[News] Major Challenges of New Orleans Charter Schools Exposed at NAACP Hearing
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Tue Apr 25 11:31:51 EDT 2017
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/25/major-challenges-of-new-orleans-charter-schools-exposed-at-naacp-hearing/
Major Challenges of New Orleans Charter Schools Exposed at NAACP Hearing
by Bill Quigley <http://www.counterpunch.org/author/bill-quigley/> -
April 25, 2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Orleans is the nation’s largest and most complete experiment in
charter schools. After Hurricane Katrina, the State of Louisiana took
control of public schools in New Orleans
<https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/08/18/lessons-from-new-orleans-post-katrina-charter-school-experiment>
and launched a nearly complete
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2017/04/no_charter_schools_new_orleans.html>
transformation of a public school system into a system of charter
schools. Though there are spots of improvement
<https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/08/18/lessons-from-new-orleans-post-katrina-charter-school-experiment>
in the New Orleans charter system, major problems remain.
Many of these problems were on display in New Orleans when the NAACP,
which last year called for a moratorium on charter schools
<http://www.naacp.org/latest/statement-regarding-naacps-resolution-moratorium-charter-schools/>
until issues of accountability and transparency were addressed, held a
community forum in New Orleans on charters. The New Orleans hearing,
which can be viewed here
<http://www.theroot.com/the-naacp-will-learn-the-pain-associated-with-charter-s-1794108582>,
featured outraged students, outraged parents, and dismayed community
members
<http://www.theroot.com/the-naacp-will-learn-the-pain-associated-with-charter-s-1794108582>
reciting a litany of the problems created by the massive change to a
charter school system. The single most powerful moment came when a
group of students from Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools
<http://www.therethinkers.org/about.html> took the podium and detailed
the many ways the system has failed and excluded them from participating
in its transformation.
“We really wanted to share what happens in our schools” writes 18 year
old Big Sister Love Rush in an article on the challenges the students
face
<http://therethinkers.tumblr.com/post/159936251024/my-school-is-closed-for-business>.
“How the few permanent teachers we have work so hard for us, how so many
classes are ran by short term substitutes, how food runs out at meal
times, and how we worry if our school’s reputation is good enough to
support us in getting into the college or careers we want. We shared
how we face two hour commutes to and from school, are forced to
experiment with digital learning with systems like Odyssey, are punished
for having the wrong color sweater, or how we worry about being able to
attend a school that will give us the education we need.”
In summary, the NAACP heard that they charter system remains highly
segregated by race and economic status. Students have significantly
longer commutes to and from school. The percentage of African American
teachers has declined dramatically leaving less experienced teachers who
are less likely to be accredited and less likely to remain in the
system. The costs of administration have gone up while resources for
teaching have declined. Several special select schools have their own
admission process which results in racially and economically different
student bodies. The top administrator of one K-12 system of three
schools is paid over a quarter of a million dollars. Students with
disabilities have been ill served. Fraud and mismanagement, which
certainly predated the conversion to charter schools, continue to occur.
Thousands of students are in below average schools. Students and
parents feel disempowered and ignored by the system.
The birthing of the charter system occurred in 2005 when the community
was displaced by Katrina. Control of the public school system was taken
away from a board which had an elected majority of African American
officials and was given to the white majority board of the state system
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2015/09/03/katrina-swept-away-new-orleans-school-system-ushering-in-new-era/?utm_term=.d2fee250085b>.
The first casualty of the abrupt change was the termination of the
South’s largest local union
<http://www.afsaadmin.org/7000-fired-new-orleans-unionized-school-workers-headed-for-big-payday/>
and the firing of over 7000 most African American female teachers
<https://neworleans.edweek.org/veteran-black-female-teachers-fired/>.
Attorney Willie Zanders told the NAACP of the years of struggle for
those teachers which, though initially successful
<http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2014/01/7000_new_orleans_teachers_laid.html>,
ended in bitter defeat
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/05/supreme_court_denies_katrina_t.html>
years later. The city’s veteran black educators were replaced by
younger, less qualified white teachers from Teach for America and Teach
NOLA <http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0895904815616485>.
