The union in CA is up to its usual dirty tricks – they will stop at NOTHING to make sure that parents don't have the power to force change at failing schools, regardless of what the Parent Trigger law says:

Parents who lost their initial bid to reform a low-performing school in the Mojave Desert are requesting a criminal investigation into allegedly fraudulent documents submitted to the school district that helped scuttle their petition.

Lawyers for the Desert Trails Parent Union sent letters to the district, the San Bernardino County district attorney and sheriff's department this week, days after the group's petition seeking to reform Desert Trails Elementary School was rejected by the Adelanto Elementary School District because 97 parents revoked their signatures.

"There is disturbing evidence that the revocations submitted here were secured through a campaign of fraud, harassment, intimidation and, in some cases, outright forgery," stated attorney Mark Holscher in the letter to the district sent late Monday.

Parents will ask the school board to reverse its decision at its Wednesday night meeting, Holscher said in a news conference Tuesday. If the board does not reconsider, he will request that a Superior Court judge order the board to do so.

"They made a decision based on fraud," said Holscher, of Los Angeles law firm Kirkland & Ellis, which is representing the parents free of charge.

Parents discovered two signature revocation documents that appear to be tampered with and now question whether more of the 97 revocations were also doctored, said Patrick Detemple, organizing director of Parent Revolution, a nonprofit group that is spearheading parent-led school reform.

In addition, Detemple said he found 27 other rescission documents with other improprieties, including no signature, signatures by people with no children at the school, or signed by the spouse of the original petition signer.

If those rescissions are invalidated, the petition would surpass the required 50 percent threshold.

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