At its monthly board meeting the Choice Foundation unanimously voted to remain under the Recovery School District and not return to the Orleans Parish School Board at the end of the 2012–13 school year. The Choice board governs Lafayette Academy, which was one of more than a dozen schools eligible to move under the oversight […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Morrell: Legislature set criminal clerk's staffing; city must fund it
Orleans Parish Clerk of Criminal District Court Arthur Morrell didn’t waste any time Friday morning telling the New Orleans City Council that the proposed $3.7 million budget for his office next year would cause a “drastic layoff of people at my office.” The 90-person clerk’s office handles all court services, including maintaining and processing court […]
Posted inSchools
Bids to rebuild 6 schools come in $13 million over OPSB budget
Orleans Parish School Board staffers said Thursday that bids to rebuild six schools exceeded their budget by $13 million. The shortfall was largely due to higher costs of labor and materials, said Herman Taitt, who heads the district’s capital projects office. These projects are in the first phase of the $2 billion master plan to […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
A clean audit is completed, but transportation issues still frustrate
The governing board at Ben Franklin High School, Advocates for Academic Excellence in Education, received a positive audit report, and grappled with lingering transportation issues at their Nov. 15 meeting. Representatives from the Bourgeois Bennett accounting firm, who conducted an independent audit of the school’s finances, reported a “clean” result. This designation was defined as […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Lacking quorum, NOMMA board will reschedule meeting
The New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy could not reach a quorum at its monthly meeting Thursday night. Heavy traffic over the Crescent City Connection prevented two board members from reaching the school’s west bank campus. Members Terry Ebbert, Jack Bergman, Marcellus Grace and W. David Whiddon were present, two shy of a quorum. As […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Pride receives clean audit; full-time counselor heightens morale
Pride College Preparatory Academy’s board of directors met Tuesday night and received a clean audit. The school received an unqualified opinion, a clean audit, from Carr, Riggs & Ingram. Michael Richard, school leader, said Pride has begun to use Louisiana State University for special education evaluations. He said next year they would partner with LSU […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Lacking a quorum, board reschedules meeting for Dec.
The Morris Jeff Community School Board cancelled their meeting last night. Only three members were able to attend, too few for quorum. Board members Stacey Gengel, Jolene Jeff and president Aesha Rasheed waited a few minutes, with principal Patricia Perkins and finance and operations director Jared Frank, to confirm the last cancellation. No one could […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Budget cuts stem flow of red ink after unanticipated revenue shortfall
The board of directors of Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans voted Monday to cut more than $200,000 from the charter school’s 2012-13 budget, after members learned the school was operating at a deficit of $85,000. The board went into a closed session to discuss how it would move forward in light of news that school leader Jean-Jacques Grandiere is […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Big jump in school scores lifts NOCPA into top third; special-ed students discussed
Director Ben Kleban kicked off the Nov. 13 board meeting with a highly encouraging academic update on the three schools run by New Orleans College Prep Academies. In the 2011-12 school year, New Orleans College Prep, Sylvanie Williams Elementary and Walter L. Cohen High improved by 14 points, for an aggregate performance score of 82, […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Rants under yet another alias sound a lot like Perricone
Sock puppets—Internet lingo for pseudonymous commenters—seem to have abounded in the federal prosecutor’s office. graphic: Matt Buck Former assistant U.S. attorney Sal Perricone retired in March after businessman Fred Heebe filed a defamation lawsuit claiming Perricone authored anonymous online rants about targets of federal investigations, politicians, attorneys, judges, among other topics. In August, Perricone spoke […]