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This report is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools 
 

Greetings!


Officials of the Orleans Parish School Board held a meeting at Edna Karr High School at 5:30 p.m. February 23, 2012, to discuss with parents and staff the future of their two Type 4 charter schools- Edna Karr High School and Alice M. Harte Charter School. 
 
At least two other such meetings are planned, beginning the week of March 5. Specifics as to date and time will be announced soon. 
 
OPSB was represented by School Board Vice-President Lourdes Moran, Superintendent Darryl Kilbert, General Counsel Ed Morris, CFO Stan Smith, and Charter School Executive Director Kathleen Padian. The panel made oral reports to those in attendance and answered questions from the audience. They emphasized that it was early in the transition process and that many details have not yet been finalized, and that OPSB intends to keep parents, school administrators, teachers and community members engaged in the process. 

A detailed summary of the proceedings follows. 

 

***This email is created by Ken Ducote and Rose Drill-Peterson on behalf of the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools and is not an official correspondence from the Orleans Parish School Board***
COMMUNITY MEETING
Background Information
  • OPSB established Karr and Harte as Type 4 charter schools in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina
  • Type 4 is a special category of charter school in Louisiana whereby the local school board obtains a state charter to operate designated public schools as autonomous charter schools  
  • OPSB then contracted with the Algiers Charter Schools Association (ACSA) to manage the two Type 4 schools under an agreement that expired in August 2010
    • ACSA also has a separate agreement with the Recovery School District (RSD) to manage several of its Type 5 charter schools
    • Karr and Harte have been higher performing schools, thus not eligible for take-over by RSD as Type 5
    • OPSB retained its position as operator of the Type 4 schools and envisioned ACSA as providing "back office" support for the autonomous charters
    • Under its RSD agreement, ACSA is the operator of the Type 5 charters
  • OPSB and ACSA later extended their agreement until August 2011
  • The agreement then expired and has not been successfully renegotiated
  • On February 8, 2012, OPSB notified ACSA that it would pursue other options for managing the Type 4 charters
OPSB Plans - Long Term
  • In early March, OPSB will begin advertising a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a qualified management entity to support Karr and Harte with designated functions covering academics, finances, legal issues and operations; the RFP will be out for 45 days
  • The RFP will envision the schools operating under site-based-management with back-office support from a selected entity
  • ACSA is eligible to submit a response to the RFP in competition with other providers
  • The Karr and Harte communities may request instead that OPSB return the schools back to direct-run status
  • Karr and Harte will be permitted to apply for Type 3 charters pending the formation of a governing non-profit corporation, if they so choose
  • Capital projects are being managed by OPSB through Jacobs/CSRS and are not affected by school operator or management entity
   OPSB Plans - Transitional
  • OPSB and ACSA staff will begin meeting on transitional issues soon
  • Meetings will be held with school staffs to facilitate insurance and other benefit issues
  • Karr and Harte, using site-based-management, may chose to contract with ACSA for support functions
  • Karr and Harte employees are employed by OPSB, not ACSA
  • School principals and other staff will not be changed due to this transition
  • Curriculum, programs, special education, and other activities are not being changed by the transition  
  • The schools still have open enrollment, and no attendance boundaries or admissions standards are being established during the transition
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 This service is made possible by a Community IMPACT 2011 Grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundation.