian's aides singled out as being the "instigator" of Parent Revolution's arrival in Watts, has leadership potential. When a whisper campaign suggested the moms were trying to turn Weigand into a charter school, Cardiel confronted school officials. "The principal told me one day that her family member was a policeman — that's a threat in Watts," Cardiel recalls. "And I said, 'Well, I'm not afraid.' My mom sells clothes on the sidewalk next to the school, and I'd often be with my mom, holding the petition. But one day, the police came and said my mom couldn't sell clothes and I asked the officer, 'Why?' My mom can make up to $20 a day. It's the way it is — we don't have much. This was done to hurt my family.
"Maybe when we have a new principal, the 'in' parents and 'out' parents — I can't think of the English word for this — but maybe it will end."
In May, after the LAUSD Board of Education formally voted to remove Cobian, rumors abounded that 19 or more teachers would transfer out, in solidarity. But the teachers waited, and waited, finally blindsiding Deasy just before a legal deadline for fall hiring. Of the 22 teachers, 21 transferred.
That forced the superintendent into an unprecedented rush to find 21 good replacement teachers for kindergarten through fifth grades.
"How ironic that UTLA fights so hard against a movement to remove one principal — a movement that did not seek to remove one teacher," Deasy says.
He turned that slap against the Watts moms into opportunity: "You'd be surprised how many young teachers from schools like UCLA want to teach at a school that's impacted, like Weigand, with the idea of making a difference," Deasy says. "We're very pleased."
Pastor Clark isn't so forgiving. "I don't send a child to school to love a principal — they are there to teach my child!" she thunders as if delivering her Sunday sermon. "They have it backwards at Weigand! This ain't about loving no adult! It's about teaching the kids. Reading. Writing. Mathematics!"
On Aug. 13, 400 laughing, shouting students skipped, ran — and in some cases were towed by moms — onto campus for the first day of school, greeting the new principal, Joseph Prendez, and 21 new teachers, plus the one veteran.
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.
Union Station fire endangers historic overhang 
Senator Vicki Collins on BBQ and chicken 
Arizona's Lax Gun Laws Helped Make Tucson's Jared Lee Loughner Possible 