The change to charters reduced the percentage of black teachers from 74
percent to 51 percent
<http://hechingerreport.org/not-controls-schools-matters-whether-care-equity/>.
There are now fewer experienced teachers
<http://educationresearchalliancenola.org/files/publications/ERA-Policy-Brief-Changes-in-the-New-Orleans-Teacher-Workforce.pdf>,
fewer accredited teachers, fewer local teachers, and more teachers who
are likely to leave than before Katrina. Five charter schools have tried
to unionize
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/03/27/coghill-teachers-are-the-latest-to-unionize-at-a-new-orleans-charter-school/>
with United Teachers of New Orleans. Though two schools cooperated, two
other charters have said they are exempt from NLRB – a position rejected
by the National Labor Relations Board
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/02/01/national-labor-board-rules-that-two-charter-schools-in-new-orleans-can-be-unionized/>.
One of those charter schools shut out the public in 2016 by meeting
privately and online
<http://thelensnola.org/2016/08/04/how-lushers-school-board-shut-out-the-public-in-dealing-with-teachers-union-drive/>
over how to respond to unionization efforts.
New Orleans now spends more on administration and less on teaching
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/01/17/study-says-new-orleans-schools-spend-more-on-administration-and-less-on-teaching-after-charter-transformation/>
than they did before Katrina. One charter school executive, who
oversees one K-12 school on three campuses, was paid $262,000 in 2014
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/04/new_orleans_charter_salaries.html#incart_river_index>.
At least 62 other charter execs made more than $100,000. This compares
with the salary of $138,915 for the superintendent of all the public
schools in Baton Rouge
<http://www1.salary.com/LA/School-Superintendent-salary.html>.
Admissions have been dramatically changed. In the new system, there is
no longer any right to attend the neighborhood school. 86% no longer
attend the school closest
<http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/01/15/376966406/a-new-study-reveals-much-about-how-parents-really-choose-schools>
to their homes. Siblings do not automatically go to the same school,
and no one is guaranteed a spot at their local school. Many families
are frustrated
<http://www.nola.com/futureofneworleans/2015/09/diverse_schools_new_orleans_fa_1.html>
by the admission process.
Seven select high performing schools
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/11/oneapp_basics_parents.html>
do not use the system wide application process, called ONE APP. The
“lotteries” run by these super select schools are not transparent but
complex screening devices
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/05/exclusive_public_schools_nola.html>.
The most selective, highest performing, and well-funded charter
schools have many more white children attending them than the system as
a whole as a result of special non-transparent admission processes
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/05/exclusive_public_schools_nola.html>.
This is so well known that a local newspaper article headlined its
article about some of the schools as “How 3 top New Orleans public
schools keep students out
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/05/exclusive_public_schools_nola.html>.”
This special admission process has significant racial impact. Most white
students in public schools attend selective public schools
<http://hechingerreport.org/isnt-desegregation-measure-educational-quality/>
that administer special tests that students must pass to be enrolled.
Tulane University
<http://educationresearchalliancenola.org/news/new-report-released-did-the-new-orleans-school-reforms-increase-segregation>
reported the charter system in New Orleans remains highly segregated in
much the same way as before Katrina. This seems to be reflective in
schools across the country where the charter school movement has been
charged with re-segregating public schools
<http://inthesetimes.com/article/17441/charter_schools_may_actually_be_re_segregating_americas_school_system>.
One select New Orleans charter school, Lusher, reported its student
body
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/05/exclusive_public_schools_nola.html>
was 53% white, 21% economically disadvantaged and 4% special education
in comparison to the overall system which is 7% white, 85% economically
disadvantaged and 11% special education.
Another result of eliminating neighborhood schools is New Orleans
students now have nearly double the commute and the system is paying $30
million to bus students compared to $18 million before
<http://thelensnola.org/2013/09/12/cost-of-busing-students-in-new-orleans-rises-as-parents-exercise-school-choice/>
Katrina. Dr. Raynard Sanders
<https://theneworleansimperative.org/your-host/> notes the elimination
of neighborhood schools can be observed in the early morning hours. “We
now have thousands of children beginning their school day travel at 6:15
and ending at 5:15 PM, with many students spending hours or more
traveling to and from school. This insane strategy puts kids in harms
way daily as students cross major thoroughfares in the early morning
hours, which resulted in one five year old’s death to date. Despite
numerous complaints from parents stating they want neighborhood schools
state education officials have ignored their cries and continue this
dangerous daily student migration.”
One of the more dramatic and well-documented problems in the changeover
to charters is the absence of services for students with disabilities.
The Southern Poverty Law C
<https://www.splcenter.org/news/2010/07/28/children-disabilities-face-discrimination-new-orleans-schools>enter
sued over disability violations in 2010… The original complaint
<https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/d6_legacy_files/downloads/case/NOLAschools072810.pdf>
is here. Children with disabilities had been denied enrollment
altogether, forced to attend schools ill-equipped or lacking resources
to serve them, and suspended without procedural protections. A third
grader with emotional problems was locked in the school closet and
similarly a seventh grader expelled for emotional disabilities. After
suit was filed it took an additional four years
<https://www.splcenter.org/news/2014/12/19/splc-negotiates-landmark-settlement-help-new-orleans-students-disabilities>
to set up a system to uphold the educational rights
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/01/new_orleans_special_education_1.html>
of students with disabilities. Now, there is a district-wide consent
decree in place overseen by an Independent Monitor who reports to the Court.
Yet, the disability problems remain. In 2017 a charter was rebuked for
suspending a student who the school thought was depressed
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/03/31/friends-of-king-broke-state-law-by-suspending-student-who-seemed-depressed/>.
In 2016 the State found that the school was engaging in special
education fraud
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/01/renew_charter_fraud_report.html>
by illegally taking public money by artificially inflating special
education services, while at the same time ignoring special education
students, telling staff they were “to be a secondary priority to
students who were more likely to pass the state assessments” and that
some kids “don’t count.” At another charter, since closed, the State
identified egregious special education violations
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2015/03/new_orleans_charter_school_vio.html>.
Staff refused to screen students, tried to keep them from enrolling, put
them in rooms with nothing to do, deprived students of their services,
and faked records to cover it up. Yet another charter was accused of
telling students with disabilities to stay home
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2014/12/martin_luther_king_jr_charter.html>.
Discipline has been an ongoing problem. One charter in 2012-2013 had a
suspension rate of 68% meaning over half of the student body was
suspended
<http://newamericamedia.org/2014/04/civil-rights-complaints-filed-against-three-new-orleans-schools.php>
out of school at least once in a school year. In 2017 another charter
used handcuffs to restrain a 9 year old
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/04/06/state-education-officials-are-investigating-an-incident-in-which-a-9-year-old-was-handcuffed-at-school/>
boy.
Fraud and mismanagement continue to plague New Orleans under the new
system. **A detailed 2015 report found systemic financial fraud and
mismanagement
<https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-Schools-Louisiana-Report_web3.pdf>
of millions of dollars in local charter schools. The report documented
numerous instances of fraud in charter schools in amounts ranging from
tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars at ten different schools.
These problems resulted from a dramatic underinvestment in oversight,
reliance on self-reporting of fraud and mismanagement, insufficient
auditing techniques, and understaffed and overworked auditors.
Transparency is a problem. The State of Louisiana has been withholding
basic school data about economic disadvantage and language
<http://www.datacenterresearch.org/reports_analysis/the-new-orleans-youth-index-2016/>
issues until a recent court decision
<http://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/courts/article_76e860ca-8bd9-11e6-9963-cf5829bedcf3.html>
made it public. There have been problems with lack of compliance with
Open Meetings Law even into 2017
<http://thelensnola.org/2017/03/15/state-says-renew-schools-broke-law-by-meeting-privately-to-interview-ceo-candidates/>.
