South Gate parents got active in 2004 when the Los Angeles Unified School District decided to add a fourth track—and more students—to overcrowded schools. Schools were already open year-round, with kids on two tracks in class and the third on vacation.

South Gate had some of the nation’s most overcrowded schools, says Mary Johnson, mother of four and CEO of Parent-U-Turn. And students had fewer—but longer—school days than in other districts, she says, which meant less time for lessons to sink in. “Our kids are never going to pass the tests when they haven’t had as (many days) in the classroom,” she adds.

Parent-U-Turn spearheaded a campaign by parents, teachers, and community members to get rid of the year-round system. Nearly all South Gate schools are now on a traditional school year for the first time in 25 years.

Parents unite

Guadalupe Aguilar, mother of three, says she got involved “when I saw how few Hispanics or blacks there are at UCLA, where my son goes.” The track system “was hard, a lot of families could not take vacations together,” she adds.

Parents organized, using a range of strategies:

• Thinking strategically: Parents began their campaign at Stanford Elementary because there was a strong, supportive PTA and Johnson knew the administrators.

• Speaking out: “We publicized a (school board) meeting where they were going to discuss the issue and organized four busloads of parents and teachers” to tell the board to end the track system, recalls Johnson.

• Talking with other parents: Parents, community members, and teachers made fliers and asked parents each morning to register their kids only for Track A, the traditional school year.

• Reaching out: On weekends, parents with a blow-horn would invite community members to listen to parents talk about the issue.

• Organizing a boycott: Seventy-five percent of Stanford students stayed home for a day as part of their parents’ “message to the school board,” says Johnson.

• Taking to the streets: Parents and teachers organized a march the day of the boycott, says Johnson. Community members offered food, held up signs, and cheered the marchers.

Schools return to traditional school year

After parent protests, the school board at first decided to keep three tracks but not add a fourth. Parents threatened to boycott again, and in fall 2005 first Stanford and then seven other South Gate schools moved to a traditional school year.

The parents “definitely drew attention to the issue,” says school board member David Tokofsky, but adds the board already planned to make the school year longer to meet new state requirements. The change was also possible, he says, because enrollment had dropped and the district was building new schools.

But parents say their activism made change happen. “Everyone can come together,” says Johnson. “Two or three people know four or five people and so on. That can start a movement.”

“Now families (have) more confidence to say when they don’t agree with something,” adds Aguilar.

• Parent-U-Turn, 323-564-6545