And the local superintendent of schools wants to convert two of his direct-run schools to charters.
Charter School Board
Algiers Charter School Association
Landry – Walker College and Career Preparatory High School
McDonogh No. 32 Literacy Charter School
Martin Behrman Charter School Academy of Creative Arts and Sciences
Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy of Global Studies
Algiers Technology Academy
State recommends closure of three charter schools in New Orleans
Two New Orleans charters will close next year. Students at one will get special treatment when picking their next school.
If you saw this meeting agenda, you’d never guess this charter board was going to close a school
The agenda said “ATA Charter.” Apparently that means, “Vote to close Algiers Technology Academy.”
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Algiers Charter Schools assigns test-coordinator at each of its six schools
Algiers charter board fires CEO it already let go, hires interim it already announced
Behrman principal to run Algiers charters; status of previous CEO still unanswered
So far, no charter boards have returned their operations to Orleans school board
Algiers Charter School Association considers takeover of Milestone Sabis
State releases elementary and middle-school standardized test scores
Plagiarism on standardized tests three times higher in New Orleans schools than rest of Louisiana
New Orleans schools continue to have a higher rate of plagiarism on standardized tests than the rest of the state. Two factors could be at play: There could be a greater pressure to succeed, and there are more low-scorers in big cities.
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Interim team hired to run Algiers charter group finances as budget process looms
Algiers school group bids for as many as six charters in Baton Rouge and Shreveport areas
Big jumps in enrollment forecast at Landry-Walker and Algiers Tech Academy
Children wait for school buses along some of New Orleans’ busiest thoroughfares
Six-year-old Shaud Wilson was killed last week trying to cross Paris Avenue to get to his bus stop. Around New Orleans, it’s not uncommon for children to wait for their buses along multi-lane roads, including some of the city’s busiest streets.
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ACSA enrollment jump brings millions, but deficit remains; charters extended
Two charter organizations spent about $250,000 on out-of-state professional training
Algiers Charter Schools Association staff went on 19 trips over four years, including five out of state that cost $113,000. And new figures from KIPP New Orleans Schools show that it spent $133,000 on its trip to Las Vegas. All told, The Lens has added up $316,000 in travel for three charter organizations.
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State flags standardized test problems at 17 New Orleans schools in 2012-13
Refusal to return charter schools to OPSB sign of distrust of locally elected boards
Algiers Charter School Association votes to keep three schools with RSD
Algiers charter group hears public input on return to Orleans school board
Live blog: Algiers charter board gets input on moving three schools to local oversight
Algiers charter group holding public hearing about return to school board oversight
More charter schools now eligible to join Orleans Parish School Board, but will any take the leap?
Charter boards overseeing 17 schools must decide by the end of the year if they want to move from the Recovery School District to the Orleans Parish School Board. But there are still reasons for schools to stay put, such as funding issues and concerns about the management and leadership of the local school system.
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Algiers charter group looking outside the city
Behrman community considers site options
Cost of busing students in New Orleans rises as parents exercise school choice
It will cost $30 million to bring students to and from public schools this year, compared to $18 million the year before Katrina. The increase appears to be a consequence of citywide enrollment and the shift from a centrally-run school system. A few schools are working together to negotiate busing contracts.
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Martin Behrman school may move
For some New Orleans students, school choice means pre-dawn bus pickups
Some students who have to travel across town, or across the river, must be at their stop before 6 a.m. Martin Berhman, located on the West Bank, starts picking up kids in eastern New Orleans at 5:42 a.m. Parents say they’re willing to deal with early mornings in order to send their kids to better schools.
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Algiers charter school group facing budget deficit
Check here for Orleans public schools’ opening days
ACSA board hears parent’s complaint about test cheating
State documents detail standardized test cheating, irregularities at New Orleans schools
In three recent testing years, 33 public schools have been flagged for problems and possible cheating on standardized tests — 12 more than once. A testing expert says these irregularities indicate cheating by teachers and administrators, who have a lot riding on their students’ performance.
