Orleans Parish schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis will host his sixth town-hall meeting tonight at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School in Broadmoor.
The Lens will live blog it here.
Lewis will be joined by 5th District School Board member Seth Bloom.
Lewis has already held meetings in most of the city’s seven school board districts. He’s said before that this won’t be the only time he tours the districts.
Last week, Algiers residents asked if neighborhood schools now overseen by the Recovery School District would return to the Orleans Parish School Board, and at the town hall on Oct. 22, the public asked Lewis how he would help schools carry on pre-Katrina tradition and legacy and how he would expand high-performing schools.
The School Board oversees 24 schools. Most of the rest of the city’s public schools are controlled by the state-run Recovery School District which took over failing schools in the fall of 2005.
Lewis said he’s met with one Recovery School District charter board and will likely meet with more in the coming months as school scores are released and RSD charters learn whether they meet academic eligibility requirements to return. Four RSD ninth- through 12th-grade high schools are eligible, but elementary, middle and combination school scores will not be released until December.
At his meeting with board member Cynthia Cade, Lewis suggested a common start date for schools to make scheduling easier on parents.
Lewis has been starting the meetings with a 20-minute presentation that draws from a presentation he gave to the public early in October about his first 180 days as superintendent. After the presentation Lewis will take questions and comments from the public.
Lewis said a meeting with the city’s 1st District representative will be scheduled in December. Current board member John Brown Sr., is running for election against Keith Barney, a race to be decided Nov. 21. Brown was appointed to the seat vacated by Ira Thomas who pleaded guilty to taking a bribe to rig a contract this spring.
Tonight’s meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Andrew H. Wilson Charter School at 3617 Gen. Pershing St.