By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | Feel like the city’s got a boot on your neck? How about on your tire? There’s a reason why. In the past year, New Orleans parking officials have become much more aggressive in the use of devices that immobilize cars with outstanding parking tickets. “[W]e used to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Johns usually stay secret, but not Vitter – and now Edwards
John Edwards is making headlines, again, for allegedly being a … john. The New York City crime news site DNAinfo reports that a prostitute claims she serviced Edwards while working for Anna Gristina, the “Millionaire Madam,” during one of Edward’s campaign fundraising trips to the city in 2007. You may recall that, after his unsuccessful […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
RSD reps brief board on charter extension process; fundraiser nets $47G, LEAP tests loom
Directors of the Capital One-New Beginnings Charter School Network met with school staff and the Recovery School District March 27 without a quorum. Adam Hawf and Troave Profice from the RSD’s Office of School Performance met briefly with the board. Hawf explained his office’s role and fielded questions. Hawf’s staff will make periodic visits to […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Easy transition to new management anticipated; Edible Schoolyard fundraising gala draws 500
The absorption of Langston Hughes Academy by the FirstLine charter management organization should be complete by June 30. FirstLine, which has managed Hughes since 2010, will formally take over the school’s charter and all aspects of its governance. FirstLine’s chief operating officer, Adrian Morgan, anticipates a smooth transition. In a management report, Morgan said enrollment […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
FirstLine finances are well in the black; Green targets retention and college readiness goals
FirstLine schools anticipate ending the school year comfortably in the black, board members were pleased to learn at their monthly meeting in March. Revenues are expected to exceed expenses by $738,000, finance committee chairman Stephen Rosenthal reported, to applause. Though the fiscal year is not over, Rosenthal said the numbers should hold steady, given that […]
Posted inLand Use
Judge calls Newcomb Boulevard fence illegal; residents’ attorney vows to appeal ruling
A drawn-out battle over the right to gate a public street reached a milestone Tuesday when a Civil Court judge ruled in favor of keeping Newcomb Boulevard open. Residents of Newcomb Boulevard, a ritzy Uptown neighborhood parallel to even ritzier Audubon Place, in 2006 got the go-ahead from the city’s Department of Public Works to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Want to know how city spent millions from HUD? Don't tell anyone you're a reporter
Update: Two-and-a-half hours after this story was published, and shortly after our reporting partners at FOX 8 requested the report, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s spokesman, Ryan Berni, provided a copy of the 100-plus-page report to The Lens. By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | When is a public record not a public record? Apparently when […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
New rate structure would slash soaring utility bills; half-mile Husky Fun Run ahead
Administrators at Hynes Charter School are working through the Orleans Parish School Board and Entergy to reduce soaring utility bills. The Entergy bill for each of the past two months topped $25,000 – $12,000 more than the school had budgeted monthly. Principal Michelle Douglas said the bills reflect an erroneously high rate structure. Under the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Cabbies jam council chambers to protest moves designed to burnish fleet
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | A standing-room-only crowd of cab drivers descended on City Hall this morning to protest a wide-ranging set of taxicab ordinances under consideration by the council’s Transportation Committee. The New Orleans taxicab industry has long been the target of criticism on a range of issues, from its aging […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
College acceptance rate tops 90 percent; Carver group resists plans for two-school phase-in
Just under 40 members of the George Washington Carver High School community attended Collegiate Academies of New Orleans’ March board meeting. They were generally opposed to the proposed phase-out of Carver, a failing school run directly by the Recovery School District, and its replacement with two charter high schools to be run by Collegiate. The […]