Photograph; John McDonogh High School Principal Marvin Thompson attends the first Future Is Now Schools charter board meeting since administrators learned the school would close at the end of the current academic year. (March 11, 2014.) (Danielle Dreilinger, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Over the last few decades, we have seen that education news morphed into business views. Often what we read is “safe for printing”, minus the background. Before you read Future is Now Director Steve Barr’s views on John McDonogh High School Closure you may wish to review another perspective.
Dr. Raynard Sanders, host of New Orleans Imperative has over thirty years of experience in teaching, educational administration, and economic and community development. As a principal of a New Orleans high school, he was recognized by the Louisiana State Department of Education for guiding his high school through four consecutive years of improvement on the state graduate exit exam, He offers this reflection….A little background….John McDonogh High School in New Orleans was given to Future is Now, a charter operator run by Steve Barr founder of Green Dot Charter Schools, for the 2012-2013 school term. After announcing how they were going to dramatically turn the school around, firing all the faculty members, hiring a principal at a salary of $150,000 a year, hiring an Assistant Principal at $115,00 a year for the Freshman class of 9 students and making the school a film studio in a controversial production of a reality show with the Oprah Winfrey 

empathyeducates – Tense Moments in de Blasio’s TV Interview
empathyeducates – Tense Moments in de Blasio’s TV Interview: Tense Moments in de Blasio’s TV InterviewThe war on teachers, unions, and public education, if it exists, is evidence in an interview, or more so in the message, ‘trend on the tax relief our charter schools receive and we will retaliate.’ Close any charter schools or do not give these institutions the option to co-locate and the wrath of
Photograph by Matthew Hinton | Kelly and Noah Fischer Originally Published at Southern Poverty Law Center. | March 12, 2014 Kelly Fischer’s hopes were quickly dashed last fall. She was attending a High School Fair in New Orleans, a chance for parents to meet representatives from the […]