The state school board recently decided that two New Orleans charter schools were failing their children so badly that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed after this academic year. But there’s a remarkable difference in what will happen to the students at these two sites.
One school will cease to exist, scattering its pupils to wherever they can find seats, much to the frustration of parents who appreciate the school. The other will be taken over by a school board already operating two successful charters in the city, selected in part by the parents of the failing school.
The story of the two schools highlights the fissures in a national debate about what to do with charters that don’t perform well. Charter advocates nationwide have called for stricter rules to make it easier to cull failing charters from the ranks, but in many communities, closing down schools – even relatively new charter schools – has sparked conflict and infuriated parents. And as the different trajectories of the two charters here demonstrates, deciding which schools deserve a second chance and which don’t is also fraught.
Andrew H. Wilson Charter School could not get its letter grade out of the basement, falling to “F” this year after three years with a “D” while in operation in the Broadmoor neighborhood. Administratively, the school received a poor financial management score. It has about 625 students in kindergarten through eighth grades.
Since opening in 2010, Lagniappe Academies in Treme lifted its school score from failing to a “B,” though it dropped back to a “C” in the most recent scoring. But state officials said it failed to provide special-education services to some of its students, and that administrators tried to cover up that deficiency when investigators arrived. About 160 students attend the kindergarten-through-fourth-grade school.
The state-run Recovery School District oversees both and had the final authority on their fate: Wilson stays; Lagniappe goes. And as the old real-estate saying goes, it was all about location, location, location. Or the lack of location, to be specific.
There is no Lagniappe campus for anyone to take over, RSD Deputy Chief of Staff Laura Hawkins said. Wilson is housed in school building that reopened in 2010 after a $30 million facelift. According to a report from The Times-Picayune the building was so drastically altered that RSD officials said it qualified as a new building.
Lagniappe owns modular buildings that sit on land that is leased only through the end of the school year. The landlord didn’t offer a lease renewal, board member Dan Forman said.
Lagniappe was twice offered a school site by the RSD. Hawkins says the RSD in 2013 offered the Gaudet campus in eastern New Orleans.
“They turned down the offer in the media, but did not formally communicate with us,” she said.
“The remedy for a failed charter school should not be we shut the school down,” — parent advocate Karran Harper Royal
Lagniappe board members say the RSD offered them the John Dibert campus, but it was unclear how long they would be there. Besides, Lagniappe officials said they could not afford the necessary repairs for the aging school.
Hawkins says the district offered Dibert as temporary space and Wilson’s previous temporary home, the McDonogh No. 7 campus, as a permanent location. Lagniappe rejected both.
Parents at Wilson and Lagniappe want to preserve their school communities.
Wilson parents Sheana Turner and Dana Wade said when charter operators came to tour Wilson, they worried the organizations were more interested in the shiny, upgraded facility than their children’s education.
“Yes the building is nice … but there’s children inside of the building, there’s minds that need to be fed,” Wade said.
When organizations were touring the school, Wade said school staff put up the words “not just a building” on Wilson’s illuminated sign.
Meanwhile, Lagniappe parents seem to have the opposite problem — they don’t have a physical building to rally around.
But Lagniappe parents like Alicia and Anthony Parker, who had to tell their five-year-old son his school is closing, chose the school for its programming — not the facility.
Board Vice Chairman Dan Henderson said Lagniappe is at the end of the line. Without guarantee of a building next year, the board decided it had neither the money nor time to engage in a legal battle with the state. They also doubted that a lawsuit could produce results before the summer.
At Wilson, the board and parents initially planned to fight the state action. But they eventually agreed to the takeover with the provision they could help select a new operator for the school.
The campus next year will be run by InspireNOLA, which runs two highly rated charter schools under the Orleans Parish School Board, and Wilson will transfer back to local control. The School Board this month approved an “automatic replication” request. That’s a move that allows high-performing charter operators to open another school without going through the traditional yearlong charter approval process.
Charter schools operate with a great deal of autonomy, making their own curriculum, staffing and school scheduling decisions. However, they must answer to an authorizer for overall financial, operational and academic results. The state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education authorizes charters for the Recovery School District. The Orleans Parish School Board can also authorize charters.
