Charter School Board

Choice Foundation

Choice Foundation investigated cheating accusation at Lafayette Academy

Officials at Lafayette Academy charter school, whose academic scores have more than doubled in the past five years, acknowledged investigating a cheating allegation on the state’s annual standardized test earlier this year, but decided it was unsubstantiated. It’s hard to know what happened, however, because the school board has refused to provide details.

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Disruptive students expelled; RSD and city offer "no help" on safety issues

At its monthly board meeting the Choice Foundation unanimously voted to remain under the Recovery School District and not return to the Orleans Parish School Board at the end of the 2012–13 school year. The Choice board governs Lafayette Academy, which was one of more than a dozen schools eligible to move under the oversight of the Orleans Parish School Board following a period of academic improvement.

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Money, control and perception are keys as charters consider switch to Orleans Parish School Board

board and schools

From left, Martin Behrman, Arthur Ashe and KIPP Believe are three campuses that are likely to be eligible to return to the oversight of the Orleans Parish School Board, above. Photo by Jessica Williams

Several more independent charter school leaders soon will find themselves facing a question that several others, including Sophie B. Wright Charter School’s principal, have been grappling with for more than a year: Should we move back under the wing of the Orleans Parish School Board?

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Treme Charter School Assoc. withdraws, citing progress, but not enough of it

On Wednesday afternoon, in a corner of the East New Orleans Public Library, the Treme Charter School Association held their final board meeting, ending a five-year struggle by the community group to upgrade a troubled elementary school. “Looking back we needed more money and more time,” said former board president Rosalyn Smith.

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Questions arise in handover of power over McDonogh 42 Elementary

As president of the Tremé Charter School Association’s board of directors, Roslyn Smith is used to overseeing the faculty and staff of McDonogh 42, an open enrollment, public charter school educating students from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade with almost 450 students an enrollment  in 2011-2012 of 527 students. But as of July 1, she found herself in charge of only a skeleton staff managing the handover of the school to another charter school management organization, the Choice Foundation.

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Choice Foundation board discusses plans to take over McDonogh 42

Choice Foundation, the charter management organization that currently runs Lafayette Academy and Esperanza Charter schools, discussed its takeover of McDonogh 42 at its June 29 board meeting. Choice’s Executive Director Mickey Landry cautioned the board that the upcoming year would be one of “massive change.”

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Treme Charter School Association cancels board meeting

The Treme Charter School Association, which up through the 2011-2012 school year ran the McDonogh 42 Elementary School, announced June 20, 2012 that it will not hold its July board meeting.  It is unclear if the association will continue to function now that Choice Foundation plans to take over control of McDonogh 42.

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Choice School budget documents

These documents cover the 2011-2012 Mid-Year revisions here, the actual budgets as of the end of April here, and the DRAFT budget for 2012-2013 here.

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Treme charter group terminates 45 employees; all employees to leave by August

At its May meeting, the board that now runs McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter School ratified the termination of 45 of the closing charter’s employees, voting to extend employment through the summer months for only eight employees. The charter operator that oversees the school, the Treme Charter School Association, did not have its charter renewed for the 2012-2013 school year.

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McDonogh 42 delays move until 2013; test score results show gains

McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter School, the Choice Foundation’s soon-to-be acquired charter, will remain at its current location for the 2012-2013 school year, the Choice Foundation’s board announced at a second May gathering. McDonogh will be under the control of its current charter operator, the Treme Charter School Association, until July.

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BESE reviews capital projects, Early Head Start monitoring

Educators and officials mingle at Wednesday night's BESE meeting in New Orleans. Photo by Jessica Williams.

Construction of four new schoolhouses should be completed as classes resume in August, education officials announced Wednesday night, but modular buildings are ready just in case. Capital projects, including ground-up school construction, highlighted Wednesday night’s meeting in New Orleans of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

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Board meeting agenda released

The content of tomorrow’s board meeting agenda is reprinted below:

REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING

The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Treme Charter School Association will be held
Thursday, May 31, 2012 at 3:00 P.M. in the McDonogh 42 Elementary Charter School Auditorium, 1651
North Tonti Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70119.

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Violence and gang activity draw board's attention; McDonogh 42 takeover stalls

By Yomi Akinyemi, The Lens charter school reporter |

A recent spate of violence that claimed the lives of two students at a nearby school was a focus of the Choice Foundation’s monthly board meeting on May 2. Principal Mickey Landry said the killing of the two students from KIPP Believe, blocks away from Lafayette, mirror escalating violence around the community in the past few months.

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Students eligible for private-school voucher

The state Department of Education today released the list of New Orleans schools eligible to participate in its voucher program. The program, called the Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program, has for the past three years offered low-income students from low-performing public schools the chance to attend the private school of their choice, with the state paying the bill for tuition and fees.

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Board approved to take over two additional schools, but delays final decision

Choice Foundation, operators of Lafayette Academy and Esperanza Charter School, has been approved to charter two more schools, McDonogh 42 and a yet to be named school in Jefferson Parish, the Choice board of directors said at their monthly meeting, Feb.1. Board President James Huger said that while the foundation has been given the “all clear” to take over McDonogh 42, there’s a slim chance the deal might collapse if the school’s current board sues the state Board of Elementary & Secondary Education, as threatened.

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Parents meet new school leaders

Despite a vow by a failed charter operator to fight the state’s revocation of its contract to run McDonogh No. 42, , an attitude of cordiality prevailed at tonight’s open-house to introduce parents to the new charter operator.

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