Charter School votes to return to OPSB governance
15th December 2014 · 0 Comments
By Kari Dequine Harden
Contributing Writer
In a historic vote, the Friends of King Schools charter board unanimously decided last week to return Dr. King Charter School to local governance under the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB).
King will be the first of 57 schools to leave the Recovery School District (RSD) after the past nine years of sweeping reform that turned the city into the experimental grounds for the nation’s first entirely privatized urban public school district.
After changing the legal definition of “failing,” the RSD took over the majority of the city’s schools in 2006 and either closed them or handed them over to private charter operators to manage.
The OPSB currently directly runs six of the city’s 83 schools, and oversees 14 charter schools.
“I think this was the right decision, and very bold,” said OPSB member Ira Thomas. “To me it marks the beginning of the reunification of the Orleans Parish education system, and bringing the schools back under one system and one governance model.”
Friends of King Schools board attorney Tracie Washington said that the school is very excited, and called the move a “sign of hope” in recruiting other schools to return.
The King Charter Management Organization (CMO) is one of the few in the city that is dominated by educators and administrators who worked in the city prior to Hurricane Katrina.
Going back to the OPSB is going home for many of the faculty, and coming “out of the abyss,” Washington said.
Washington noted that the RSD was only meant to be a temporary hold on failing schools, and that the process to return the schools to their home district has become “so embastardized.”
This year, 36 schools are eligible for return.
“I believe other charters will see the door had been opened by King’s vote to return, and will take the decision to return more seriously,” Thomas said. “I believe others will follow suit.”
The RSD released the following statement: “We congratulate the students, teachers, and leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School for their success in the past eight years. Once a struggling school, King achieved a letter grade of B in this most recent school year, validating the decision to place the school in the Recovery School District years ago and to empower its board and school leaders to run an autonomous charter school. Per state law, schools that return to OPSB must remain open to all applicants, must continue to participate in OneApp, and must continue to provide free transportation for all students. We expect that under the governance of the Orleans Parish School Board, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Charter School will continue to open its doors to all students of all backgrounds and all needs. We look forward to working with BESE, OPSB, and the Friends of King school board on this transition.”
However the RSD also pointed to breach in the enrollment policies regarding a student who was asked to provide information that is confidential. It was this breach that related to the RSD’s decision to only recommend for King a renewal of five years on their contract instead of seven as was expected. The OPSB will offer seven years.
Washington denies any wrongdoing related to the alleged breach. “I’m not fixing anything when there was no breach,” she said.
Washington said that the board never received an initial letter of concern as is proper procedure, and that the RSD would not provide any mechanism for which the board could defend itself against the alleged breach.
According to the RSD, the Friends of King board asked a student for information regarding a juvenile justice system record which neither the student nor the student’s family should have been asked provide. Washington said that they simply requested some background information to help ensure the student, who had an ankle-monitoring bracelet, was going to be safe. “We like to know what’s going on so we can keep the child safe,” she said.
After the student was enrolled at King, Washington said the family then demanded door-to-door transportation, which the school was not able to provide. The school gave the family a list of bus stops, Washington said.
After that, Washington said that she visited the student’s home to find out why the student was not at school. Because the student did not show up for classes, the student was listed as a “no show.”
According to the RSD, the school must complete several steps by Dec. 19 to address the breach and return to good standing.
But Washington said it was another enrollment issue that was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in their strained relationship with the RSD.
Washington said that another school, Joseph S. Clark High School, illegally refused to accommodate a severely disabled student. The student was then sent to King by the RSD, without any reprimand given to Clark. Because of an oversized wheelchair and King being still housed in trailers, Washington said they simply could not provide the physical means necessary to accommodate the student. The King school never denied the student enrollment to the school.
Washington said that when she tried to communicate this to the RSD, she was told to “just stick the student in the cafeteria until they figured it out.” Washington said she was infuriated by the suggestion, and infuriated that Clark was not penalized for refusing the disabled student.
While the King School has been eligible to return in past years, Washington said that recent changes to allow the charter schools to retain their LEA (Legal Educational Authority) status was key. In addition, Washington said they feel confident that the OPSB will soon be selecting a new superintendent.
At the November board meeting, the King board voted to stay with the RSD. At the December meeting, they reversed course and voted to return to the OPSB.
The lack of a permanent superintendent has been a concern stated by numerous charter schools as they vote whether or not to return.
Thomas said that the board met with several new candidates last Wednesday, and that the initial feedback was positive.
A superintendent should have been chosen months ago, Thomas said, but the voting block of Sarah Usdin, Seth Bloom, and Woody Koppel refused in August to approve either of the two finalists selected by an outside national search firm.
Stan Smith has served as the interim Superintendent for close to two and a half years.
Thomas said that he had initially wanted to focus on a more local search, but other board members insisted on a national search. But even after conceding to the national search – Usdin, Bloom, and Koppel still blocked the selection of a new superintendent. Thomas called the blockage of the selection by the three board members “inexcusable and reprehensible.”
“I thought we were all committed to the process,” Thomas said.
While there are deep divisions in the board, Thomas points to their successes. The schools have in no way suffered in the course of the search for a new superintendent, he said. “We haven’t missed a beat in terms of meeting the needs of the children and of the direct-run and charter schools.”
The continuing power struggle between the OPSB and the RSD has no precedent and an uncertain future.
While it was designed to be a temporary entity, the RSD does not appear to have any intention of leaving the city or their well-paid positions any time soon.
According to The Lens, the OPSB met privately last week to consider suing the RSD to prevent them from opening new schools, specifically John McDonogh High School and Sarah T. Reed High School.
In October, the OPSB passed a resolution stating that the RSD does not have the authority to open new schools. Six members voted in favor of the resolution. The consistently pro-RSD Usdin left for the vote.
In an interview with The Times-Picayune, RSD Deputy Superintendent Dana Peterson said of the resolution that: “We disagree with that, of course. We think we have the legal authority to open new schools or transform schools or close down schools.”
The financial aspect of the power struggle was taken to a new level when voters passed legislation on Dec. 6 to allow the RSD to remain in control of millions of dollars in annual taxpayer dollars allocated for facility maintenance until 2025.
Unlike the RSD recent history of audits, the OPSB’s most recent audit was relatively clean. Questionable expenses totaled less than $1,000.
After some unfavorable audits in 2013 related to egregious over-billing in construction costs and a significant amount of “missing” property, the RSD sent a memo to all central staff instructing them not to answer questions or requests for information from the state auditor or New Orleans Inspector General.
But while few disagree that the OPSB has a notorious pre-Katrina reputation, Thomas stands firmly behind the OPSB of today.
He noted the balanced budget and high bond ratings. “Nothing is being neglected,” Thomas said.
Thomas said one thing board members can do better is to communicate the successes of the OPSB to the charter operators facing the decision to return.
“I encourage them to talk to the other [OPSB] charters about the level of support from the OPSB,” Thomas said. “We need to answer their questions and resolve their fears. The OPSB schools continue to be at the top of the state.”
The final decision still must be approved by the state, but Thomas said he sees no reason for the state not to go forward with the approval for King to return to local governance. Daily operations at King will still be run by the Friends of King, but under OPSB oversight.
This article originally published in the December 15, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
