The Better Choice Foundation board met Tuesday at Mary D. Coghill Charter School, but in the absence of a quorum couldn’t vote on anything — not even on whether to approve the minutes of the prior meeting, since board member Earnestine Bennett-Johnson, who recorded the minutes, failed to forward them to the board.
Five of the board’s 11 members showed up: president Keith Barney and members Andrew Amedee, Ida Richard, Terri Franklin and Gretchen Bradford.
Discussion focused on the upcoming Jazz Brunch fundraiser, slated for Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A list of food vendors has been narrowed to two. The board will select one of them at the next meeting, March 5 at 5:00 p.m. Barney encouraged members to try to sell 20 tickets and donate two items to the event’s silent auction.
Franklin and Bradford said they would continue to seek contributions. As of the meeting, the school had received donations from the Empire Services, a maintenance company, and from Entergy, the local utility, with promises of funding from Regions Bank as well as individual donors.
Reports on school activities and finances were distributed to board members but not discussed.
The school’s marching band recently participated in a Slidell parade and will be holding their own Carnival parade this Friday at 1 p.m., leaving from the school.
RSD/State “Better Choice Foundation” (COGHILL). This is a public meeting of a public charter school board that receives millions of dollars in public funds which flows through the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE)! Where are all of the board members, the overpaid, uncertified administrators, and the uncertified teachers (cheapest, at-will employees) who staff the classrooms? Why are they not in attendance at these public meetings? What is this charter board (BESE, RSD, and OPSB-authorized, alike) and school administrators doing to ensure that “at-risk” students (the target population for Louisiana charter school law) receive the proper academic preparation that will help make them more than a tourist attraction (a/k/a “the service industry”)?! The worst part of this is that these students are the most vulnerable, the least-desirable (especially to selective-admission charter schools, i.e., Lusher, Hynes, Lake Forest, Audubon, Franklin…), but ironically, are the ones in most need of a quality education. And what about the families (however poorly prepared themselves), who believe that their chilren will be treated well and fairly at school?