The overall whiteness of the education reform movement in New Orleans
<http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.827.685&rep=rep1&type=pdf>,
which has been pointed out by scholars, was also criticized at the NAACP
forum. The authorization process for starting charter schools has been
criticized by African Americans in New Orleans as actively working to
keep local African Americans from operating charter schools
<http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0895904815616485>.
The NAACP was offered hours of painful evidence that the charter system
has significant problems with transparency and accountability. These
problems led Representative Joseph Bouie of New Orleans
<http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf/2016/04/new_orleans_school_reunification1.html>,
the head of the Louisiana Black Caucus and former Chancellor of Southern
University in New Orleans to insist to the NAACP that the experiment of
charters schools imposed on the children of New Orleans was similar to
the Tuskegee syphilis experiment
<https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm> conducted on African Americans.
No doubt many students are being left behind in the charter school
experiment. Thousands of students
<http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/what-new-orleans-can-teach-betsy-devos-about-charter-schools-214610>
are attending schools rated C or below. According to a 2016 report on
Grades for the public schools
<http://thelensnola.org/2016/11/17/compare-latest-new-orleans-public-school-ratings/>
in New Orleans: 8 schools received F; 21 received D; 26 received C; 11
received B; 12 received A.
The Stanford Center for Opportunity in Education issued a report on the
system in September 2015
<https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/scope-brief-student-experiencesneworleans.pdf>
which concluded: “Successful reform must also support school
improvement in ways that ultimately create a set of schools that are
worth choosing, in which every child will choose and be chosen by the
schools that meet their needs. /_That system has not yet been created in
New Orleans._/ Time will tell whether it can be developed. It is likely
that acknowledging the realities of the experiences of the most
vulnerable children is a necessary first step in that direction.
NOLA reforms have created a set of schools that are highly stratified by
race, class and educational advantage; this impacts the assignment to
schools and discipline in the schools to which students are assigned.
Fully 89 percent of white students and 73 percent of Asian students in
New Orleans attend Tier 1 schools. However, only 23.5% of African
American students have access to these schools. And whereas 60% of
students who are above the poverty line (i.e. those who can pay for
their school lunch) attend Tier 1 schools, only 21.5% of students whose
family income is low enough to be eligible to receive a free lunch have
access to these schools. Not only do Tier 1 schools rank as the best in
the city, they consistently rank among the best schools in the state of
Louisiana.”
As the New York Times reported in an article titled “The Myth of the New
Orleans School Makeover,” “The New Orleans miracle is not all it seems
<https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/opinion/sunday/the-myth-of-the-new-orleans-school-makeover.html?_r=3>.
Louisiana state standards are among the lowest in the nation. The new
research also says little about high school performance. And the average
composite ACT score for the Recovery School District was just 16.4 in
2014, well below the minimum score required for admission to a four-year
public university in Louisiana. There is also growing evidence that the
reforms have come at the expense of the city’s most disadvantaged
children, who often disappear from school entirely and, thus, are no
longer included in the data.”
The students in the system are taking matters in their own hands. As
Rethink student leaders write
<http://therethinkers.tumblr.com/post/159936251024/my-school-is-closed-for-business>:
“Youth lives, voices, and futures are not being valued. A stand for
justice needs to be took and the time is now! Youth are the experts and
we deserve to be treated like we are… We want curriculum that represent
us and people like us. We want input from youth of color on curriculum
and teacher trainings. We want educational infrastructure to support
youth entrepreneurship, youth cooperatives and business opportunities
that support the communities we come from. And we want real youth and
community input and veto power on all decisions regarding school
openings, closings, leadership, and locations.”
The NAACP hearing certainly documented many of the problems. The
question remains as to what will be done about them. The students are
not waiting.
/*Bill Quigley* teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and can be
reached at quigley77 at gmail.com <mailto:quigley77 at gmail.com>./
--
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