Behind The Lens episode 153: ‘An effort at rebranding’

The final round of charter school renewals. Allegations of contract-fixing for the New Orleans "smart cities" plan. And a reform effort in state prisons has not produced the promised results.

On this week’s episode, the Orleans Parish School Board is wrapping up its annual charter renewal process. Two schools found out last month that their operating agreements would not be renewed for next year. Another, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School in the Lower 9th Ward, had to wait until this week to find out it will be renewed on a three-year “contingency basis.” And education reporter Marta Jewson has the latest school COVID data for New Orleans.

The city of New Orleans has dismissed a formal contract protest lodged by cable and internet provider Cox Communications, which lost out in the contractor selection process for a major “smart cities” project. Cox alleges that the city and an outside consultant, who is connected to the winning bidder, worked to fix the bidding process.

And the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections adopted a new “disciplinary sanctions matrix” meant to provide a transparent rubric for punishment throughout the Louisiana prison system, but despite the new policies, many prisoners are still facing indefinite lockdowns.

Our guests this week are reporters Michael Isaac Stein, Marta Jewson and Nicholas Chrastil and editor Charles Maldonado.

Carolyne Heldman

Carolyne Heldman Rovira has been in media for 35 years, and is currently the podcast host and producer for Behind The Lens. Heldman served as executive director at Aspen Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, where she launched four weekly news, public affairs, and cultural affairs programs. She has been a guest lecturer at Tulane University, is a frequent guest and moderator for the Aspen Institute, Rocky Mountain Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute.