Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.
Students and their parents rally for a new charter school
Sometimes it takes a rally to get things done.
Nearly 200 parents and their children from Bright Star Stella and Bright Star Secondary gathered on Saturday to campaign for a new charter school in West Adams. The families have identified an abandoned facility that they want turned into a new school that would house all of the students under one roof.
Why a rally? The local West Adams neighborhood council has so far ignored their request, keeping the building vacant. So parents gathered to vote for new neighborhood council members who would support their campaign. The result: four candidates who support the new school were elected to the neighborhood council, and a fifth was re-elected.
“This was a monumental victory for parents,” said Bennie Tinson, of the California Charters Schools Association (CCSA), which helped organize the effort. “This was the first time many of our parents had ever voted.”
Area parents are now expecting plans for the school to move forward. “Our parents sent a very clear and loud message that it’s important to elect people who support quality schools in our community,” said Tinson.