Seats’ Taken

In New Orleans, parents of school-aged children apply to schools through OneApp or the common application. Gone are the days where students attend school based solely on zip code or their home address.  This is positive in theory, because it helps students from disadvantaged neighborhoods have access to schools that they would not have accessed due to their living arrangement. However, there are hold-out schools who appear more interested in letting certain students in and keeping certain “other” students squarely out.

At Lusher, Audubon and Lake Forest, things are different.  There are no common applications that give all students an equal chance at the lottery system. Instead, there are parent meetings, portfolios to be turned in during business hours, and seats that are held for the children of parents who work at Tulane.  The result is that the aforementioned schools do not reflect the diversity of race, religion, socioeconomics or thought that should be represented in a city as rich in culture as New Orleans. According to parent Benita Butler, whose child was admitted to Lusher Academy after the lengthy process, “That process is a way of eliminating a lot of people. There’s a larger segment of individuals who are not like me. But their children deserve the same opportunity as mine.”

To read more, please visit:  How 3 top New Orleans public schools keep students out

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