Compton Unified School District

'We the Parents' Premieres in Beverly Hills

We the Parents, the new documentary about California's cutting-edge Parent Trigger law, premiered in Beverly Hills last night, with an expert panel discussing the ups and downs of Parent Trigger battles in Compton and Adelanto, where parents sought to gain control of their children's failing schools ... More >>

First 'Parent Trigger' School in United States Opens Doors in California

For the first time in the United States, a school has been fully transformed by a Parent Trigger law. That historic moment happened yesterday in California when parents opened Desert Trails Preparatory Academy in the Mojave Desert town of Adelanto. "For the parents and children of Desert Trails," s ... More >>

Can Aja Brown, Compton's Hip, Refreshing Reform Mayor, Turn This Woeful City Around?

Failing 24th Street Elementary Targeted for First Parent Trigger in Los Angeles Unified School District

Read "Los Angeles Unified School District Braces For First Parent Trigger Take Over." Parents of children who attend the failing 24th Street Elementary School in West Adams dropped a signature petition on Los Angeles Unified School District officials in downtown today, pulling the first Parent Trig ... More >>

Historic Parent Trigger Approved in California by Adelanto School Board

It's official. For the first time ever in the United States, a California school district has approved a Parent Trigger, which allows parents to make changes to a failing school. The landmark decision by the Adelanto School District to allow Desert Trails Elementary School in the Mojave Desert to ... More >>

'Parent Trigger' Scores First-Ever Victory at Desert Trails Elementary: Judge Issues Historic Ruling Against Adelanto School District

See also: LA Weekly print stories "California's Parent Trigger" and "Parent Trigger's Second Try." For the first time in American history, parents with kids at an extremely low-performing school -- in this case, Desert Trails Elementary in Adelanto -- have succeeded in filing a petition to seize it ... More >>

Skyy Fisher, Slimy Compton School Board Member Who Called Trayvon a 'Faggot,' Served With Recall Papers

Skyy Fisher's podcast rant was the worst we've ever heard from a public official: In a matter of minutes, while talking to his friends on Pigzradio, Fisher managed to call the Compton superintendent a "bitch," Trayvon Martin a "faggot" and an alleged student sex-crime victim a whiny little liar. Wi ... More >>

Skyy Fisher, Compton School Board Member, Calls Superintendent a 'Bitch' and Trayvon Martin a 'Faggot' (VIDEO)

Could the Compton Unified School District get any sleazier? A concerned father named Sergio gave us a call this afternoon and directed our attention to a horrendous interview that CUSD Board Member Skyy Fisher, elected last November, recently gave to a bunch of his former buddies on their podcast, ... More >>

Adelanto Parents, Lawyers Claim Fraud in District's 'Parent Trigger' Rejection

Legal precedents for California's two-year-old "Parent Trigger" law, which allows parents to force reform at a failing K-12 school, are being set every day in the nowhere desert town of Adelanto. A group of parents initially turned in their petition, filled with signatures representing about 70 per ... More >>

Parent Trigger's Second Try

Minority parents target failing Adelanto school

Pulling the Trigger on Failing Schools

Parents aim for revolution — again

Sasha Grey Reads to Compton Kids; Failing School District Embarrasses Itself Again

TMZClearly, Sasha Grey did not read to first-graders.​Yeah, so former L.A. porn star Sasha Grey is not the first person we'd pick to read children's books to our first graders. But she's been out of porn for a couple years now, and in the new TMZ photos of Grey allegedly reading aloud at Emer ... More >>

Study: LAUSD's Charter-School Teachers Dropping Out at Alarming Rate

4lakidsnews.blogspot.comAre L.A.'s charter teachers overworked and under-unionized?​Unlike the stubborn, nepotistic Compton Unified School District next door, LAUSD has opened its arms to the booming charter-school movement over the last decade. Between 2002 to 2009, the number of charter cam ... More >>

SoCal 'Parent Trigger' Pushers Travel to Sacramento, Tell State Board of Education: Don't Let Teachers Have a Say

California Teachers AssociationPatricia Rucker, right, is both a Board of Education member and a CTA lobbyist​If the battle over California's new parent-empowerment law was only vicariously between the California Teachers Association and the growing charter-school business before, it just got ... More >>

'Parent Trigger' Saved in Court by First Amendment; Charter-School Petitioners Brace for More Compton District Stall Tactics

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIOne small step for McKinley​The last few months have been a painstaking uphill battle for Parent Revolution, the group of organizers and McKinley Elementary School parents trying to turn one vastly underperforming Compton campus into a charter school. Though the group does ha ... More >>

Parents Fighting For Law-Backed Right to Take Over Compton Elementary School Take Cause to Sacramento

Parent Trigger proponents head to Sacramento.​Updated after the jump: The folks trying to legally take over their Compton elementary school are claiming a big victory in Sacramento following this trip. The parent troops in Southern California who have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to re ... More >>

Why Compton Unified Rejected the Parent Trigger (and Why It's in No Position To Do So)