In the past three years, several charter schools have closed throughout the city. Some of them were taken over by new charter operators, while others closed completely. There’s little obvious consistency to those not intimately familiar with the education bureaucracy in New Orleans.
And that’s unfair to students and their families, parent advocate Karran Harper Royal said.
“The remedy for a failed charter school should not be we shut the school down,” Royal said.
She says this creates an unstable environment for kids.
“The remedy should be we shut the charter operator down,” she said. “We [the state] step in until we can select a new operator.”
Parents at the school also wondered why the state school board didn’t give the Lagniappe board a chance to change school leaders, removing those who violated the special-education rules.
“It is not within BESE, the department, or the RSD’s purview to demand specific staff or board changes,” Hawkins said. “The tools available to us include renewal and non-renewal and that is what was done in this situation.”
What about the fact that Lagniappe was a higher scoring school?
Hawkins said state education officials “lost confidence in the ability of Lagniappe’s leadership to serve all students.”
“Renewal is based on much more than letter grade.”
Wilson parents were generally pleased with the selection of InspireNOLA and told BESE members they were happy they were allowed to participate.
Wade has a little advice for Lagniappe parents.
“I just wish the parents at Lagniappe the best,” Wade said. “And I want them to not give up.
“Don’t give up. Keep fighting.”
Karran Harper Royal is pretty selective when it comes to which schools she thinks deserve to be closed, I guess…
Now THAT is the remark of a bully – Peter.
Every time I call out anti-reformers’ hypocrisy, you call me a bully. What else is new?
Well?
It is extremely difficult for parents of closing schools to fight when these (expletive deleted) charter boards are so quick to bail out and liquidate when the going gets rough, although Lagniappe is a small school and might have neighborhood coheviseness in its favor. Besides, all of this RSD selective closures and selective charter operators is B$ anyway. The process is neither transparent nor fair. The backroom deals continue. RSD wants to get rid of the modular buildings and it wants CMOs that run multiple schools (ReNEW, FirstLine Schools, Collegiate Academies, Choice Foundation, etc.). I think Wilson wound up with Inspire.NOLA because the parents and the administration were making too much noise about the golden NSNO boy, Ben Kleban of New Orleans College Prep, who was making pre-announcements and they caught him in it. Kleban pulled out of the Sarah T. Reed process because he was led to believe he was going to get something else – Wilson. Ha! 03/25/2015 4:41 PM
I think that Karran Harper Royal’s perspective is still developing, which is good because that means she is not stagnating – which is a difficult thing to do amidst the growing corruptive forces in this city and state. The RSD engages in “portfolio management” and awards charters to the players with the most political influence and the most money. The rich get richer on public money. Dobard, Peterson, BESE, etc. do not care if 4,000 at-risk students in public schools in New Orleans have been displaced over the last nine years. There are billions of dollars invested in poverty in Louisiana, and by golly, the people who control the public money in education in this state are going to see that it stays that way. 03/25/2015 4:57 PM
Karran is 100% about the children. Shutting down schools and displacing children is not the way to move forward and improve . That is hypocrisy Peter. As you know, I am against privatization using charters and vouchers but nobody is going to or should wipe the slate clean again using an excuse like Katrina. BESE called in the forces to save Lycee on various accounts but not happening this time. Why?
I think Karran likes the attention she gets from being the New Orleans anti-charter activist. I think she likes getting interviewed, likes speaking on forums, and likes being invited to talk about how evil NOLA charters are in places like Nashville and Milwaukee. I’m not saying she’s not a good person, but I am saying that her role in this debate – and her need to constantly rebuke all things RSD-related – often blinds her to the realities involved. A few points:
1) Karran was all for closing schools in the past when she thought it would make RSD and BESE look bad. She repeated called for Abramson’s closure because of the revelation that the school’s officials tried to bribe someone from LDOE. Two LDOE folks lost their jobs over their perceived mismanagement of the situation. Karran led the call for the closure because she thought she could get mileage out of an embarrassing situation. Furthermore, she specifically pointed to reports that Abramson wasn’t serving special needs students as evidence for why the school should be closed – exactly the same situation as Lagniappe. Here are some examples of her past demands to close charters when it was politically advantageous to do so: https://www.evernote.com/pub/petercook/khrtweets
2) The issues at Lycee were very different than those at Lagniappe – they were management conflicts on the board and between the board and administration. There were no accusations of wrongdoing against children at Lycee like there were at Lagniappe, which I’m sure you’ll agree are much more serious and clearly violated several provisions in the school’s charter w/ the state.
