UPDATE: The Orleans Parish School Board voted Tuesday night to accept the re-unification plan and bring Recovery School District schools back under local control.
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Orleans Parish Schools Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis Jr. will present his long-awaited school unification plan to the Orleans Parish School Board at its meeting tonight.
He said this will be a historic decision.
“The work that has taken place over the last few months has framed what is an exciting opportunity to have our unified school district, a first of its kind in the nation, serve as a model for empowering families and educators, ensuring equity and dramatically improving student outcomes,” Lewis said.
The OPSB superintendent, the Recovery School District superintendent and an advisory committee have been working on this plan for months, frequently meeting with the community for feedback, Lewis said.
Under this plan, RSD charter schools in Orleans Parish will return to the Orleans Parish School Board’s control by July of 2018.
The new Orleans Parish School District will be made up of nearly all charter schools. This plan gives significant power to the Orleans Parish schools. They will be able to make decisions about curriculum, hiring, firing and more.
But the elected board will still hold schools accountable for those decisions, and families will still be able to choose where their kid goes to school. It won’t depend on the neighborhood where they reside. Community meetings will continue to be held as well.
The RSD Superintendent, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans and Kipp New Orleans Schools all voiced their support.
