From: NBC Los Angeles

Compton parents won their first victory in court Thursday as they battle the Compton Unified School District to establish a charter school at a low-performing elementary school.

The parents filed a lawsuit against the district after the district demanded signature verification on a petition seeking to turn McKinley Elementary into a charter school. Lawyers for the parents used a new law known as Parent Trigger to try to force the issue because McKinley ranks in the bottom 10 percent of all schools in the state.

Under this law, if 50 percent of parents sign a petition, the low-performing school must be transformed.At McKinley, 61 percent of the parents signed the petition and the district fought back allegedly putting pressure on parents to take back their signatures.

On Thursday, the pro-bono attorneys representing the parents went to court seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the district from requiring signature verification on the petition.

The lawyers claimed the requirement violates the Parent Trigger law and the parents’ constitutional rights.

The judge granted the restraining order, although the district issued a statement late Thursday afternoon that claimed the district is confident its position will be upheld and it will be allowed to proceed with signature verification.

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