The Coup D’état of the New Orleans Public Schools: Money, Power, and the Illegal Takeover of a Public School System

Description

The Coup D’état of the New Orleans Public Schools explores and criticizes the contemporary educational reforms of the New Orleans public school system. The New Orleans education reforms implemented after Hurricane Katrina, using the corporate model approach, have been an academic failure with charter operators making millions of dollars while reestablishing a segregated school system based on race and class―all in the name of school reform. Despite the claims of unprecedented academic success the educational reforms have been a dismal failure academically and operationally, and have resurrected equity and access issues. Equally as disturbing the reforms firmly have re-established a tiered public school system that segregates students by race and class. The Coup D’état of the New Orleans Public Schools puts the corporate education reform movement in its proper context, which is to create a new twenty-first century model for turning around urban public school districts in the United States. This book reveals what really happened pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina that contributed to the state takeover of public schools in New Orleans. This story is told through the eyes of parents, students, activists, political leaders, and Orleans Parish School Board members and employees who have been largely ignored. It also includes an analysis of the author’s personal experience of almost forty years in New Orleans public schools as a teacher, principal, and college professor. Cover Contents Foreword Reference Acknowledgments Chapter One: The Coup D’état Take the Money First Hurricane Katrina Opens the Door Louisiana Education Superintendent Orchestrates the Coup National Groups Seize the Opportunity in New Orleans Democracy Gets Thrown Under the Bus Act 35—Illegal State Takeover of Public Schools in New Orleans Codified into Louisiana Law Notes Chapter Two: Privatizing Public Education: New Orleans the Perfect Place New Orleans Education Reformed Model History Tells Us How We Got Here Charter School Model Hijacked Louisiana’s Historic Lack of Commitment to Public Education Failed Coups of Public School in New Orleans Public Education in New Orleans Pre-Hurricane Katrina Notes Chapter Three: Intended and Unintended Consequences: The Assault on the Children and Citizens of New Orleans The Forgotten 7,500 Fired Employees The Illusion of School Choice New Orleans Public Schools Fall to a New Low New Orleans School Reforms—Chronic Academic Failure RSD—Unprecedented Academic Success? Services to Special Needs Children Denied Notes Chapter Four: School Communities Disenfranchised and Destroyed The Post-Katrina Saga of Thurgood Marshall Middle School Carver Senior High School Charter Operator Denies Cohen Students Access to Their Library and Gymnasium John McDonogh High School Notes Chapter Five: The New Orleans Public School Gold Rush New Orleans Public Schools Land of Opportunity Reformers Redefine School Success Fiscal Impropriety Becomes the Norm Unprecedented Corruption Oversight and Accountability Nonexistent Unaccounted FEMA Funds for School Reconstruction Program Media and Government Watchdog Groups Ignore Education Reform Corruption Notes Chapter Six: Old Lessons Learned in New Orleans The New Orleans Education Reformers Untold Story Beyond School Reform The Old New Orleans Lesson Learned Notes Glossary Appendix A: Picard Letter to the Department of Education Appendix B: Act No. 35 Appendix C: Charter School Grant Program Amounts Allocated to Charter Schools Appendix D: Louisiana’s 7th Grade Cohort Graduation Rate Conclusions Based on Louisiana’s 7th Grade Cohort Graduation Rate Other Related Observations Appendix E: Reasons for Judgement, Eddy Oliver versus Orleans Parish School Board Appendix F: Carver Civil Rights Complaint Appendix G: Civil Rights Complaint on School Closings Appendix H: Data Sharing Agreement Appendix I: Act No. 91 Index