Brinker urges Grand Terrace parents to play hardball

Third Ward Councilman Tobin Brinker says he as asking parents who are upset about the name of a nearby school district's new high school should make their voices heard by refusing to allow their children to take standardized tests.

Brinker's gambit follows the Colton Joint Unified School District's decision to name a new school within the city of Grand Terrace in honor of retired school board member Ray Abril. Many parents whose children would attend the new school wanted the campus to be named Grand Terrace High School.

If parents do as Brinker recommends, and their children do not take the state-issued STAR tests, the district's overall performance on the standardized tests could suffer. Accordingly, the threat of parents refusing to let their children take the tests could create pressure for the board to reconsider the new high school's name.

"(It) lets them feel they have something they can do," Brinker said in a telephone interview.

"My hope is they'll (school board members) make this decision not because of the pressure, but because it's the right thing to do," he also said.

Brinker is a former Colton Joint Unified board member and a Rialto Unified School District teacher. Some families in southern San Bernardino send their children to schools in that district.

School district spokeswoman Katie Orloff said the school board has scheduled another discussion on the new high school's name for its Thursday meeting.

The campus is under construction, Brinker has proposed that the district could please the parents and honor Abril by naming a prominent structure on the high school in Abril's honor.