The Algiers Charter School Association plans to update the public next week on the 6-school network’s search for a new CEO, which drew 22 qualified applicants.
Board Chairman John Edwards said details should be finalized Monday, and board members were tentatively planning on a Wednesday meeting to publicly discuss the issue.
The Algiers charter group has been run by interim CEO Rene Lewis-Carter, promoted from elementary principal, since mid-January when the board took the unusual step of appointing Lewis-Carter before firing then-CEO Adrian Morgan. The board made both moves official with votes at a later meeting.
A few weeks later nola.com | The Times-Picayune revealed the network had conducted a monthslong investigation into cheating at its flagship high school. Morgan had ordered testing monitors to observe state testing after what he thought were suspiciously high results in 2013-14. With monitors in place during 2014-15 state testing, Landry-Walker High School scores dropped.
After the story ran, the network suspended four administrators with pay. Three of those four administrators did not show up on the final April payroll.
At the board’s regular meeting Wednesday night, Edwards said the network received 77 applications for the CEO vacancy. Of those, he said 22 applicants met the minimum criteria, which included certain levels of educational attainment and experience.
“Every board member has received a packet of resumes,” Edwards said, referring to the 22 qualified applicants.
A Lens reporter requested those resumes after the meeting and was directed by Adams and Reese Attorney Mark Beebe to submit the request in writing. The reporter submitted the request in writing to Beebe and via email at the meeting to the network’s spokeswoman. The Lens is awaiting response.
Lewis-Carter also announced that the network’s four elementary schools would move to the same curriculum.
Board members, Lewis-Carter, and spokeswoman Tammi Griffin-Major, would not comment on longtime Landry-Walker High School principal Mary Laurie’s departure from the payrolls. Laurie had been on paid administrative leave since mid-February after a cheating investigation.
Lewis-Carter said she could not comment because she said the matter was an “HR issue.”