At least four would-be charter operators were expected to submit their applications to the Orleans Parish School Board today at noon.
The groups are applying for Type 1 charters, meaning they will be new school start-ups that will likely need to secure their own buildings. The School Board will award charters in December.
Here are the groups that are expected to apply:
Bricolage Academy, founded by Josh Densen, a former managing director of Achievement Network, the nonprofit school support organization, and a former special assistant to the New York City Regional Superintendent of Schools.
The OPEN School by Four Peas Group Inc. . No information was immediately available.
Impact Music Academy founded by Love Impact Inc., a nonprofit aimed at creating community-based programs for families, is headed by local City of Love pastor Lester Love.
Wangari Maathai Elementary Charter School, founded by the Dr. Murphy W. McCaleb Educational Fund Inc., another church-led nonprofit to be run by leaders from the Progressive Baptist Church in Central City.
The Young Audiences of Louisiana, state affiliate of the national arts education network, was slated to submit an application to Orleans Parish, but a spokesman said late Tuesday that the organization had decided to pursue a charter in Jefferson. The state Department of Education’s website has posted the group’s letter of intent to do so.
Additionally, the Homer A. Plessy Community School, founded by residents of the Faubourg Marigny, St. Roch, St. Claude and Bywater neighborhoods, received a conditional approval from the Orleans Parish School Board in January. Kathleen Padian, deputy superintendent of charter schools, said Monday that the board is waiting for the group to address points of concern in its initial application, so that it can move forward toward full approval.
If approved, the new charters would bring the number of schools now operating under the Orleans Parish School Board’s umbrella to 23, six of them run directly by the board. In total, the city has 66 charters out of a total of 88 schools.
