Oct 12 2012: Randy, Thanks for sparking such an engaged and interesting conversation. Like I said, I don't usually engage in comment threads about Parent Trigger, but I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of this conversation, and I also LOVE Ted. In answer to your two questions:
1. Parent Trigger is NOT about parents running schools. I am a pretty sophisticated parent, my daughter attends public school, and I would not want to run her school. Parent Trigger is about giving power to parents who are trapped in failing schools. Sometimes that power can manifest in the parents bringing in new staff and leadership, sometimes it can manifest in parents bringing in a high quality non-profit charter operator to transform their school, and sometimes it can manifest in parents having a seat at the table with the power players who make all the big decisions. Without Parent Trigger, when it's time for the big decisions to be made, teachers unions and district bureaucrats kick the parents out of the room and tell them to do a bakesale (especially low income and sometimes undocumented parents). But they can't do that with parent trigger. They have to listen, because if parents are organized, they have the power to basically fire the district. Parents can't do this alone -- they need partners. They need good administrators, good principals, and good teachers. But parents also need power because they have different interests and different incentive structures than everyone else.
2. As for Michigan, I wrote an op ed in Detroit Free Press a few weeks ago opposing the Michigan Parent Trigger bill because it doesn't explicitly ban for-profit charter operators from participating in Parent Trigger transformations. Michigan is one of the few states that has a big for-profit charter community, and I don't think profit has any place in public education or parent empowerment.
Thanks again for sparking such an edifying debate, and thanks to the Ted community for being so awesome!
Oct 9 2012: I usually don't engage on comment strings about Parent Trigger, but I have so much respect (reverence??) for the Ted crowd that I wanted to weigh in and clear up some misconceptions. I invented Parent Trigger. I am executive director of a non-profit organization called Parent Revolution which invented, passed into law and is now implementing the Parent Trigger.
My background is much more in progressive politics than it is in education reform. The idea behind Parent Trigger is rooted in power. I have worked in lots of different levels of government -- the Clinton White House, Deputy Mayor in Los Angeles, and I recently served on the California State Board of Education. But I have come to recognize the system as currently conceived resists change. And if our goal is to make our public education system serve the interests of our children, then we have to recognize that kids-first sounds innocuous, but is a radical proposition. Teachers unions and district bureaucracies of course care about kids, but parents have different incentive structures and a different sense of urgency.
That's what Parent Trigger stands for: giving parents some power over the education of their own children.
The parents of Desert Trails elementary are the only parents in America to win a Parent Trigger campaign. They are trapped in a horrible school that nobody at Ted would ever send their own kids to. And it's getting worse, not better. So the parents organized into a Parents Union. They tried to negotiate with their district for a reform union contract and other reforms with the district. The district rejected them. So the parents organized 70% of the parents to sign a Parent Trigger petition to convert their school into a non-profit charter school. The district and union struck back at the parents, bullying them, and even using their immigration status against them. Eventually the parents won in court.
Parent Trigger isn't the whole solution. But Parents must have power.
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A reply on Conversation: Is it right for parents to takeover schools? Should "parent trigger" laws give families the ability to take over and manage schools?
1. Parent Trigger is NOT about parents running schools. I am a pretty sophisticated parent, my daughter attends public school, and I would not want to run her school. Parent Trigger is about giving power to parents who are trapped in failing schools. Sometimes that power can manifest in the parents bringing in new staff and leadership, sometimes it can manifest in parents bringing in a high quality non-profit charter operator to transform their school, and sometimes it can manifest in parents having a seat at the table with the power players who make all the big decisions. Without Parent Trigger, when it's time for the big decisions to be made, teachers unions and district bureaucrats kick the parents out of the room and tell them to do a bakesale (especially low income and sometimes undocumented parents). But they can't do that with parent trigger. They have to listen, because if parents are organized, they have the power to basically fire the district. Parents can't do this alone -- they need partners. They need good administrators, good principals, and good teachers. But parents also need power because they have different interests and different incentive structures than everyone else.
2. As for Michigan, I wrote an op ed in Detroit Free Press a few weeks ago opposing the Michigan Parent Trigger bill because it doesn't explicitly ban for-profit charter operators from participating in Parent Trigger transformations. Michigan is one of the few states that has a big for-profit charter community, and I don't think profit has any place in public education or parent empowerment.
Thanks again for sparking such an edifying debate, and thanks to the Ted community for being so awesome!
Ben
A comment on Conversation: Is it right for parents to takeover schools? Should "parent trigger" laws give families the ability to take over and manage schools?
My background is much more in progressive politics than it is in education reform. The idea behind Parent Trigger is rooted in power. I have worked in lots of different levels of government -- the Clinton White House, Deputy Mayor in Los Angeles, and I recently served on the California State Board of Education. But I have come to recognize the system as currently conceived resists change. And if our goal is to make our public education system serve the interests of our children, then we have to recognize that kids-first sounds innocuous, but is a radical proposition. Teachers unions and district bureaucracies of course care about kids, but parents have different incentive structures and a different sense of urgency.
That's what Parent Trigger stands for: giving parents some power over the education of their own children.
The parents of Desert Trails elementary are the only parents in America to win a Parent Trigger campaign. They are trapped in a horrible school that nobody at Ted would ever send their own kids to. And it's getting worse, not better. So the parents organized into a Parents Union. They tried to negotiate with their district for a reform union contract and other reforms with the district. The district rejected them. So the parents organized 70% of the parents to sign a Parent Trigger petition to convert their school into a non-profit charter school. The district and union struck back at the parents, bullying them, and even using their immigration status against them. Eventually the parents won in court.
Parent Trigger isn't the whole solution. But Parents must have power.