YouTubeCUSD Board President Mae Thomas​On Tuesday night, as reported by the Weekly, the Compton Unified School District rejected a parent petition to change McKinley Elementary into a charter school. In this seven-page document, CUSD board members detail all the ways in which they feel the pe ... More >>

Compton School Board Rejects 'Parent Trigger' Petition, Cites Insufficient Staples, Typos

Simone WilsonA McKinley Elementary student looks up at the CUSD Board of Trustees​Updated after the jump: We've got the PDF -- and a lot more questions. Finally, over two months after it was filed, Compton school board members responded to a parent petition at their meeting last night: After ... More >>

At Last: 'Parent Trigger' Troop Files Lawsuit Against Compton Unified School District

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIThings just got real in Compton​Updated after the jump: Judge grants parents a restraining order against the Compton school district! Right after two big NorCal and SoCal newspapers released battling editorials on California's extreme "Parent Trigger" law -- the LA Times say ... More >>

Compton 'Parent Trigger' Pushers Refuse to Verify Signatures in Person; Superintendent Calls Truce to Sparse Crowd

PHOTO BY TED SOQUIOver 60 percent of McKinley Elementary parents signed a petition in December to convert their children's school to a charter​Compton Unified School District's acting superintendent, Karen Frison, changed her game at last night's district board meeting. She released a "media ... More >>

Parent Trigger Showdown in Compton Gets Increasingly Heavy; Jerry Brown, Kamala Harris, and Barack Obama M.I.A.?

Governor Jerry Brown​Update: Former state Sen. Gloria Romero accuses Compton Unified of strong-arming parents to stop charter school. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and another huge law firm join Parent Trigger effort pro bono. Things get increasingly heavy in Compton today when the McKinley Parent ... More >>

Compton School District Tries to Force 'Parent Trigger' Signers to Declare Discontent Face-to-Face With School Officials

PHOTO BY TED SOQUICompton parents who want to switch McKinley Elementary into different hands will have to tell that to district higher-ups next week​At an unannounced Compton Unified School District meeting last night, district officials demanded that McKinley Elementary School parents -- ove ... More >>

In Compton, Parent Trigger Supporters File Intimidation Charges With U.S. Department of Education

Parent Revolution organizers Shirley Ford and Mary Nareja (center) with McKinley Elementary parents​Two parents in Compton have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. They charge that intimidation tactics have been used during the ongoing Parent Trigg ... More >>

Opponents of Parent Trigger Law Push for 'Transparency,' Gloria Romero Says That's Hogwash

Former state senator Gloria Romero​"Transparency" appears to be the new political controversy over California's Parent Trigger law, which allows parents to make changes at a chronically failing public school if they pull off a successful petition drive. While former state senator Gloria Rom ... More >>

Governor Jerry Brown's New California Board Of Education Appointments Could Disable Compton 'Trigger'

A new State Board of Education might be Brown's way of pulling the trigger on charters​Jerry Brown announced his California Board of Education appointments yesterday -- and they're sure to throw a wrench in the spokes of the Parent Trigger movement. For a group of parents in Compton, this wil ... More >>

Compton's Parent Trigger Feud

PTA opposes charter school. Moms sick of McKinley Elementary fight back

'Parent Trigger' Petitioners Fend Off Accusations From Compton Unified, McKinley PTA -- Not California Board Of Education

​Updated after the jump: VIDEO PROOF that we're so totally misinformed. Originally posted at 6:20 a.m. Over the last few days, a lightning storm of hear-say and hyperbole has lit up the sky over two groups of Compton parents. Major media outlets reporting the conflict have tended toward one ... More >>

Compton School Takeover Supporters Pull Out YouTube 'Evidence' Of Teacher's Intimidation Tactics; Hundreds Of Angry, Confused Parents Show Up To District Board Meeting

Compton-ites at the Dec. 14 Compton Unified School District board meeting rallied against charter-school reformers​Updated after the jump: The Weekly gives a play-by-play of a long, passionate night -- with testimonies from nearby charter schools, a few crazies and a handful of parents who say ... More >>

With Exclusive, Unfettered Access to Parent Trigger Organizers in Compton, L.A. Weekly Examines Charges of Deception and Harassment Made By Their Opponents

Ted SoquiParent Revolution organizers Shirley Ford and Mary Nareja (center) with McKinley Elementary parents​Once Ismenia Guzman handed over a thick binder of parent signatures to a Compton Unified School District official last Tuesday morning, Shirley Ford knew her work was far from over whe ... More >>

California's Parent Trigger

How McKinley in Compton became the first school taken over by parents under a radical new law

Compton Parents Petition to Take Over Chronically Failing Public School Through 'Parent Trigger' Law, Send Shock Waves Throughout the Nation

​UPDATE: L.A. Weekly readers sound off on yesterday's Parent Trigger, no charter school has been approved at Compton Unified. After break. UPDATE: Compton Unified School District Acting Superintendent Karen Frison releases statement about today's Parent Trigger. After break. UPDATE: Governo ... More >>

Forever Scared: Ten Years After Winning His Freedom, Herman Atkins Still Fears That He Will Again Be Convicted of a Crime He Did Not Commit

Compton's Quagmire