3) Finally, I agree with you on vouchers – I am opposed to them.
When the RSD wants to shutter a school, it will do anything – and I do mean ANYTHING – to cast the school or the board in a negative light. Character assassination? No problem. We can do that. Special education violations? No problem. We can do that. Ethics violations? No problem. We can do that. Affaidavits? No problem. We can do that. Student testimony in front of BESE? No problem. We can do that. Threat of a foreign government running a charter school? No problem. We can do that. Media blitzes? No problem. We can do that. Unannounced visits to the school by Dobard and/or White? No problem. We can do that. Press conferences? No problem. We can do that. Confidential reports on the web? No problem. We can do that. But if the RSD is for you – well, you can do no wrong. It’s just some management issues – a couple of tweaks here and there and you are good as new – even better. Now, Caroline will be sending some of her people over there with their B$ and their notes on management – and she is going to work with you “all” intensely…03/25/2015 7:50 PM
Bottom line is this: Even when charter boards and/or “administrators” (expletive deleted) up, closing schools punishes the students and their families and the teaching personnel. This does not fit the true definition of school reform. This is the RSD, BESE, and the LDOE at their worst – not a model for reform. It is the worst-case scenario. 03/25/2015 8:34 PM
I think you are a little shortsighted on Abramson. That was a dangerous situation for children under the Gulen run admins and faculty. I’m sure you know the full story. It was more than not serving special needs although that is Karran’s specific area of concern. I agree that school needed a new mgt company and faculty. Nobody needed to try to make RSD/BESE look bad on that one. It was a no brainer. The dumping of the LDE folks was another screwy move by LDE. I know more about Lyc
Calling Karran Harper Royal an “anti-charter activist” is an example of oversimplification and is a propaganda technique. Having said that, I think that Karran is like one of those prophets who nobody can shut up. The prophet just has to say it. And then one day after the whole thing goes down, some people will remember what the prophet said – but not any reporters because they have short attention spans. Ha ha! But not now, because there are too many people making a $hitload of public money off of poor people’s children. But remember (and not many rich people like to hear this – in fact, most of them will not even think it applies to them), we are all in this together – billionaires, millionaires, middle class and the poor people allke – and there ain’t nodoby leaving here with anything they acquired on earth. 03/25/2015 11:26 PM
Hey Lee – glad you are up and “running.” How in the hell did the RSD slash BESE approve Gulen in the first place – which supports my point – although not my main one – that we have a very corrupt situation here. The press has a very short attention span. 03/25/2015 11:52 PM
As far as those boys in the LDOE who lost/left their jobs with the State Department, I do not see Gary Robichaux, CEO of ReNEW, suffering any losses, nor the CEO of Young Audiences…the charter in Jefferson Parish (hello Jim Meza) in a position of complaining. In fact, if Karran Harper Royal contributed anything to this, then I think they should be kissing the hem on her skirt for whatever it is that Peter Cook says she did. 03/26/2015 12:03 AM
Hey Peter, I generally ignore you, but this time I’m going to make an exception and grace you with a response. I guess, that’ makes me a hypocrite, right? Peter, have you ever realized that perhaps you were wrong? Guess what, I did and so my position shifted on closing charter schools. Since the Abrasion closure, in talking with actual parents who have had to experience school closures over these past few years and looking into the eyes of their children, it became crystal clear to me, that closing schools as a form of accountability is WRONG, yes it’s wrong even for charter schools. What idiot would stick with a position after seeing the harm it does to children? Well Peter, I’m not an idiot and my position changed. That’s not hypocrisy darling, that’s being real and taking positions based on real information from real people. It would be helpful if ideologues who keep pushing the school closure mantra despite it’s effects on children would shift their position as well.
