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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Leonie Haimson: Parents Across America demand to be heard

Leonie Haimson: Parents Across America demand to be heard

Leonie Haimson

Leonie Haimson

Posted: September 4, 2010 02:04 PM

Last spring, a new grassroots organization calledParents Across America wrote a letter to President Obama, pointing out how parents had been left out of the education discussion at the national level. From the administration's "Race to the Top" proposals to their proposed "Blueprint" for revising NCLB, parent input has been either dismissed or ignored.

We wrote an article for Education Week, calledShutting Out Parents, about how this conscious disregard of the parent perspective was unacceptable, and must be reversed.

We explained how we wanted to see a quite different set of reforms, focusing on strengthening neighborhood schools rather than closing them down, by providing smaller classes, more parent involvement, and a well-rounded curriculum. Moreover, we pointed out how these reforms are

New Orleans schools have chance to become centers of their communities | NOLA.com

New Orleans schools have chance to become centers of their communities | NOLA.com

New Orleans schools have chance to become centers of their communities

Published: Sunday, September 05, 2010, 6:35 AM

By Cindy Chang and Michelle Krupa, staff writers

abramson-modular.jpgNew Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy has moved to modular classrooms on the former Abramson campus in eastern New Orleans.

In the three years since it opened, New Orleans Charter Science and Math Academy has been housed in modular classrooms at one eastern New Orleans site, then another.

The move to the former Abramson campus, accomplished a week before school started because the new modular classrooms were not ready until then, has been especially difficult. The cafeteria was declared unsafe by the fire marshal, so students have been making do with sack lunches.

Sci Academy is one of the top-performing high schools in the city and is often touted by Recovery School District officials as a shining example of the academic achievement made possible by post-Katrina school reforms. But while the transformation of many city schools into independently run charter schools has been swift, physical changes have been much slower in coming than intangible ones. Five years after Hurricane Katrina, new buildings are just