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   they are no longer dealing with the average parent that just   
   drops off their kids at school,” said Cynthia Ramirez, leader of   
   the Desert Trails Parent Union, the group that led the trigger   
   effort and a parent of two children at Desert Trails. “Now   
   they’re dealing with a community that’s engaged. They’re dealing   
   with parents that will actually stand up and do something about   
   it.”   
      
   The district now offers a free nine-week class designed to teach   
   low-income and immigrant parents how to navigate the public   
   school system. Nearly 400 parents graduated from the Parent   
   Institute for Quality Education course last spring. DeBlieux   
   convenes a parents’ superintendent council each month, when she   
   discusses issues with two parent representatives per school.   
      
   “That type of engagement is what this movement is all about,”   
   said Derrick Everett, spokesman for Parent Revolution. “If our   
   working with parents pushes districts to engage more with   
   parents, to provide them with more access to resources, then   
   that is a win.”   
      
   At risk of losing state funding to the charter conversion, the   
   district offered parents more options. Just as the Desert Trails   
   charter school opened in July, the school board voted to open   
   its boundaries, so that students can attend any school parents   
   choose in the district. “We want YOU,” the old Desert Trails   
   district website says, urging parents to follow their former   
   principal, David Mobley, to West Creek Elementary four miles   
   away with free busing, or to choose another district-run school.   
      
   “I’m going to be honest: I want all my kids to come to me   
   because I believe, as we continue to train teachers, we are   
   providing the education they deserve,” said DeBlieux, who took   
   the district’s helm at the end of the trigger battle. “We want   
   you. We are making a difference. We are a whole new team.”   
      
   The new Desert Trails has 552 students, including about 380   
   students who attended the school last year. Students wear   
   uniforms and are referred to as “scholars.” The new curriculum   
   includes an emphasis on the classics and Latin, and class sizes   
   are no larger than 25 students. The school has a longer year and   
   extended days but only four days of school a week, with   
   professional development for teachers on Fridays.   
      
   All 26 teachers are new to the school. They use an educational   
   model called scaffolding, which aims to teach students at their   
   own pace, letting the best students move on more quickly to   
   higher-level work. Four teachers have moved from a nearby   
   charter school operated by the same company to mentor the rest   
   of the faculty. A full-time mentor also rotates between the two   
   schools.   
      
   Desert Trails’ former teachers, who would have had to reapply   
   for a job there and surrender their union benefits, have been   
   reassigned to other district schools. Every former teacher who   
   wanted a unionized position was offered one, the district says,   
   though they’d previously been issued temporary pink slips in   
   case the district couldn’t afford to do so.   
      
   “It left a bitter taste in a lot of Adelanto teachers,” said   
   Adelanto District Teachers Association President Hector   
   Anderson. “They didn’t know where they were going to go, whether   
   they would have jobs.”   
      
   Parent volunteer participation is up, the new school leaders   
   say. The Desert Trails Parent Union still has about 40 members   
   and continues to meet weekly, and eventually a parent is   
   supposed to be appointed to serve on the school’s board of   
   directors.   
      
   “Without their parents, students are not going to be   
   successful,” said Desert Trails teacher Elfie Landa, who was   
   pleased to see 100 percent of her kindergartners’ parents show   
   up on time for the last round of parent-teacher conferences.   
      
   Tarver said she has an open-door policy for parents, and most of   
   her staff is bilingual, an asset to parents who don’t speak much   
   English. Nearly 30 percent of students at the school are English   
   learners.   
      
   Asked to explain what they like about the overhauled Desert   
   Trails, some parents cite a more welcoming environment and   
   better relationships with teachers. “You can just feel it,”   
   several parents said on a recent afternoon as they waited in   
   their cars at the student pick-up zone.   
      
   “The classrooms are completely changed—they’re motivating and   
   positive,” Ramirez said. “The minute that you walk in there,   
   it’s a different environment. As soon as you see these teachers,   
   you see the politeness, you see the kindness, you see the   
   respect.”   
      
   Charlene Booth, who has a 6-year-old daughter at the school,   
   said she likes her child’s teacher and appreciates the   
   consistent behavior policy at the new Desert Trails. Her   
   daughter earns a colored sticker each day that marks how well   
   she’s behaved: Green means great; blue means a child acted up   
   enough to be sent home early.  (No students have been suspended   
   or expelled since the school opened in late July, Tarver said.)   
      
   Some community members question whether the parent trigger was   
   the only way to bring about those changes.   
      
   “It put a wedge between the parents and the community,” said   
   Adelanto School Board Trustee Christine Turner. She believes the   
   campaign was distracting, making it harder on teachers to   
   improve student achievement. She pointed to Desert Trails   
   dropping 52 points on its Academic Performance Index score in   
   the 2012-2013 school year. “You can’t do business like that; you   
   can’t teach like that.”   
      
   At least one former Parent Revolution supporter has now turned   
   against the advocacy group. Joe Morales, who has two children   
   attending Desert Trails, accused the nonprofit organizers of   
   promising parents money, help with obtaining citizenship, lavish   
   trips to make speaking appearances, and even a movie deal for   
   their work. He said those alleged incentives, which he can’t   
   prove, were dangled before parents around Hollywood’s release of   
   Won’t Back Down, a fictional movie starring Maggie Gyllenhaal.   
   The talk of money and fame died down once it was clear the movie   
   was a box-office flop, Morales said.   
      
   Parent Revolution flatly denies making any financial promises to   
   parents in exchange for their support. The nonprofit is open   
   about funding the Desert Trails petition campaign, including   
   leasing a five-bedroom home to serve as the parent union’s   
   headquarters. Two paid Parent Revolution staffers are mothers   
   from parent-trigger campaigns, including Doreen Diaz, a Desert   
   Trails parent whose son has now gone on to middle school. Parent   
   Revolution now has 33 staffers and a $4.5 million 2014 budget,   
   financed by major education reform players such as the Bill &   
   Melinda Gates, Walton Family, and Wasserman foundations. (The   
   Gates and Wasserman foundations are among the funders of The   
   Hechinger Report.)   
      
   “There’s not one shred of evidence to indicate anything other   
   than we’ve been working by the book,” said Everett, the Parent   
   Revolution spokesman. “There is more scrutiny on our small   
   organization than any comparable nonprofit that I know of. Over   
   time the actual success on the ground will serve as a   
   counterpoint to any wild conspiracies that are out there, and it   
   will be less about Parent Revolution and more about the role   
   that parents play in changing their children’s futures.”   
      
   Allegations made about activists on both sides of the trigger   
   debate at other schools prompted the Los Angeles Unified School   
   Board to adopt parent trigger guidelines to ensure future   
   campaigns are transparent, and to prohibit either side from   
      
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