Leah Chase School seemed too good to be true!
NOLA Public Schools promised a traditional public school committed to providing a high-quality, culturally responsive education that celebrates the rich history and diverse culture of New Orleans. Field trips were envisioned as essential to providing a well-rounded and engaging education for students.
It was the district’s first permanent, direct-run school in 18 years, named in honor of the late Leah Chase, a renowned New Orleans chef, restaurateur, and respected community figure.
Leah Chase School, it seems, was never meant to exist—at least, not as a traditional public school. Less than two years later, NOLA Public Schools’ board members are debating whether to close it.
A Test Case
New Orleans stands as “a test case” for a new type of governance structure. The New Orleans Model, recodified by Louisiana Act 91 (2016), gives charter management organizations autonomy over operations traditionally held by the district (e.g., annual calendars, daily schedules, curriculum, human resources, certification, contracts with buses and food services, and salaries).
The model, based upon a decades-old script, creates an ecosystem of independently run charter schools in which the superintendent “pulls the plug” on the lowest-performing schools. A single closure, in theory, may not yield positive academic results for children. Some schools may need annual interventions. Currently, the New Orleans “ecosystem” comprises 71 schools (state- and locally authorized), 34 charter management organizations, 68 districts (local education agencies), and one traditional public school, Leah Chase.
It is worth noting that 96.5% of Leah Chase’s students are Black or Latino, and 92.6% receive free or reduced lunch. 8% have limited English proficiency. Indeed, closures have disproportionately impacted Black majority schools, Black educators, and Black communities.
Elected school board representatives have no authority over the private boards that oversee charter schools. Instead, the market becomes a site of justice—without collective bargaining agreements, parent-teacher organizations, student government associations, elected school boards, or alumni associations—in which schools are customer-driven. New Orleans taxpayers must instead learn to “trust” the market.
For the market to function effectively, parents must, in theory, learn to “walk with their feet.” The collective trauma of repeated closures, or school “churn,” operates as a social control mechanism, inducing parents to make “rational choices” and withdraw their children from schools deemed “failing.” Privately operated, taxpayer-funded schools and closures have become the new normal. Obliterating the notion of public governance is, in theory, essential for the market to function effectively.
A Promise Rather than Best Practices
Just as children were beginning to recover from the closure of Lafayette Academy, the charter school that the Leah Chase School replaced, and to adjust to their new teachers, NOLA Public Schools began debating whether to close the Leah Chase School. Amid a budget deficit, Leah Chase’s principal, a veteran New Orleans public school educator, resigned unexpectedly in October.
The New Orleans Charter Model was constructed on a promise, not best practices. Research has documented the many inequalities that market-driven, unregulated school choice reproduces. These inequities include racial segregation, stratification, and exclusion of students with disabilities. An abundance of evidence points to the ways that choice policies render inequities for Black and Latino children. For instance, Angela M. Sims of Barnard College-Columbia University and Elizabeth Talbert of Drake University found that school choice imposes a “parent tax” on Black parents by requiring them to expend resources to access a public good that white parents take for granted.
Additionally, school “churning” harms children and communities. Each time there is a change in management, principals and teachers must reapply for their positions. There is evidence that academic achievement declines in the years before a principal transition and for up to five years afterward. When principals depart, teachers often follow their lead.
School closures also lead to constant teacher turnover. Teachers often resign from their schools to secure stable employment before the school closes. Researchers have shown that teacher departures have adverse effects on student achievement, which is more pronounced in schools that serve mostly Black and low-income students. One veteran teacher employed at a majority-Black school spoke about the trauma that students experienced from annual teacher turnover.
When we first came, the students did not want us because we were replacing the previous teachers. … so that was a natural response: “If I am used to somebody, and I figure you fired the person that I like, and here you are coming. I am going to blame you. Even though you do not have anything to do with it.” So, the students blamed the teachers. … Once they [students] realized that these were good teachers, good human beings here to help them, they let their guard down and accepted them. So now [the district] is about to get rid of them again. That is emotional stress.
This quote illustrates the trauma caused by the continual severing of social bonds. Teachers and principals must build relationships with students, parents, and communities. But how can they when schools (often those that serve mostly Black and low-income students) have new management every year?
Trust Requires Fulfilling Promises
NOLA Public Schools, however, courageously disrupted the market by responding to the community. Together, they envisioned a comprehensive portfolio in which traditional public schools could play a vital role.
Among the reasons cited for the closure of Leah Chase School is its D accountability rating from the Louisiana Department of Education. But for years, the Louisiana Department of Education assigned new charter schools “T’s” because they were in transition. As a traditional school, Leah Chase wasn’t given that transitional designation.
Assigning new charter schools, a “T” grade rather than a “D” or “F” enabled them to attract students, hire staff and leaders who share their goals, and develop programs without the negative reputation associated with being labeled a failing school. Educators, students, and parents in traditional public schools should be given the same grace period.
We have learned much in the past 20 years. We now know that repeated school closures, while a key component of the charter model, do harm to our city’s most vulnerable children. They do not create stable environments of principals and teachers to teach children. We also know that prematurely grading a new school relies upon the charter model’s strict adherence to performance scores without remembering that the model also relies on a promise. It’s a promise that remains largely unfulfilled by the model’s own metrics in New Orleans, where most charters that serve Black and Latino children still receive C and D scores. But that same promise – to provide children of all backgrounds with a high-quality education – still remains possible at Leah Chase School.
Hopefully, Superintendent Fateama Fulmore and our elected school board members will continue to listen to community members and fulfill their promise.
Elizabeth K. Jeffers, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of New Orleans who began teaching in pre-Katrina New Orleans public schools. Her scholarship on school choice has been published in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Policy, the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and other scholarly journals.
Follow her: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-k-jeffers-phd/
