The Military and Maritime Academy’s leadership is concerned about discussions between the state and local Type 2 charters that could lead to mandatory use of the centralized OneApp enrollment process. At the board meeting Tuesday night, members discussed ways to avoid participating in the process. Currently in Orleans Parish, Type 5 charters—those that answer to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
With staffers flacking online, Letten didn’t need enemies
Jim Letten I’ve read several lamentations about the damage Perricone’s activities might have done to the image of Letten’s office in the public mind. But if the image conjured is, in fact, a more accurate one than what Letten’s fans in the press tend to cultivate then what will we have lost besides a distorting […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Board meeting agenda released
The agenda for the Nov. 29 board meeting of KIPP New Orleans has been released. The meeting is tonight at 5:30 p.m. at KIPP Central City Academy (Carter G. Woodson Building), which is a new location. Among other topics, the board will discuss a possible switch to Orleans Parish School Board governance.
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Joseph irked by shared leadership; enrollment gap triggers staff cuts
At its monthly meeting Monday night, the Miller-McCoy board faced staff and administrators frustrated by a recent restructuring of school leadership and academics. With a $500,000 budget gap caused by lower-than-anticipated enrollment, consultant Andrea Thomas-Reynolds has been working with interim principal Brian Joseph and newly appointed achievement director Janice Bailey-Walker to cut unnecessary staff and […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Old debt pushes up cost of state pension systems
In the past five years, schools have had to pay more to participate in the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana — rising from 15 percent of an employer’s eligible payroll in 2008-09 to about 25 percent in 2012-13. Why the jump? The short answer: The teachers retirement system is trying to make up for underfunding […]
Posted inSchools
Primer: How private retirement plans are different than state pensions
Most Orleans Parish charter schools favor 403(b) retirement plans over the state’s public pension plan. Here’s the difference between the two. Like a 401(k), a 403(b) is a private, defined-contribution plan. An employee contributes pre-tax income and chooses how to invest the money. What she gets back depends on how well those investments perform. An […]
Posted inInvestigations, Schools
Teachers face tough choices as charter schools drop pensions
Teachers protest at an October meeting of the Algiers Charter School Association after the charter group announced that it would end pension benefits for more than 400 of its teachers. Soon after, Algiers reversed the decision. Photo by Jessica Williams Daunted by the high cost of the state teachers pension system, charter schools are switching […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Impasse on jail decree: judge orders two trials, months away
Faced with a so far intractable, $14 million divide between Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration and Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman, U.S. Judge Lance Africk today ordered that two trials be held to determine, first, whether conditions at Orleans Parish jail are unconstitutional – and, if so, then who should pay to bring them into compliance. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
How money stalled negotiations over Orleans jail consent decree
U.S. District Judge Lance Africk has scheduled a Tuesday morning meeting between parties to the class-action lawsuit at the center of efforts to create a safer and more humane Orleans Parish jail. The 7:30 a.m. status conference in Africk’s chambers is the latest development in a months-long negotiation to create a federal consent decree. It’s […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations
Jindal administration invoking 2009 law to shield public records
Gov. Bobby Jindal took office in 2008 promising the most transparent administration in Louisiana history, and he quickly began to deliver. He got the state Legislature to approve one measure that requires elected and appointed officials to disclose their personal finances and another that provides greater public disclosure of government contracts. But over the past […]