SciTech Academy said faculty member stopped working there the day after the alleged incident.
Author Archives: 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.
Posted inInside the News Room
National journalism organization dedicates support for The Lens’ lawsuit against city
The $10,000 grant announced today will help finance the ongoing battle over purchasing records that the city refuses to release.
Posted inSchools
School Board signs no-bid contract for monitoring state tests at some campuses
Two people will visit the schools on one of the days of testing next week.
Posted inSchools
Education panelists applaud progress while recognizing need for more growth
Orleans superintendent, other education leaders also discuss unification, transparency at forum
Posted inSchools
Enhanced test monitoring at RSD charters likely will be less than promised
Leaders of 20 charter-school organizations pledged to hire outside monitors to oversee all four days of state testing, but it appears that most will pay for only one day. Further, none of the charter groups contacted by The Lens sought competitive bids for the work, which school officials said could run up to $4,250 per day per school, most of which will go to one company.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City to appeal Lens’ public-records victory, keeping purchasing records hidden
A judge granted the city of New Orleans’ request Monday to put on hold his order to provide public records of city spending requested by The Lens until the city can appeal his ruling from last month. At a March 18 hearing, Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese ordered the city to immediately produce its […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Ruling for The Lens, judge orders city to release its full purchasing database
City was resisting because it said sloppy record keeping meant private information could be exposed.
Posted inInvestigations, Schools
ReNEW leaders, including current CEO, sat on special-ed complaints
ReNEW Schools’ top administrators and current CEO knew about unethical and possibly illegal special-education practices at one of their charter schools months before alerting the state Department of Education, newly released documents show. Current CEO Colleen Mackay received a four-page laundry list of misdeeds and questionable actions on Jan. 31, 2015, when she served as […]
Posted inSchools
Like BESE, Orleans School Board sidesteps a decision on student funding
Board members say such decisions are in the hands of the superintendent, not them.
Posted inInvestigations, Schools
After cheating report, ReNEW board begins work of reform; whistleblower policy set
Governance committee meeting starts with the basics; new policy encourages anonymous tips