Kira Orange-Jones’ TFA Promotion and LDOE-TFA Contracts
Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) member Kira Orange-Jones is once again in the news, this time for her promotion as state ”liaison” for Teach for America (TFA). In August 2012, the ethics board declared no conflict of interest for Jones since her salary “is not in any way dependent on the contracts that TFA gets.”
Jones’ most vocal supporter on the ethics board, Scott Schneider, resigned last month– a coincidence that just happened to immediately follow the publicizing of his own apparent conflict of interest involving TFA’s partnering with Tulane’s Cowen Institute, with which Schneider was affiliated when he argued for Jones to retain her BESE post.
Jones’ salary not being directly affected by TFA contracts is a narrow view of the potential, unethical benefits Jones might enjoy as she sits on a state board that approves TFA contracts.
Why, if former-TFAer John White and Jeb-Bush-positioned BESE were to approve a $1.2 million contract for TFA, that might be cause to promote Jones (indirect salary connection) into a position where she might solicit even more business for TFA.
That is exactly what I believe has happened.
Here is how Jones describes her promotion:
“My role in New Orleans isn’t changing at all,” Orange Jones said Monday, “but I will