Now Peter, I have no intention of responding to your criticisms of me point for point within the comments on this article, but will invite you yet again to meet me in person and criticize me to my face after you’ve had an opportunity to speak with me and get to know more about me as a real living breathing person. You see, in all of my work here in NOLA, I have never seen you in a meeting of parents who are experiencing the fall out of the kinds of policies you support. You have no idea what I like and don’t like when it comes to speaking about these issues because Peter, you don’t really know me or what drives me. I understand that it may be hard for you to conceive that someone like me would be driven by their past experiences in public education in New Orleans, but to continue to spend as much energy as you apparently do digging up old tweets of mine, makes you seem, rather unbalanced. You hide behind a picture of a kid as your profile picture and unlike others who might disagree with my point of view, you’ve never come up to me in “real life” and asked to have a real conversation with me. Instead you throw out barbs and opinions about a person you have never met or had an in person conversation with as if you are some kind of authority on Karran Harper Royal. You seem very immature and bully-like. I’m not afraid of you Peter, in fact, I invite you to sit down with me at CC’s on Esplanade one day and we can talk about “what I like” and why I do what I do. You my dear are as wrong as two left feet in your assertion of why you think I do what I do. So Peter, if you would like to meet me in person, send me an inbox message on Twitter and I’ll send you my phone number and we can arrange to meet in person. Otherwise, keep on trolling darling.
Lee, you are right, there is a whole lot going on with the Lagniappe closure. Have you seen the video from the “Breakfast with Newsmakers” event The Lens Hosted? Near the end, listen to Lagniappe’s Vice-Chairman. I also have additional information that makes me think that this is more of an issue of retaliation. It’s all going to come out soon enough.
Nickelndime, now you’re on to something here. Of course the good government and anti corruption people in our city close their eyes to this mess. Anyone who knows me, knows that I was a fixture at OPSB meetings and that I am no fan of the way that board operates. However, I will take an elected school board over this dictatorship we have in public education any day. What we have now is so much worse than OPSB and their dealings ever were during the years I’ve observed them. I remember being very frustrated with OPSB in August of 2005. I had no clue that things could possible get worse. I believe that we needed elected school boards even if we don’t like every personality on the board. Elected school board have to do things in a public way and this is not the way it is with the RSD or local schools being run by remote control from the state or by unelected charter boards.
Thanks Nickelndime, as we live we learn. As more information is revealed to us, our perspective changes. Real people look at the effects of policies and form their positions based on what they see in the real world with real children and families. I’m very secure in who I am and what my beliefs are. At the end of the day I am focused on children and their families. I thank the old McDonogh #15 for my crystal clear perspective on being child centered. It is that perspective that allows me to support parents and children from charter schools. In the Benjamin Mays closure, Sojourner Truth closure and now the Lagniappe Closure, I could not let my disdain for charter schools keep me from helping parents whose children were being harmed by these closures. I can’t let the fact that many of my parents of students with disabilities have children in charter schools, stop me from helping them navigate this mess of a public school system. I help parents and children period, rather or not if the school is a charter school. If that makes me evil because I don’t support charter schools as a tool in transforming public education, that so be it.
Amen!
Now the real corruption is being revealed. Let’s see if any of those good government people will take heed.
Thanks, I certainly wish I didn’t have to constantly warn people about the harm current education policies are causing. I don’t think of myself as like a prophet but a truth teller for those whose voices are squelched by the millions poured into the propaganda machine coming out of New Orleans. I am very thankful to be able to elevate the voices of parents and community members who experience the fall out of corporate education reform policies. Of course some people will attack me for that, but that’s ok, I’m a big girl, I can take it. I am very clear about how orders my steps.
You know, Abrasion was one of those charters like Esperanza (UNO-Chicago) that were approved very early on before most of us were able to come up for air from rebuilding our homes. I think we all would be surprised by the kinds of wheeling and dealing that was done to approve some of those early charters. Just look at that gem of a charter operator Future is Now Schools. Not only did they get approval they are allowed to just hand back their charter even before year 3 review time. I always thought a contract was a contract and especially when it comes to serving children, you should be made to fulfill the terms of your contract and not run out on children. That FINS/John Mac situation is one that should be explored more deeply. Were there no penalties for FINS handing in their charter? If not, why not? Children were harmed by having to ind new high schools to attend, but I didn’t see the charter supporters come out to support those parents and students. There was no one there to prop up that charter organization like they did at Lyc
LOL, LOL, LOL, I could see it now, my skirts hang pretty low to the ground, so they would have be on their bellies to kiss the hem of my skirt. LOL.
