Several New Orleans charter schools, set to open in 2008-09, have found homes. The Recovery School District has assigned campuses to start-up charter groups by tapping two unused district buildings, one under renovation; a couple of modular campuses; and, in another case, leased space owned by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The location of another charter hasn't been determined. The schools are open-enrollment and don't have admissions criteria.
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FROM DECEMBER 2007: A Louisiana board of education committee has recommended the approval of eight charter schools to open in New Orleans next year, including the state's first single-sex charters.
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EARLIER: Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek is expected to recommend to the state board of education that it grant eight new charters for schools in New Orleans. Proposed charter schools drawing Pastorek's backing include a pair of all-male schools and two schools proposed by Knowledge is Power Program, or KIPP, which runs three college-prep schools in New Orleans. Forty charter schools now are operating in New Orleans. The Orleans Parish School Board oversees 12, and 26 are in the state-run Recovery School District. Two schools operate under state-approved charters.
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FROM OCTOBER 2007: A teachers union report on New Orleans schools says there is little evidence that charter schools are helping to rectify long-standing inequities. The report, "Reading, Writing and Reality Check," released by the United Teachers of New Orleans, Louisiana Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers, says test results at charters schools have been mixed. With the post-flood takeover of schools by the state of Louuisina and the proliferation of charter schools, the union, long a critic of the charter schools and other methods of school choice, lost its collective bargaining rights in New Orleans schools. Since then, the union has frequently criticized the state takeover and charter school movement.
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