Charter schools in post-K New Orleans were all the rage. The folks in Algiers got their schools back up and running at an incredible pace, and charter schools on the east bank have grown to the point where almost 70% of K-12 schools in Orleans Parish will be charters this fall. My main concern from the beginning with letting private entities (operating corporations and non-profit neighborhood boards) have so much free reign in the city was the danger this would present for special-needs families. Parents of special-ed kids are a vocal group who know their rights aren't shy about demanding them. It's no surprise, then, that NOLA parents have filed a complaint with the feds now that there's an administration in Washington that really won't leave their children behind:
The meetings come as the feds investigate a complaint filed last year, which alleges that a handful of New Orleans charter schools have discriminatory admissions. Specifically, the complaint alleges that the Orleans Parish School Board's admissions policy for charter schools discriminates against African-American students. The complaint encompasses all of the district's charter schools, even though they have very different admissions practices and demographics. So far the identity of the complainant has not been made public.
You'd think this would be easy, but it's an unbelievable can of worms, for two reasons. First, the storm opened the way for the massive expansion of charter schools. The Louisiana legislature was ready to take over schools run by the Orleans Parish School Board prior to the storm, but the utter destruction left in the wake of the Federal Flood made it even easier. Many saw this as a clean slate for public education in the city, a chance to get rid of the politicians, administrators, the teachers' union, and the teachers themselves. Privatize everything and only hire back those who were competent. It was a unique opportunity, because all forces who would oppose such a plan were in total disarray.
The second big contribution to the complexity of the situation is that the pre-storm governmental entity running education in the city, the OP School Board, effecitvely ceased to exist. With no revenue base (property tax collections dropped to near-zero after the storm), all funding had to come from outside the city. The state chose to form and fund the Recovery School District rather than OPSB, creating an entirely new administrative framework. Given how badly OPSB operated the schools, one would think this was a good idea, but a new entity means old deals go out the window:
Some parent advocates also asked whether a 1998 civil rights agreement with the Orleans Parish School Board was still in force. The agreement addressed allegations that the city's magnet schools discriminated against African-American applicants in their admissions policies. "In essence, Katrina washed that agreement away," [John] Stephens [regional compliance team leader for the Office for Civil Rights] said, because that agreement was with the district as it existed then.
Fortunately for parents of special-ed kids, they're dealing with the Obama administration, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made that clear already this year:
"In the last decade, the Office for Civil Rights has not been as vigilant as it should have been in combatting gender and racial discrimination and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities," Duncan said, adding "that's about to change."
Charter school operators should consider themselves on notice. Messing with special-ed parents is a really bad idea.