LOL, call me Peter. You’re so funny. Let’s have coffee and I’ll tell you all about what I like.
This comment is one that really shows what is valued here. “There is no Lagniappe campus for anyone to take over, RSD Deputy Chief of Staff Laura Hawkins said.” Clearly it’s not the children. The RSD has empty portable classrooms, and it has buildings it chose not to renovate. They could have if they wanted to, placed Lagniappe on the “favored” charter list and gave them a renovated building just like they have done for KIPP, Crescent City, and Firstling. One has to wonder what kind of sick game of charter school monopoly these people are playing with the lives of children. Laura Hawkins made herself clear, they feel like these children are expendable because there is no permanent building attached to them. does anybody care about these children?
Amen to that. An elected board is the best we can do – so let’s do it that way. 03/31/2015 7:32 PM
At this time, I feel secure in saying that EVERY State charter school opened or approved by BESE (Type 2) and the RSD (all others that apply) – that would be 100 percent – is the result of some backroom deal. When charter schools are closed by the RSD, these charter boards are co-conspirators and they know the deal was corrupt from the start. They are not innocent. The students and the families are the innocents and they are the ones who suffer first and the most. By and large, the staff and personnel of failed schools know there are problems. Problem is IS that they are unlikely to complain while still employed. 03/31/2015 7:41 PM
Hey Peter you can reach me at my first and last name at me dot com. Just skip the middle name. I’d love to sit down and chat with you darling.
Hey Peter you can reach me at my first and last name at me dot com. Just skip the middle name. I’d love to sit down and chat with you darling. Why not email me today?
I can’t wait to meet you Peter. How about Monday 4/6 at 9am?
Oh Karran…Do you really think I’m afraid to meet you? Ask your friend Jennifer Berkshire about that – after you served as her tour guide a few weeks ago, she had drinks with me. Edushyster and I had a gay old time, as I’m sure we would, too.
In response to your comments above, I guess I’ve been hiding in plain sight all these years. We’ve actually been at several events together, but I’ve never had much interest in talking with you. It hasn’t seemed worth it. You change your story when it becomes convenient. You were all for closing Abramson when it suited your side, now you’re against closing Lagniappe (As for changing your mind – after 10 years you suddenly change your mind? Come on, KHR. You have to be against closures now because you signed on to that AFT-backed civil rights complaint.) When you ran for school board, you were in favor of charters – now you’re against them. You railed against RSD’s direct-run schools as dead-end “dumping grounds” for years, but when they started closing them and handing them over to charters, you screamed the RSD was committing civil rights violations. You claim the unions had nothing to do with J4J’s civil rights complaint, then you admit in an interview with Rethinking Schools that they support your work. You must think everyone else is dumb and not paying attention. You’re right, your flip-flipping message isn’t hypocrisy – it’s just a shift in strategy for your attacks.
Furthermore, you’ve never been interested in dialogue. You blocked me on Twitter years ago because you didn’t like what I had to say – probably because I called you out like I did here. Plus, there’s no subtly in your message – all things RSD are bad. You never concede that anything in our public schools are good or an improvement on the past. It’s all black and white – there is no grey in your message. And although you accuse me of immaturity and being imbalanced (although the latter is probably true ;^), all I did was use your own words against you. You, on the other hand, make all kinds of unfounded accusations about people, you accuse RSD and LDOE of fraud, and promote all kinds of far-fetched conspiracies.
However, If you want to sit down over coffee, I’m game, but you’ll have to put in the legwork: pete (at) peterccook.com
“nickelndime” checking in here – in case anyone is interested – I am not reachable – hahaha – and even if anyone were to reach me, the unreachable, I doubt they would know exactly what they have reached. My ASP (that’s my pet snake ASP) has fallen off of the chair. LMAspO! 04/01/2015 2:09 PM
There is no such thing as “FRIENDS” in the charter school landscape in New Orleans – it is either ANONYMOUSLY, UNANIMOUSLY or POSTHUMOUSLY. 04/01/2015 5:00 PM
Actually Peter, I don’t presume that you are afraid of me at all.
