Pride College Prep is discussing a possible move next fall to share the campus of the Mildred Osborne School, in eastern New Orleans. That was the word from Pride’s founder and school leader Michael Richard at the December meeting of the school’s board, of which he is an ex-officio member.
The school is also gearing up its “Pride in the East” scholar recruitment and community outreach campaign, Richard said. Further, Pride has added an additional fourth-grade teacher to lead science, social studies, and small group intervention. The school also added a part-time special-education teacher, he said.
For 2012 the school budgeted for additional staff, including a fifth-grade team leader, a scholars support team and additional extracurricular offerings.
There are two upcoming events on Pride’s January calendar. On Friday, Jan. 13, there is a board open house. Prospective board members will be able to visit the school, meet the board members and students and witness student “roars” — cheers that are performed every Monday and Friday to boost school spirit. On Thursday, Jan. 26, parents and children are encouraged to attend Family Math Night and play fun and educational games.
Pride has outsourced its Medicaid reimbursements to a firm that will collect 10 percent of the reimbursed amount.
Simone Green, the director of Finance & Operations, announced that the Recovery School District has billed the school $9,000 for lunches. In the past, school lunches had been about $1,500 a month because 97 percent of students qualify for subsidized school lunches. Almost every school received and erroneous bill from the RSD, Green said, and Pride is not paying the bill until it is corrected.
The meeting was held in the conference room of the school’s Main Office Building. The only member of the public was a reporter for The Lens.
The next board meeting will be on Tuesday, Jan. 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Main Office Building. All meetings for 2012 will fall on the second Tuesday of the month unless otherwise noted. The change was made so members of the board could attend the Kenilworth Park neighborhood association meetings.