Opening quality schools is fundamental to the rebuilding of New Orleans. The Mid-City Neighborhood Organization is sponsoring the charter of Dibert Elementary School to begin to meet this end. After a great deal of work by some very gifted and committed volunteers, we had provisional approval and everything looked in order to open this much needed school in September of 2006. However, in a shocking turn of events, we learned late Friday that our application was denied. There seems to be quite a bit of evidence that something fishy is going on. Charter applications far inferior to ours were approved. We’re worried that it’s state politics as usual, and that perhaps another neighborhood’s school is slotted to use the now vacant Dibert property. We’re currently doing some research on how we appeal this process and we will be sure to keep you posted on events as they unfold. Also, people need to know that because of legislation in the Special Session of the Fall 2005, the Recovery School District pledged [Word document, 1.1 MB] that it “is committed to developing a strong model of parental and community collaboration” and “The RSD is committed to ensuring transparency regarding its processes and practices and accountability (at all levels).” Neither of these things has happened with the RSD, nor did the National Association of Charter School Authorizers help as they were supposed to.
Right now we need your help. Please email the people below and let them know why you think opening Dibert is important, and why Mid-City needs our own school. Use as the subject “Mid-City Needs Dibert Elementary.” Also please leave a copy of your email as a comment to this post. We had hoped that by creating a model school in the neighborhood that we would attract families, increase community involvement, and simply better educate our children. It was a vital and necessary piece of the puzzle for us to move forward. All of this is tragically on hold for the moment. Not opening Dibert simply makes no sense.
The following are members of the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. They can all be reached at:
sbese@la.gov
Mr. Dale Bayard, Ms. Polly Broussard, Ms. Glenny Lee Buquet, Mr. Edgar Chase, Ms. Penny Dastugue, Ms. Louella Givens, Ms. Leslie Jacobs, Ms. Linda Johnson, Mr. Walter Lee, Dr. James Stafford, Ms. Mary Washington
Cecil Picard, the state superintendent of Education
SuperintendentPicard@la.gov
The following are City Council Members who could potentially help us:
Shelley Midura
smidura@cityofno.com)
Stacy Head
shead@cityofno.com
Oliver Thomas
OMThomas@cityofno.com
Arnie Fielkow
arniefielkowcoun@bellsouth.net
Thank you, and here’s hoping this can make a difference.
