First Successful Parent-Triggered Charter School Takeover Gets Underway

Public elementary school in Adelanto, Calif., will have new operators

Won't Back Down may have bombed at the box office, but the movement that inspired it appears to be inches away from its first victory in California.

Parents in Adelanto, after fighting their own school district for months, have finally gotten clearance from a judge to select a charter school system to take over failing Desert Trails Elementary. Via The Sun in San Bernardino:

The charter school chosen by a group of parent activists to take over their failing High Desert school will be announced this week, just days after a judge ordered a High Desert school district to stop thwarting their efforts.

Parents of students at Desert Trails Elementary School have been fighting Adelanto Elementary School District, attempting to turn things around at a school where three-quarters of students are unable to read or write, according to state test scores.

The group became the first to successfully use the 2010 California "parent trigger" law, which allows parents to force sweeping changes on their schools.

District officials have fought them every step of the way, but on Friday, Victorville Superior Court Judge John Vander Feer ordered AESD to allow Desert Trails Parent Union to transform the school into a charter school in the 2013-14 school year.

Parents are looking at two charter school operators in the area and will be announcing their decision Thursday.

More Reason coverage of parent-triggered charter school attempted takeovers here.