Law & Courts

Judge Rules New Orleans Board Must Revote on Charters

By Catherine Gewertz — November 01, 2005 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The New Orleans school board’s decision to open its first post-Hurricane Katrina group of 13 schools as charter schools was declared void last week by a local judge, who ruled that the panel’s vote violated the state’s open-meetings law.

At a hearing in nearby Ascension Parish on Oct. 27, Civil District Court Judge Lloyd Medley barred the school board from taking any action on charter schools until it properly posts the required 24-hour public notice of its intent to do so, and explains clearly in the notice that it plans to vote on a charter application.

“Once the board properly notices the meeting, they can go ahead and move forward,” said Regina H. Bartholomew, the school board’s lawyer.

Board leaders and lawyers in the case said that the notice would be posted in time for debate and a possible vote on the issue at the board’s scheduled late-afternoon meeting on Oct. 28.

Board members said they expected to reconsider the original application for 13 charter schools, as well as consider four additional applications from regular public schools that wish to convert to charter status.

The judge’s action essentially forced the board to start over in its efforts to grant charters to run some of the city’s schools as the district struggles to resume the school year that the destructive late-August storm cut short.

Its controversial Oct. 7 decision to turn all 13 schools on the city’s West Bank into charter schools was halted a week later by another judge after a local minister filed suit, contending that the public had had insufficient opportunity to be involved in the debate.

The charter application, which was in the works before the storm hit and was submitted by representatives of the Algiers neighborhood, was approved on a 4-2 vote, with one abstention. (“Judge Calls Halt to New Orleans’ Charter School Plan,” Oct. 26, 2005.)

Board President Torin Sanders, who voted against the charter school application, said the first time the matter came up before the board, the agenda item was worded in only general language, and “there was no real indication” that the panel would be voting on a charter school application.

“This time it has to be noticed properly, and the way it’s worded, it has to be clear what the board will be considering,” he said last week. “What’s good about this is that there will be some debate about it, so people are better informed about the challenges the district faces.”

Moving Ahead

Board Vice President Lourdes Moran, who introduced the motion to charter the schools, said she was excited to be able to move ahead with the plan.

“I’m looking forward to an opportunity to offer quality education to our children,” she said.

The second round of debate on the 13 charter schools further complicates an already confusing landscape around school openings. When the judge halted further moves on the charter school plan, Mr. Sanders and acting Superintendent Ora L. Watson said they would reopen four of those schools as regular public schools. Where the renewed charter school dialogue leaves the four-school plan was uncertain last week.

And now four additional schools, on the more heavily damaged East Bank of the city, are reportedly applying for conversion to charter status. One has partnered with a university, and at least two have teamed up with community groups, according to board members.

A version of this article appeared in the November 02, 2005 edition of Education Week as Judge Rules New Orleans Board Must Revote on Charters

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.
Student Achievement K-12 Essentials Forum How to Build and Scale Effective K-12 State & District Tutoring Programs
Join this free virtual summit to learn from education leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on the topic of high-impact tutoring.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts Supreme Court Faces Big Test on Religious Students' Opt-Outs From LGBTQ+ Books
The justices will weigh whether a school district must allow parents with religious objections to LGBTQ+ books to excuse their children.
9 min read
Jeff Roman works on homework with his son.
Jeff Roman, a parent who has religious concerns about LGBTQ+ storybooks used in the Montgomery County, Md., school district, works on homework with his son.
Courtesy of Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Law & Courts Another Court Lets the Trump Admin. Keep Teacher-Training Grants Frozen
A federal appeals court overturned a lower court's order that had temporarily restored millions of dollars in terminated grant funds.
4 min read
Young Female Teacher Giving a Lecture During an Adult Education Course in School, Having a Conversation with a Older Female with Laptop. Diverse Mature Students Doing Textbook Exercises in Classroom
iStock/Getty
Law & Courts Supreme Court Allows Trump Admin. to End Teacher-Prep Grants
The high court, over three justices' dissent, granted the administration's request to remove a lower court's block on ending the grants.
5 min read
Erin Huff, a kindergarten teacher at Waverly Elementary School, works with, from left to right, Ava Turner, a 2nd grader, Benton Ryan, 1st grade, and 3rd grader Haven Green, on estimating measurements using mini marshmallows in Waverly, Ill., on Dec. 18, 2019. Huff, a 24-year-old teacher in her third year, says relatively low pay, stress and workload often discourage young people from pursuing teaching degrees, leading to a current shortage of classroom teachers in Illinois. A nonprofit teacher-training program is using a $750,000 addition to the state budget to speed up certification to address a rampant teacher shortage.
Erin Huff, a 24-year-old kindergarten teacher at Waverly Elementary in Illinois, pictured here on Dec. 18, 2019, says low pay, high stress, and heavy workloads often discourage young people from entering teacher preparation programs. The U.S. Supreme Court on April 4, 2025, allowed the Trump administration to immediately terminate two federal teacher-preparation grant programs.
John O'Connor/AP
Law & Courts Groups Sue Over Trump's Cuts to Education Department Research Arm
This suit seeks the restoration of Institute of Education Sciences staff and contracts abruptly canceled by the Trump administration.
3 min read
Supporters gather outside the U.S. Department of Education in Washington to applaud Education Department employees as they depart their offices for the final time on Friday, March 28, 2025. The rally brought together education supporters, students, parents, and former employees to honor the departing staff as they arrived in 30-minute intervals to collect their belongings.
Supporters gather outside the U.S. Department of Education in Washington to applaud Education Department employees as they depart their offices for the final time on Friday, March 28, 2025. Two organizations representing researchers are suing the department in an attempt to restore the agency's data and research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences.
Moriah Ratner for Education Week