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

 

The Orleans Parish School Board held its regular monthly Board Business Meeting on Wednesday, May 14, 2014, in the Auditorium of McDonogh 35 HS.  

 

The agenda and all back-up materials may be read here. OPSBrief has outlined the agenda items below.

 

OPSB meetings are usually shown live and also on replays via Cox Cable Channel 8. After a few days, video replays may be seen on OPSB's website.
 

 

***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***
REPORT FROM MAY 14 OPSB BUSINESS MEETING

Superintendent's Agenda

Received reports from the Administration, recognized achievements, and thanked sponsors
  • Students of the Year Recognition
    • Students were recognized and will be presented with cash scholarships (see Action Items)
      • First place District Winners also spoke to the Board about their personal goals and aspirations
    • 12th Grade
      • District Winner
        • Luke Tang - Benjamin Franklin HS
      • District Runners Up
        • Geneisha Buggage - Warren Easton Charter HS
        • Tierra Green - Edna Karr Secondary School
        • Tiara Jones - McDonogh 35 HS
        • Cheyenne Kametani - Rider - Lusher Charter HS
        • Niquana Smith - Eleanor McMain Secondary School
    • 8th Grade
      • District Winner
        • Aulbani Beauregard - McDonogh 35 MS
      • District Runner Up
        • Faith Burke - Benjamin Franklin ES
    • 5th Grade
      • District Winner
        • Alfred Ripoll, IV - Benjamin Franklin ES
      • District Runners Up
        • Camarin Bennett - Mary McLeod Bethune ES
        • Ellen Rogers - Lusher Charter School
    • 12th Grade student with perfect attendance for the year received by random draw a new 2014 Scion xD car from Premier Automotive
      • Jataghi Williams - Warren Easton Charter HS
    • Each runner up with perfect attendance receives a scholarship award from one of several sponsors
  • Legislative Youth Advisory Council Leadership Award Presentation
    • Peer to peer recognition for outstanding leadership and citizenship
      • Rebecca Wang - Benjamin Franklin HS
    • Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat NBA team sponsored donations of 1500 books for local school libraries, especially geared to middle grades
    • Reflects Mr. Wade's personal commitment to encouraging literacy 
Announcement 
Distributed a report without comment
Committee Reports 
Received written reports from Committee chairpersons
  • Accountability Committee
  • Property Committee
  • Legal and Legislative Committee
  • Policy Committee
  • Budget and Finance Committee
 
Action Items 
Received and discussed recommendations from Administration and took action as indicated
  • Replacement of Chillers at Warren Easton HS
    • Awarded contract by public bids - Arc Mechanical - $247,500 - DBE = 35%
    • Existing chillers deteriorated from being under salt water during 2005 flood
  • Students of the Year Cash Scholarships
    • Approved cash scholarships from private donations
    • 12th Grade - $750 each
    • 8th Grade - $100 each
    • 5th Grade - $50 each
  • Surplus Property Recommendations
    • Approved recommendations
      • Removes Armstrong (former McDonogh 19) from surplus list
      • Landbanked properties currently used as swing spaces or for other purposes will be considered for surplus list at a future date
      • Other properties available for sale
        • Charters by law and policy can offer to purchase at fair market value
    • Administration to follow process under Board policy to dispose and/or reconsider properties
      • Next auction possible for August 2014
      • Proceeds from sales are placed in the Capital Budget for new property acquisition and/or other capital projects 
  • Amendments to Architectural Contracts and/or construction change orders
    • Approved the proposals
      • Audubon - Broadway Renovations
        • Blitch-Knevel Architects - additional engineering services due to contractor's non-conforming steel - $297,000
      • Karr Gym Stabilization
        • Increase scope of work to include repairs to sub-surface drainage - $55,910
      • McMain Stabilization
        • Jahncke & Burns Architects - True-up of project costs plus extra engineering services - $682,698
      • McDonogh 35 Stabilization 
        • Add to scope new items required by State Fire Marshal - $51,708
  • 2014/15 OPSB Facility Plan
    • Approved the plan
    • Refers to annual review of building utilization
    • Includes future designation of Plessy ES to Tureaud Campus (former Couvent & former Marigny)
  • Assignment of Bethune ES to the Bradley Campus
    • Approved the assignment
    • Bradley transferred to OPSB in recent agreement with RSD
    • Schedule completion of new building is by the end of 2014-2015 School Session
  • 2013-2014 Pupil Progression Plan Addendum
    • Approved the change as recommended
    • Regarding summer remediation and certain waivers of high stakes testing
    • Provides process for this summer regarding certain students having the opportunity for transitional 5th and 9th grade programs
    • State initiative to reduce large number of over-aged students and potential dropouts when students pass courses but fail high-stakes tests 
    • Development of 2014-2015 PPP forthcoming
  • Academic Performance Framework
    • Deferred the item to June Board Business Meeting to allow more time to work out concerns
    • Parallel frameworks for Financial and Organizational Performance were adopted by OPSB in February 2014
    • Framework was amended to reflect various viewpoints of various types of charters 

    • Implementation process is under development and will be forthcoming

    • Presentations were made by four charter school leaders

      • Einstein Charter ES requested deferral to allow for more discussion on how to address situations like theirs whereby they took over a nearby failing RSD school and should be allowed a few years to fully transition the school to a high performing one like the original Einstein

        • State had combined the two schools under one school code

        • School has both high poverty and high English Language Learner populations

      • Easton HS commended the draft and suggested that needed improvements to the process could either be made prior to adoption or during the implementation development

      • Bricolage Academy spoke in favor of the framework, saying it can be approved now and tweaked in the implementation process

      • Moton Charter ES asked for a deferral to address the need for schools to be judged on how they improve and progress not on how they compare to city-wide averages, given the variances in demographics and admission standards across the city

    • In response, district charter school staff expressed a preference for approving the proposal and tweaking it in implementation, but said that a deferral to work out concerns was acceptable and would not jeopardize the program

Legal Matters 
Recessed into Executive Session to discuss litigation, reconvened in Open Session and took action as indicated
  • Worker's compensation case
    • Approved General Counsel's recommendation for a revised settlement
 
This service is made possible by support from the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools and funding from the
Robert Reily Family Trust and the Smith/Cooper Foundation