By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

ADELANTO, Calif. – The rule of law doesn’t seem to matter to the Adelanto Elementary school board.

On Friday night, the board voted 3-1 to defy San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Steve Malone’s recent ruling that requires the district’s Desert Trails Elementary School to be converted into a charter school, as requested by a majority of the school’s parents.

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“(The) Adelanto School District and Adelanto School District Board of Trustees are hereby commanded to … allow Petitioners to immediately begin the process of soliciting and selecting charter school proposals,” reads Judge Malone’s July 18 ruling.

The Desert Trails families were exercising their legal rights under California’s new “parent trigger” law, which allows a majority of parents with students at any chronically failing public school to force radical changes – ranging from the replacement of staff and administrators to transforming it into a charter school. More than 75 percent of Desert Trails Elementary students cannot read or perform math problems at grade level, according to media reports.

Last Friday, the board accepted the parents’ petitions, but then quickly concluded “there was insufficient time to start (a charter school) up for the current school year,” and cited language in California’s parent trigger law that permits school officials to reject “overhaul proposals they cannot implement,” reports the Los Angeles Times.

The board’s reasoning that it lacks sufficient time to pursue charter school proposals is especially offensive, considering that Desert Trails parents first submitted their overhaul petition in mid-January. If the board had complied with the law back then, there would have been plenty of time to find a suitable charter school provider.

Instead, the board decided to fight the parents every inch of the way. On two separate occasions, the board rejected parents’ petitions, citing validity concerns.

Worse, the Adelanto Elementary school board “waited until 8:00 p.m. on Friday August 17 to announce its decision, the last day of the 30-day response period required by law,” reads a press release from the Parent Revolution, a group dedicated to passing and enforcing the parent trigger law.

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By dragging its feet, the board managed to outmaneuver parents – at least temporarily.

“It’s done. It’s over,” school board President Carlos Mendoza said of the parent trigger process, according to the L.A. Times.

Instead of following the wishes of parents, the board has ruled that they will “reform the school instead by forming a community advisory council to oversee such improvements as an extended school day, new curriculum, more technology, school progress reports and a school site coach,” reports the Times.

“Teachers will be asked to pledge support for the reforms in commitment letters; those who choose not to sign may move to another school. The council, which will be composed of teachers, administrators, parents and community members, will report directly to the school superintendent and school board.”

The Desert Trails Parent Union is promising to fight the board’s obvious disregard for the law.

“This decision will have legal consequences for the district, and we are prepared to use all available legal remedies to make sure Judge Malone’s order is followed,” Mark Holscher, legal counsel for the parent petitioners, said in a press release.

Ben Austin, executive director of the pro-parent trigger group Parent Revolution, described the board’s action as a “bump-in-the-road rather than a roadblock.”

“(The parents’) focus is on abiding by the law, following the judge’s order, and doing what is right for their kids at Desert Trails,” Austin said in a prepared statement. “They will not be deterred.”