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Leaders say testing gains will qualify F-rated McDonogh #32 and Fischer for charter renewals
Landry supporters speak out against Walker merger at BESE meeting
Algiers leaders try to bridge divide between Walker and Landry students prior to merger
Walker and Landry merger opponents air frustrations before BESE members
Disagreements on mergers, leadership raise questions over who’s in charge at charters
Education officials have pressed forward with plans to merge two high schools in Algiers over protests from the community. The Algiers Charter School Association has overruled the desires of two schools to return to Orleans Parish oversight. Are charters as responsive to the community as they were envisioned?
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Algiers charter board keeps Morgan as CEO, removes the “interim” from his title
Algiers charter board rejects schools’ return to OPSB
The Algiers Charter Schools Association voted 5-2 Thursday night to keep three schools under Recovery School District jurisdiction, despite months of pleas from many in those school communities to let them go. Improved student test scores at O. Perry Walker High School, Martin Berhman Elementary and Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary made the schools eligible return to Orleans Parish School Board oversight rather than being part of the Recovery School District.
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Will board say yes or no to Orleans Parish School Board control?
The Algiers Charter Schools Association board is poised to vote tomorrow on whether or not to recommend three schools return to Orleans Parish School Board control. Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy, Martin Behrman Elementary School and O. Perry Walker Senior High School are each eligible to leave the Recovery School District due to their students’ improved performance on the state’s standardized tests.
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RSD: Landry and its F grade will dissolve in merger with Walker
For months, officials have described the planned merger between West Bank rivals O. Perry Walker and L.B. Landry high schools as a “unification.”
The new school could have an ecumenical new name: “Landry Walker High School,” planners said. Graduating seniors from the class of 2014 could choose Landry rings or Walker rings.
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RSD: Landry and its F grade will dissolve in merger with Walker
For months, officials have described the planned merger between West Bank rivals O. Perry Walker and L.B. Landry high schools as a “unification.”
The new school could have an ecumenical new name: “Landry Walker High School,” planners said. Graduating seniors from the class of 2014 could choose Landry rings or Walker rings.
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Details of Walker-Landry merger don't alleviate critics' concerns
More than 100 L.B. Landry and O. Perry Walker students, alumni, and parents met with representatives of the Algiers Charter School Association again Wednesday night to discuss a potential plan for a merger of the two West Bank high schools. It was the latest in a series of public forums the ACSA is hosting to receive input on two major changes facing the Walker community and came four days after officials released more details about what a merged school would look like.
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Behrman and Walker firmly oppose continued RSD oversight
Group unveils Walker-Landry merger plan details
A committee tasked with crafting the fall 2013 merger of two Algiers neighborhood high schools faced heated opposition from both school communities again Saturday during a public forum held to lay out a unification plan for O. Perry Walker and L.B. Landry high schools. Saturday’s forum at Behrman Elementary School was one of several community meetings the Algiers Charter Schools Association has planned in response to the Recovery School District’s controversial November 2011 decision to house both Walker and Landry students at a new $54 million facility starting in August of next year.
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Walker community to ACSA board: Let us go and leave us alone
Algiers Charter Schools board meeting cancelled
Money, control and perception are keys as charters consider switch to Orleans Parish School Board
From left, Martin Behrman, Arthur Ashe and KIPP Believe are three campuses that are likely to be eligible to return to the oversight of the Orleans Parish School Board, above. Photo by Jessica Williams
Several more independent charter school leaders soon will find themselves facing a question that several others, including Sophie B. Wright Charter School’s principal, have been grappling with for more than a year: Should we move back under the wing of the Orleans Parish School Board?
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ACSA interim CEO pledges improved communication
Algiers Charter Schools Association interim CEO Adrian Morgan presented a plan for improved communication, collaboration, and coordination at the association’s board meeting Thursday night at Algiers Technology Academy. Morgan, who has been on the job for only 14 days, pointed to meetings with community groups, parents, and staff as a key to overcoming the strained relationships the charter organization has faced in recent months.
