I reported earlier this week that Anaheim City School District Superintendent Linda Wagner had signed and sent a letter – and recorded a robocall — that were thinly-disguised attempts to dissuade parents of Palm Lane Elementary students from signing a petition to convert the school to charter status. I had assumed parents had received via the United States Postal Service.
I learned today that instead of being delivered by the mail man, Wagner’s letter was delivered by school children. That means Palm Lane Elementary parents who have been donating their time and energy to gathering signatures for their petition, in the face of hostility from the school district, were treated to their own children bringing home a district communication aimed at undermining their efforts.
I was taken aback to hear that, although I shouldn’t be. I was an active volunteer in the 1993 school voucher initiative campaign, and school children were routinely used by the public school establishment to deliver anti-prop. 174 campaign messaging to their parents.
Meeting with the OC District Attorney
Leaders of the Palm Lane Elementary charter school petition drive took the matter to the OC District Attorney’s office, meeting on Monday with District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Senior Assistant DA Mike Lubinski. I was told the DA’s office is going to look into the matter to determine if the ASCD violated state’s Parent Trigger Law and what legal remedies are available if that is the case.
