Author: Marta Jewson

About Marta Jewson: Marta Jewson covers education in New Orleans for The Lens. She began her reporting career covering charter schools for The Lens and helped found the hyperlocal news site Mid-City Messenger. Jewson returned to New Orleans in the fall of 2014 after covering education for the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with majors in journalism and social welfare and a concentration in educational policy studies. Jewson has covered New Orleans schools for 15 years through the nation's largest education reform experiment. She was a founding member of the outlet's Charter School Reporting Corps and was instrumental in holding schools accountable to sunshine laws during the rapid expansion of charter schools in the city.

The decision to seek filters that screen microbes has raised the cost and delayed installation.

School Performance Scores for about 65 percent of schools are down since 2014.

After it closes next spring, just three traditional schools will remain in the city.

A board committee voted to close the school and hand the building over to Dryades YMCA, which operates a nearby charter school.

Dryades would move younger students at James M. Singleton Charter School to the site.

Schools run by the Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District received a C this year.

This is the second time in two years the school has been cited for enrollment violations.

If the filters are installed properly, the tests should not detect any lead. School leaders decided not to test the water before installing filters.

School officials planned to test water, but they changed course after the water board raised questions.

The children can stay, but the state won’t pay for their education this year.

Our reporting has more urgency than ever.