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OPSB Elections: Districts 1 & 2

By docjones November 4, 2012City News

WWNO, in collaboration with The Lens, presents candidate forums for the upcoming Orleans Parish School Board election on November 6. The interviews aired on WWNO for the three Sunday nights before the election.On this week's program, moderator Jessica Williams first speaks with candidates from District 1, including Heidi Lovett Daniels and Ira Thomas. Then she'll speak with Cynthia Cade, the incumbent from District 2.District 1Ira Thomas, Southern University at New Orleans police chief (incumbent, Democrat) Heidi Lovett Daniels, former school board member from 2004 to 2008 (Democrat) Thomas began by bringing up Daniels’ departure from the board in 2008. Sitting Orleans Parish School Board members have worked together, he said, to ensure that the district is successful. Each member has run for re-election – unlike Daniels’ board, in which five members “walked away from the board of education in this city, at a very critical time in the rebuilding process.” He also brought up the previous school board’s debt and its low academic performance.Daniels said that she didn’t seek re-election because of family reasons. She also said the board went to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to apply for charters to reopen schools after Hurricane Katrina. “There wouldn’t be anything to brag about today if we had not done that,” she said. (This discussion begins at 1:56 in the video below.)Thomas also blamed Daniels for the omission of a high school in the Lower 9th Ward in the original master plan for rebuilding schools damaged by Katrina. “My opponent is directly responsible for that,” he said. He said he fought to get money appropriated for the new Dr. Martin Luther King High School.Thomas’ claim isn’t exactly correct. The original 2008 school facilities master plan did call for a high school to be built in the Lower 9th Ward. However, that high school was slated for Phase 2, meaning that it would be open after 2013, and it was planned as an addition to Martin Luther King Elementary. Daniels actually voted against the plan that called for waiting to build a high school in the Lower 9th Ward.Daniels responded that King elementary was not allowed to reopen under the Orleans Parish School Board’s governance after Katrina because of low performance. But she said her board went to BESE to advocate that the school be reopened, and that King was open as an Recovery School District charter before she left the board. “History speaks for itself,” she said. (Watch at the 7:20 mark for Thomas’ claim and at 34:00 for Daniels’ response.)District 2Cynthia Cade, childcare center director (incumbent, Democrat) Durrell Laurent, insurance and real-estate agent (Democrat) Dwight McKenna, physician (Democrat) Although The Lens invited all three candidates, McKenna said the day of taping that he would not participate in any discussion that Cade was part of. Laurent did not show up.Cade said the board had worked in the students’ best interest in the past eight years, authorizing charter schools so that kids could get back into classrooms as quickly as possible after Katrina.One of the weaknesses of the Orleans Parish School Board, she said, has been the five new board members’ struggle to get acclimated. She also said that other candidates have made promises they can’t keep because board members are supposed “to set policies. We are not to micromanage,” she said.Cade also spoke to the board’s divisiveness over the last year. She and Thomas, who are joined at times by Brett Bonin, have been part of a voting minority that has opposed the rest of the board. One of the sources of disagreement was the implementation of its disadvantaged business enterprise program, which she supported.During public meetings, board president Thomas Robichaux and vice president Lourdes Moran have opposed language in the program’s policy, saying it could conflict with state public bid laws. Cade contended in the interview that her fellow board members may not have wanted to approve the disadvantaged business enterprise program because they were beholden to“big contractors” that contribute to their campaigns. (Watch at the 8:20 mark for more.)Cade also said that she opposed the board’s appointment of the interim superintendent, Stan Smith, because she believed other administrators were more qualified.Board members will have heated discussions because “we’re seven different board members, with seven different personalities,” she said. “I don’t think the public would expect us to sit down totally at every board meeting and just kumbaya, and rubber-stamp everything.” (Watch at the 10:58 mark for more.)

OPSB Elections: Districts 3 & 6

By docjones October 28, 2012City News

WWNO, in collaboration with The Lens, presents candidate forums for the upcoming Orleans Parish School Board election on November 6.On this week's program, moderator Jessica Williams first speaks with candidates from District 3, including Brett Bonin, Karran Harper Royal, and Sarah Usdin. Then she'll speak with candidates from District 6, including Jason Coleman and Woody Koppel.District 3Brett Bonin, attorney (incumbent, Republican) Karran Harper Royal, advocate for special-needs students (no party affiliation) Sarah Usdin, founder of New Schools For New Orleans, a nonprofit that provides funding and support for charter schools (Democrat) Bonin and Royal took a considerable amount of their speaking time to turn attention to Usdin’s nonprofit, New Schools for New Orleans.Eight of the nine schools first incubated by the charter school support organization are underperforming academically, and one — Sojourner Truth Academy — has closed due to poor performance, Bonin said.Usdin responded that prior to Hurricane Katrina, the average school performance score for the Orleans Parish School Board’s traditionally run schools was 49. Schools funded by her organization scored an average of 71, she said. She also said that overall, the Recovery School District’s schools had achieved one of the highest rates of academic growth in the state. (This discussion occurs at the 2:07 and 9:30 marks in the video below.)The three candidates had different views on whether schools should switch to school-board governance and how they should go about doing it. Royal said that if elected, she would ask the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to let the Orleans board oversee RSD’s failing schools.If charters are failing, they shouldn’t be re-chartered to a different operator, she said; they should come back as traditionally run schools. (This discussion occurs at 3:26.)Bonin took a moderate approach, saying that schools should come back, but it doesn’t matter whether they’re charters or traditionally run. Usdin said that there must be citizen, educator and parent input on the issue before that decision is made. She added that “a parent doesn’t care, a child doesn’t care” whether charter schools are under RSD or the School Board. (This discussion occurs at 6:28.)District 6Woody Koppel, real-estate agent and former teacher (incumbent, Democrat) Jason Coleman, Democratic Party official and member of the Coleman Cab company family (Democrat) Koppel and Coleman agreed on most issues, including how the school board can best work to get charters to switch to school board governance. The school board needs to “earn (charters’) respect,” Koppel said. Coleman also said that schools “need a reason” to come back.Both candidates cited autonomy as one of charter schools’ strengths, although they had different opinions on their weaknesses. Koppel said that many charter school boards haven’t always followed open meetings laws and that schools’ budgets weren’t always clear. (This discussion starts at the 5:58 mark.)Lack of community input has been one of charters’ main weaknesses, Coleman said. He cited the recent parent and student unrest at Walter L. Cohen High School as evidence. He also mentioned that parents were upset when “Sophie B. Wright’s charter was taken away” — although the school has not had its charter revoked. The state education board did revoke the charter of Sojourner Truth Academy, which was housed in a nearby building, last year. (Watch at the 8:25 mark for this discussion.)Asked whether the school board should reinstate collective bargaining for teachers at its schools, Koppel said the decision not to pursue an agreement with the teachers’ union was made before he was elected, and “it hasn’t come up since.” He then said that a collective bargaining agreement could infringe on charters’ autonomy. (This discussion occurs at 14:15.)Coleman said that schools should have collective bargaining, but then went on to talk about the structure of the school system and a return to school board governance, rather than about how an agreement would work. He later said that educators should be given what they need in the classroom.