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 […]
Category: Schools
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 inSchools
Live blog recap: OPSB to get $3.8 million more by keeping tax rate
The Orleans Parish School Board decided Tuesday night to allow its May tax increase to stand rather than cut it due to higher-than-expected property assessments. That means Orleans schools will get $3.8 million more from taxpayers next year than anticipated. The board also approved two charter school applications and set the millage rate for its […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
"A" grade SPS celebrated, while finance committee reports "We still got money"
The 19 minute F.A.M.E. Inc. board meeting this Saturday began with the Audubon Charter School’s Principal Janice Dupuy updating the board on her and Assistant Principal Dawn Collins’ recent attendance at the COMPASS School Leader Evaluator Training in Baton Rouge. The training program concentrated on the Common Core, a program that focuses on elevating expectations […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Disruptive students expelled; RSD and city offer "no help" on safety issues
At its monthly board meeting the Choice Foundation unanimously voted to remain under the Recovery School District and not return to the Orleans Parish School Board at the end of the 2012–13 school year. The Choice board governs Lafayette Academy, which was one of more than a dozen schools eligible to move under the oversight […]
Posted inSchools
Bids to rebuild 6 schools come in $13 million over OPSB budget
Orleans Parish School Board staffers said Thursday that bids to rebuild six schools exceeded their budget by $13 million. The shortfall was largely due to higher costs of labor and materials, said Herman Taitt, who heads the district’s capital projects office. These projects are in the first phase of the $2 billion master plan to […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
A clean audit is completed, but transportation issues still frustrate
The governing board at Ben Franklin High School, Advocates for Academic Excellence in Education, received a positive audit report, and grappled with lingering transportation issues at their Nov. 15 meeting. Representatives from the Bourgeois Bennett accounting firm, who conducted an independent audit of the school’s finances, reported a “clean” result. This designation was defined as […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Lacking quorum, NOMMA board will reschedule meeting
The New Orleans Military and Maritime Academy could not reach a quorum at its monthly meeting Thursday night. Heavy traffic over the Crescent City Connection prevented two board members from reaching the school’s west bank campus. Members Terry Ebbert, Jack Bergman, Marcellus Grace and W. David Whiddon were present, two shy of a quorum. As […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Pride receives clean audit; full-time counselor heightens morale
Pride College Preparatory Academy’s board of directors met Tuesday night and received a clean audit. The school received an unqualified opinion, a clean audit, from Carr, Riggs & Ingram. Michael Richard, school leader, said Pride has begun to use Louisiana State University for special education evaluations. He said next year they would partner with LSU […]