Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/649572
Adelanto: Teachers Relive Trigger Tragedy In 2011, there were rumblings at Desert Trails Elementary School that the principal, on the verge of termination, wanted to "take down" the school on his way out, and was working with Parent Revolution to influence parents to sign petitions to turn the school into a privately run charter. He held private meetings with staff to ask if they were "on the bus" or not. Adelanto District Teachers Association members Angela Kutch and Rebecca Bykoski felt threatened. No, they said, as union mem- bers they were definitely not on the bus. The principal was eventually ousted. Staff united, worried about their school. Parents demanded the school provide up-to-date technology, aer-school clubs and new programs for students. Teachers, operating in a leadership vacuum and with- out financial resources, were about to start aer-school programs on their own and had implemented a new reading program when they heard the trigger had been pulled. Parent Revolution outsiders began attending PTA meetings. Teachers tried to explain to local parents that Parent Revo- lution intended to close the school and reopen it as a charter. Parents countered that it wasn't true; their petition signatures only meant they were getting a free com- puter, as Parent Revolution promised. Parent Revolution convinced some parents to turn against the school. Some of their children arrived at school wearing Parent Revolution T-shirts. "A first-grader told me, 'I don't have to listen to you. My mom is taking over the school,'" recalls Bykoski. Parent turned against parent. Those who supported the trigger taunted parents who didn't in the parking lot. TV cameras were constantly trained on the school. Students fought in the playground over the issue. A new, supportive principal was hired in 2012. He gave pep talks. Sometimes staff cried and prayed together over student desks aer work. Especially frustrating was hearing out- right lies and being unable to speak the truth. Kutch recalls parents standing in front of the school telling the media that their children were "failing." In reality, she says, their children were proficient or advanced based on test scores, but teachers were bound by confidentiality not to discuss chil- dren's achievement levels. On the last day of school in 2013, kids sobbed and hugged their teachers good- bye. Parent Revolution staff went around classrooms taking pictures to make sure educators didn't "steal" things. The school was converted into a charter. Looking back, Bykoski wishes teachers had stood up to the paid organizers of Parent Revolution more strongly. There was a feeling, she says, that the situation would blow over and that at the last minute, the school would be saved. Parent Revolution knew exactly what it was doing, says Kutch. "They picked a location that was remote with a school district that was caught off guard and not savvy enough to really under- stand what Parent Revolution was about. There were many uneducated, misguided parents living in a tough economy where lots of foreclosures were happening. It was a perfect storm for the trigger to be pulled." Both Kutch and Bykoski now teach at other Adelanto schools and have tried to put the nightmare behind them. But it's easier said than done. "It still hurts my heart talking about it," says Bykoski. "It divided our parents, our students and our community. I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy." judge ruled that parents could not revoke their signatures. So Adelanto became the nation's first successful (at least from a legal standpoint) parent trigger effort. The school reopened in Fall 2013 as a charter run by a private operator. It was not feasible for teachers to stay for the transition, as they would have had to resign from the district — losing their salary and benefits — and be hired as new teachers with the charter. (See sidebar above.) By the end of the new charter's first year, the majority of its new teachers left amid complaints of bullying by the site administrator, inadequate resources, failure to follow through on promises made in the charter proposal, and the complete abandonment of noncore subjects in an effort to artificially raise test scores in reading and math. In November 2015, the Adelanto School District announced it would not be renewing the charter over numerous administrative and compliance issues. e school has appealed. T H E F U T U R E O F PA R E N T T R I G G E R In February 2015, the Anaheim City School District rejected trigger petitions for Palm Lane Elementary School. It appears the law has outlived its own regulations and rules. A school becomes eligible for parent trigger when it falls below 800 on the state's Academic Performance Index (API) and fails Teachers Rebecca Bykoski and Angela Kutch by their former school's sign. Bykoski says, "I wouldn't wish parent trigger on my worst enemy." 27 March 2016