Press Advisory

For more information please contact:

Daniela Gonzalez
Communications Director
626.340.5460
PARENT LEADERS TO MEET IN ANAHEIM TO DISCUSS PARENT TRIGGER
LAW, PARENT LEADERSHIP TO TURN AROUND FAILING SCHOOLS UNDER
HISTORIC LEGISLATION
Parent leaders from Anaheim will meet this Saturday, November 15th with Senate Minority
Leader Bob Huff, Senator Gloria Romero (Ret), Connecticut Parent Union President, Gwen
Samuel, and Doreen Diaz, Desert Trails School Adelanto, in order to discuss strategies for
turning around chronically underperforming schools.
The meeting will take place this Saturday, November 15th, from 3-4 pm at Centennial
Park 3000 W Edinger Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Anaheim parents are currently organizing to convert their elementary school, Palm Lane, into
an independent public charter school. Palm Lane has been a state-identified
underperforming school for ten years and is the lowest performing school in the Anaheim
City School District. District Trustee Jose F. Moreno has consistently blocked the efforts of
the parents right to use the Parent Empowerment Act ("Parent Trigger") law to transform the
school, resulting in his defeat for election to the Anaheim City Council in last week's
elections. His loss, in particular, has underscored the growing powerful voting bloc of
parents seeking greater school choice options and educational quality for their children.
Gwen Samuel founded the CT Parent Union and worked to pass a version of California's
Parent Trigger law in her state. She has authored the book, "Game On, Parents!" as a
guidebook for parents organizing to bring change to chronically underperforming schools.
Senator Romero (Ret) is the Founder and Strategic Planner of the California Center for
Parent Empowerment which is dedicated to teaching parents about the Parent Empowerment
Act which provides unique, historic parental choice options in public education. She
authored the groundbreaking law in 2010.
Doreen Diaz was a lead organizer in Adelanto Desert Trails School movement and
successfully led the drive to become the first parents to convert their underperforming school
into a charter school under the law.
Parent leaders from the Anaheim area will join them in a discussion of ideas, strategies and
building the Parent Rights movement nationally.