Starting Thursday evening, the Orleans Parish School Board will participate in a retreat and training session run by the Center for Reform of School Systems. The training is being funded by the education advocacy group Stand for Children; taxpayers are paying for travel and lodging in Houston.

The training will focus on team-building and the proper roles of board and committee meetings.

The New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance will live-stream the retreat; The Lens will live-blog it. The retreat begins with a dinner presentation at 7 p.m. Thursday. Things get underway at 9 a.m. Friday.

Friday live blog

Thursday evening live blog

Jessica Williams stays on top of the city's loosely organized collection of public schools, with a special emphasis on charter schools. In 2011 she was recognized by the Press Club of New Orleans for her...