Drive by a school zone light at random in the city of New Orleans on a weekday and there’s about a 50 percent chance it works. And that’s an improvement. The number of broken lights has slowly dropped in three field surveys by The Lens, but the city hasn’t come close to repairing them all, as a city official promised in July.
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 inSchools
Superintendent of Orleans Parish schools begins series of community meetings
Parents and other community members invited tonight to 6 p.m. event at Audubon Charter School.
Posted inSchools
With new contract, state starts process of creating new standardized test for spring
Department of Education picks longtime testing company for contract valued at $3.1 million.
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
New Orleans College Prep opening Head Start program, may grow into Hoffman elementary
When a Treme charter school shut down this summer, New Orleans College Prep CEO Ben Kleban had plans for the school’s vacant portable classrooms buildings — build a new school from scratch.
Posted inSchools
Parents won’t get first Common Core test results until November
For the first time since 1999, the state does not have a standardized-testing contractor, forcing it to manually check and refine 640,000 scores on the new, controversial tests given this spring. State, school and district results will be available before the BESE primary election.
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
School Board attorney takes issue with property opinion from charter’s lawyer
Lycee Francais board and counsel were considering a plan to have a third party buy Priestly site.
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Plessy Community School buys Hansberry site
As a Type 1 charter, school is responsible for getting its own facility.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Judge tells city to begin providing purchasing-database records to The Lens
More public records regarding the spending of taxpayer money will follow.
Posted inInside the News Room
The Lens heads back to court against city, trying to get database of spending
Even after newsroom granted the city a lengthy extension, public records still not available.
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Foundation Prep attracts enough students to make it through first year, board told
Only 16 students were registered when doors opened last month. The student body is now at 38.