Mayoral Candidate Kevin James and Education Reformers Speak Out About Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel's Silence on Parent Trigger

Patrick Range McDonald:

After Los Angeles Unified School District board members approved a Parent Trigger earlier this week, mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel refused to comment on the historic vote, which allows parents to take over a chronically failing elementary school in West Adams.

Now mayoral candidate Kevin James and two Parent Trigger heavyweights are speaking out about that silence -- and Garcetti and Greuel's commitment to education reform is being questioned. With an alarming 21 percent dropout rate at L.A. Unified, it's no small matter.

On Tuesday, L.A. Unified board members approved the first Parent Trigger to take place in the district, which is the second largest public school system in the United States. The Parent Trigger is a California law that allows parents to institute changes at a chronically failing school through petition.

In this case, parents sought to bring reform to 24th Street Elementary School in West Adams, which serves mostly poor Latino students.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 22, 2013 1:34 AM
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