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Association board reviews school budgets; final numbers hinge on enrollment
Spending cuts to counter drop in revenues; slight budget surplus projected
Despite $5.7 million less in federal funding, the Algiers Charter School Association forecasts a budget surplus for the 2012-13 school year, in contrast to its $1.3 million budget deficit in 2011-12. Most of the decline in federal revenues stems from diminished Title 1 funding and an expired Teacher Incentive Grant.
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Algiers Charter Schools Association releases prospective 2012-13 budgets
Association schools face slide in revenues as budgets are released for public review
Concerned about personnel issues, protesters mass at closed board meeting
As the Algiers Charter School Association board met behind closed doors Thursday night, a crowd of parents, teachers, and students gathered to protest controversial staffing changes. Some in the crowd at the school association’s central office were protesting the fate of O. Perry Walker principal Mary Laurie, who faces transfer to the failing Algiers Technical Academy.
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ACSA puts controversial personnel moves on hold after crowd chants: “Raza must go”
More than 300 members of the Algiers community gathered at the McDonogh 32 Literacy Charter School to speak out against recent firings and the transfer of successful principals to failing schools within the charter organization. A call and response chant of “Raza must go” and “erase the board” came following the end of an unofficial public comment section and disrupted the regularly scheduled Algiers Charter School Association board meeting Thursday, June 28.
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Orleans Parish School Board raises concerns over terminated employees in Algiers Charter Schools system
The first round of cuts has surfaced from the Algiers Charter School Association’s bid to improve student performance by terminating and moving around principals, and so far, it’s not only principals who’ve been targeted. At least one termination, at Edna Karr High School, is in violation of the Orleans Parish School Board’s contract with the charter school group, School Board officials say.
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Interim CEO and academic officer named – to mixed response; enrollment rises
Algiers Charter Schools Association’s board has approved Stuart Gay, the association’s chief financial officer, to serve as interim chief executive officer of the charter management organization, succeeding Andrea Thomas-Reynolds who did not seek to renew her contract. The board’s action, at its May 23 monthly meeting, was greeted with applause from the audience.
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Optional retirement program approved for teachers and staff; Karr and Harte remain in fold
Trustees of the Algiers Charter School Association have approved the Hartman Group as provider of the optional 403(b) retirement program for school employees. The approval, at the board’s monthly meeting, April 26, followed a state attorney general’s opinion earlier in the week that the Louisiana Constitution precludes charter schools from leaving the Teachers’ Retirement System of Louisiana.
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New formula keeps more dollars in schools; ACSA to manage Karr, Harte through next year
The Algiers Charter School Association board met March 22 to discuss a new formula for capping the administrative fee it retains from state funds awarded to the schools it manages. Under the previous formula, the association’s central office could retain up to 8.65 percent of a school’s Minimum Foundation Program allocation (the per-student amount allotted by the state) plus the school’s “special revenues,” such as teacher incentive funds and the like.
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Amid benefits uncertainties, board tells staff: We're not going to leave you in the lurch
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect the fact that board president Cassandra Bookman did not say the quote previously attributed to her. It has also been amended and corrected to reflect key points about teachers retirement benefits.
The Algiers Charter School Association met Tuesday night with a crowd of about 100 parents, teachers, and community members to discuss the transition to new management of both Alice M. Harte Elementary and Edna Karr High School.
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Students eligible for private-school voucher
The state Department of Education today released the list of New Orleans schools eligible to participate in its voucher program. The program, called the Scholarships for Educational Excellence Program, has for the past three years offered low-income students from low-performing public schools the chance to attend the private school of their choice, with the state paying the bill for tuition and fees.
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New retirement plan and techno contract are under study; public presses for transparency
Landry alums fight merger plan, as RSD grapples with shrunken Algiers enrollment projection
Teachers fight layoffs as board targets deficits
Just outside the gates of the navy base that was formerly a pillar of the Algiers neighborhood, teachers wonder what their future might be in a rapidly changing school system. The Algiers Charter School Association, which now runs eight schools in the community, is looking to cut 30 positions to keep a balanced budget and could end participation in the state retirement system, starting next fall.