Five East Bay schools want to secede from Mt. Diablo school district

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- A campaign is underway in the East Bay to have five schools secede from the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and it has led to a nasty social media battle over local control versus diversity.

News Proponents of a new district collected 6,000 signatures on petitions, so that the proposed split will now go before the county this Spring. Then, the state later this year and ultimately could end up on the ballot in 2018.

Mt. Diablo Unified School district's superintendent declined to go on camera, but said this week they adopted a resolution to oppose the schools trying to leave the district.

"It's not at all in the best interest of the district to allow this to continue. It's unfortunately so divisive and negative," Voice of School board member Cheryl Hansen said.

Some teachers say the digs on social media have gotten personal as the war over spinning off a new school district accelerates.