To inform voters and provide a broad platform for candidate debate, The Lens and our partners at WWNO-FM are presenting conversations with candidates in the Orleans Parish School Board races. Lens reporter Jessica Williams is hosting the events, which are airing on WWNO for the three Sunday nights before the election, at 9 p.m. The […]
Tag: Orleans Parish School Board
Posted inInvestigations, Schools
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 […]
Posted inSchools
Orleans Parish School Board approves $42 million budget
Update, 9:36 p.m. The story has been updated to reflect the board’s budget approval. The Orleans Parish School Board approved a near $42 million general fund budget* today, close to a 5 percent decrease since last year. The decrease mainly stems from (1) a drop in expected costs associated with the August merger of McDonogh No. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
And they're off! OPSB candidates approach the starting gate
Qualifying begins today for candidates seeking seats on the Orleans Parish School Board. At issue are basic questions of governance including whether schools that now answer to the state’s Recovery School District will be returned to local control, making this one of the more pivotal elections in recent memory. Six of the board’s seven incumbents […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
State lifts OPSB financial status; will charters remain wary?
The Orleans Parish School Board has finally escaped a state designation that has stigmatized it for the past eight years. Its financial status is no longer deemed “high-risk,” board president Thomas Robichaux announced Thursday. The state Department of Education first slapped the high-risk label on the School Board in 2004, after the then-bankrupt district was […]
Posted inSchools
BESE makes clear how charters that perform well can leave RSD
Update, 9:45 p.m.: BESE has accepted the Recovery School District’s outline of transfer to local control policies. The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education received and approved a plan by the Recovery School District Wednesday on a process for transferring schools back to the Orleans Parish School Board The plan is expected to ease several […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
School board agrees to put archived meetings online
Archived videos of Orleans Parish School Board meetings will be available on the board’s website, members decided at their Tuesday night meeting, but not without spirited debate. An amended disadvantaged-business policy was also approved, and the board agreed to the deletion of 21 positions from the payroll. In what’s become a customary alliance, board members […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Legal problem haunts head of School Board's DBE program
The executive director of the Orleans Parish School Board’s disadvantaged business program pleaded guilty in 2000 to a count of misdemeanor theft, a lesser charge than the five felony counts of insurance fraud he was charged with initially. Armer Bright, 48, didn’t disclose his criminal record when he applied for the director position, school board […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
School Board cuts 21 positions, citing federal funding shortfall
The Orleans Parish School Board is planning to cut 21 positions for the coming school year, officials announced Thursday. The cuts, which will include teachers, social workers, clerical assistants, and other positions, are largely due to nearly $2 million in federal funding reductions, namely from Title I and special-education reimbursements. Two teachers will lose their […]
Posted inSchools
School Board put off decision on disadvantaged-business policy
After a heated discussion, the Orleans Parish School Board delayed Tuesday night a decision on modifications to its disadvantaged business enterprise program. The program is intended to help socially or economically disadvantaged businesses to compete in, and obtain, contracts with the School Board. The City of New Orleans has a similar program, as does the […]