State and district school officials argue that they’ve complied with a 2015 federal civil-rights judgment. But lawyers representing students who still aren’t getting adequate special ed services say that school officials may be complying with the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it.
Council members say they feel beholden to the November agreement that they’d forged with the school board. And though the mayor backed out of the proposal, citing a tight city budget, council members see no worrisome shortfalls ahead, they say.
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High winds on Mardi Gras Day truncated Rex’s route and kept Zulu from downtown New Orleans, taking a toll on business owners and on local school bands, which went unpaid for Zulu and other weather-affected parades. Then Rex announced that it would pay the bands booked for its parade, raising questions about the history of band payments from krewes – and why those payments matter.
New Orleans band directors must see band as a small business, if they want to provide students — especially students in this high-poverty city — with instruments, uniforms, daily bus rides, food after parades, and all the tools they need to boost musicianship.
While recent furor has focused on the city’s fumbled $20 million deal with the Orleans Parish School Board, district leaders say it’s more important to stop the city from taking a “collection fee” off the top of school tax payments.
OPSB had sued because the city was skimming a portion off of the top of its OPSB tax payments; district officials agreed to settle last year, when the School Board realized it was facing a $36 million deficit.
What Louisiana's school letter grades don’t tell us about school quality. Despite our F grade, the students at Noble Minds are not failing, and we are not failing our students.
Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men closed Friday, and its students are now frantically trying to find spots to finish out the school year. Parents say that the school’s mid-year closing was a tragedy that could have been foreseen – and prevented.
Four city schools are likely to close. Budget shortfall could top $49 million.
