TO LAUNCH AND MONITOR IMMEDIATE EDUCATIONAL REFORM

Stakeholders, General Public to Be Convened:  Goal is "Immediate Impact"

Declaring that the New Orleans Public School System is failing both its students and the community as a whole, the Committee for a Better New Orleans/Metropolitan Area Committee (CBNO/MAC) is initiating a wide-reaching effort to bring the community together to identify and implement immediate and long-term systemic change.

CBNO/MAC's efforts will include meetings with stakeholder groups; research into reform efforts in other urban settings, including site visits to school systems that have instituted effective changes; and public forums to present the full scope of the current situation in New Orleans public education as well as provide information on viable reform measures that have worked in other comparable cities.  From this, specific recommendations will be developed and presented.

Two of the CBNO/MAC Co-Chairs, Dr. Norman Francis and Ms. Barbara Major, will be chief spokespersons for the initiative.

"We cannot allow our children to continue suffering while problems in the schools continue to mount," said Ms. Major.  "It is unacceptable that nearly two thirds of New Orleans public schools are on the State's list of failed schools that are not making progress, and that almost 10,000 students have dropped out or cannot be accounted for in the last two years.  The entire New Orleans school system is failing, but only the children are being held accountable for it when they are held back after failing the LEAP tests."

As a starting point, CBNO/MAC is reviewing the School Board's proposal to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) for school system reform.  "The Board has submitted a variety of plans in the past and failed to follow through," pointed out Ms. Major.  "This time we intend to make sure that they put into place what they have promised on paper.  While our immediate focus is on what can be done now, within the present structure of the school system and School Board, we are not ruling out change at the top, at the governance level, if that is what it takes to create an educational system that works for our children."

A CBNO/MAC baseline poll conducted in 2000 showed that 96% of New Orleanians feel that public education is the "inextricable link to a better future" for the city.  Building on this sentiment, and emphasizing the role of the community in supporting and monitoring the school system, is at the core of this new initiative.

"After all, the entire community is at risk from the fallout of the continuing unacceptable educational performance of our public schools," observed Dr. Francis, President of Xavier University.  "As the president of a local university, I have seen the end result of the failed attempts of the past to institute school reform.  I have also seen how the lack of an educated workforce stunts the growth of local businesses and impedes our efforts to attract new business and to improve the quality of life in our city.  We must make the hard decisions, make meaningful at-the-school-level changes, and make sure that the results are students who get a quality education in the New Orleans Public Schools.  Doing this successfully means getting the entire community together to support and implement a clear vision for the school system."

CBNO/MAC began its community outreach effort in November 2002, with an open meeting of stakeholders, educators, parents, community organizations, and business people.  In addition to providing an overview of the present problems, the Committee used this opportunity to announce plans to hold public forums to increase general awareness of the situation, and to work towards building community consensus behind specific solutions to the problems.  Overwhelmingly, the group agreed that the solution to this crisis rests with the entire community.

The first phase of the process will be to research potential solutions, especially those that have been employed successfully in similar cities.  Among the resources that CBNO/MAC will draw on for this research are the National Center for Education Accountability, the Center for School Leadership, the Education Trust Foundation, the work of Dr. Kenneth Wong of Vanderbilt University, and research conducted by Ph.D. candidates in UNO's Doctor of Education Program under the guidance of Dr. Peggy Kirby.  Also included will be site visits to key cities, potentially including Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, and/or Albuquerque.

Following the research phase, CBNO/MAC will conduct a series of public forums, at which the results of the research and site visits will be presented.  After open discussion, attendees will be asked to complete an on-site survey rating the various solutions.  The results of these public surveys will be combined with stakeholder input to produce detailed, specific recommendations for meaningful reform.  A citywide public opinion poll will then be conducted to confirm community priorities and support for these recommendations.   CBNO/MAC will subsequently present the recommendations to the new Superintendent and the School Board, along with an analysis of the plan submitted by the School Board to BESE, and ask for concrete commitments to their implementation.

"If the community demands change, and makes it clear that it will no longer stand for inaction, infighting and inadequacy, we feel that school system leaders will be responsive," commented Dr. Francis.  "We will work with parents, teachers, students, principals, the School Board and its new Superintendent, BESE, union leaders and members, business people, community groups, and all other interested persons.  All of us have a shared responsibility to produce results in terms of substantive and measurable improvement in the education we offer to our children."

"We are also aware of the threat of legislative action regarding the New Orleans schools during the 2003 legislative session," added Ms. Major.  "We will make our findings available to our legislators, and if there is widespread community support for a change in governance, which we will also poll, we will report that as well.  However, such a change would take well over a year to put in place.  Our focus is what we can do right now to make things better.  We simply cannot afford just to write off another year or two while we wait for someone else to help our children."

CBNO/MAC is a diverse, nonprofit organization of citizens whose two-year effort, involving a broad cross-section of New Orleanians, culminated in the landmark "Blueprint for a Better New Orleans" in May 2001.  The Blueprint identifies specific actions that would improve the city in six critical areas:  economic and workforce development, education, city management and finance, housing, transportation, and public safety.  The plan has been embraced by the Nagin Administration.

Individuals and organizations who want to get involved with the work of CBNO/MAC may call (504) 584-5019, or e-mail info@cbno.org.