I find it interesting that you spend so much time researching my words, yet you say you have no interest in actually talking with me. That’s kinda weird, but I’m sure you have your reasons. You don’t seem to be able to grasp changing situations sometimes call for shifting one’s position. You seem to prefer to make up your own reasons for the shift. I’m just wondering, why do I matter so much to you Peter that you would dig up tweets from years ago, you read articles about me, it’s feeling like you’re stalking me. This is just plain weird.
I just got home after another lengthy board meeting at Lagniappe Academies. Just so you know, I didn’t suddenly change regarding charter schools. Over time as I work with actual parents who are going through school closures, it became very clear that this is wrong. Lagniappe confirms it for me even more. Only a heartless person could watch these parents go through what they are going through and not understand that there must be a better way. I’m still no fan of charter schools. During my campaign, you may be speaking of my toleration for community driven charters, but I was never a huge fan of charter schools. Even now as time has gone by and it’s even more clear how little voice parents and community really have with charter school governance, my opinion has certainly grown more solid, “I’m not a fan of charter schools.” So shoot me. And you say I have no grey areas. You even persecute me for the little grey I do have. Peter, Peter, Peter, it’s clear, I can only do wrong in your eyes. That’s ok. Your opinion of me doesn’t matter. I’m only taking the time to write you here because I want to clear things up for anyone else who may be reading this. You have a bunch of presumptions about me, but you’ve never actually talked to me, so one has to question your presumptions. At least the other Reformsters take the time to meet with me, and it’s interesting how even they don’t continue to attack me like you do. That’s ok, I can handle it, since you’ve seen me, you know I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself.
You again presume to know my motives for the civil rights complaint. Do you even know what you mean by AFT backed? Just because a coalition I am a part of share similar values around school closures with teacher unions does not mean that as an individual I don’t have my own opinion on such things. As a proud wife of a Teamster, I don’t see unions as the big bad boogie man many make unions out to be. I see teachers who teach our children as sometimes having shared values about what happens with our children. Sometimes we differ as well. That’s real life. You wouldn’t know this, because you’ve never taken the time to talk to me, but I’ve actually had my share of battles with the unions as well when it comes to children, especially my own. You see, one can actually share some values with an entity and not others. Again, you wouldn’t know this about me because you don’t feel it’s worth talking to me to find out really where I’m coming from. Very interesting, Peter, very interesting. You may not be interested in talking to me, but you seem to be interested in what I do, so a fact for you my dear. As to the construction of the civil rights lawsuit, you are dead wrong about how it was written, who contributed to the development and writing of it. You are simply wrong, but I doubt that you care about the truth, it doesn’t fit your attack on me. I don’t think everyone else is dumb at all, I do expect people to seek the truth and not misconstrue the facts. I do expect people to at least take the time to talk to a person before spouting off rants about a person’s motives.
If you have specific unfounded accusations you say I’ve made, why not lay them out and I can give you the information that form the basis for my “accusation? Maybe this is something we can discuss when we meet next week. Why is it so important to you that I say something good about the RSD? It’s not my job to be the PR person for the RSD. When I see something I feel is good, I’ll say it. Actually, when BESE met at Morris Jeff in February, I think I gave Kristen Morgan of the One App office a compliment. You must have missed that meeting. I guess you don’t know all of my moves after all. Ok, so maybe you aren’t stalking me.
I blocked you on Twitter because I grew annoyed with sparring with someone who refused to reveal themselves to me. You were a very annoying unknown troll and I refused to continue sparring with an unknown at 140 characters at a time. You simply weren’t worth the effort. However, I’d love to meet you in person, and once I do, I may unblock you. So, you want to make me work for it huh, ok, darling, I’ll hit you up on your dot com and perhaps we can get together sometime next week.
I emailed pete at petercook.com and the email bounced back. I used the @ symbol not the word at. Did I get it wrong?