Find Out How You Can Be Featured on the OPEN Blog or Podcast, LA Wins $11 Million for Early Childhood Education, and other #nolaed news

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#73 | January 8, 2019

OPEN's weekly newsletter sends you events, updates and developments from the #nolaed landscape. Got an event, program, or job description that supports equity and accountability? Send a request with your information and graphics to teri@opennola.org.

Top Story

New Year, New Voices- Join the OPEN newsletter, blog and podcast in 2020!

OPEN distributes a weekly newsletter to over 2500 parents, educators, activists and community members who want to advance equity and justice in our public school system and our reach is growing! Join our newsletter in 2020 by submitting your events, meetings, job postings, trainings or announcements that help our community stay connected to public education, support students and families and increase transparency and accountability of our public systems.

Please submit the event information (including any deadlines), your contact information and any images to Teri@opennola.org by the Friday before the week you want to be featured. Events, meetings, announcements and trainings may be submitted up to 4 weeks in advance of the event date. Job postings will be featured for 4 weeks.

Got even more to say? Then write for the OPEN blog! The real news is in the community and we want to share the diverse perspectives, experiences and solutions from those most impacted in the public education system and those working hard to confront and dismantle oppressive policy and systems and build liberatory alternatives. We are seeking contributors to expand our thinking about racial and wealth equity, justice, accountability and transparency and radical imagining in public education and policy in New Orleans.

Writers may be:

Students (6th- 12th grade)
Teachers (Early childhood- 12th grade)
Parents
Community Advocates
Education Activists
Service Providers (who offer a service to increase equity, access and justice to students and families)

Submit your blog ideas to nahliah@opennola.org and let’s get your voice heard!

Rather talk it out?

Then join us on our podcast OPEN Conversations- a platform for the community to say what’s on their minds and engage in real talk about public education in New Orleans. Sit down with us and share your stories, concerns, insights, data and solutions. In 2020 we will host regular conversations where the community can shape the narrative about the education system and its real impact on Black, brown, exceptional and low-income students and communities. Submit your topic idea to nahliah@opennola.org and we’ll be in touch to set up a conversation.

Take Action

OPSB Meeting Schedule

Don't let policy changes come as a surprise! Stay up to date with decisions and events in Orleans Parish Schools at Orleans Parish School Board meetings.

January 2019: Committee Meeting, January 14 /Board Business, January 16
February 2019: Committee Meeting, February 11 /Board Business, February 11

Did you know? The full 2020 Meeting Schedule, guidelines for public comment, and agendas are available online!
Can't make it to the meeting? Tune in via livestream!

In the Landscape

Local

Kennedy HS’s charter group challenges ruling allowing students’ lawsuit to continue

The New Beginnings Schools Foundation is asking a state appeals court to review a Civil District Court judge’s decision that kept the charter group as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by several students affected by the John F. Kennedy High School graduation scandal last spring. Read the full story here.

Louisiana state panel recommends major expansion of high school classes for college credit

While funding and other key hurdles remain, members of a state task force Monday said eligible Louisiana high school students should have access to at least four classes for college credit without charge. The classes, called dual enrollment, are expected to be one of Gov. John Bel Edwards' priorities when the 2020 legislative session begins on March 9. Read the full story here.

Coghill school’s board demands reversal of decision against renewal

Last month, the Orleans Parish School Board appeared to have fallen one vote shy of overriding NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis, Jr.’s recommendation that the nonprofit group that runs Mary D. Coghill Charter School lose its charter. But the Better Choice Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the school, is contending that the Orleans Parish School Board did, in fact, meet that threshold, according to a statement released Monday. Read the full story here.

Louisiana sees some improvement in pre-K ratings, but still lacks 'excellent' options

There are more than 140 publicly funded early childhood programs in New Orleans. But only four have received the highest rating under state Department of Education standards, recently released data show. Read the full article here.

Department Wins $11 Million to Create at Least 600 New Seats in Early Childhood Education Centers in 2020

The Louisiana Department of Education announced it has won a competitive federal Preschool Development Grant worth more than $11 million each year for three years, starting in 2020, to create at least 600 new seats at early learning sites for low-income children birth to age 3, improve the quality of early childhood education programming, and build the capacity of local communities to meet the needs of their youngest learners. Read the full release here.

Events & Opportunities

FHF of GNO Webinars

Want to learn more about education plans and their effects on student needs? Check out these the upcoming webinars from Families Helping Families of Greater New Orleans on January 9!

Black Educators Book Club

Start the year learning and growing with other Black educators. Click here to RSVP and join Blk Teacher Griot's Black Educators Book Club!

Orleans Parish Appreciation Days 2020

Every Wednesday, Orleans Parish residents with one proof of residency will get free admission with up to four guests to Audubon attractions. The Appreciation Days will rotate each week from the Aquarium, Butterfly Garden and Insectarium, Zoo, and Planetarium (Louisiana Nature Center). See 2020 Orleans Parish Appreciation Days here.