Teachers Wanted!

Emmanuel Felton of The Hechinger Report has penned a piece about the struggle in New Orleans to find “more black and homegrown teachers.” According to the piece, the number of education degrees being given out by New Orleans universities has plummeted since Hurricane Katrina. Kristi Walton is an award-winning veteran teacher from New Orleans who sees her local roots as an asset to her teaching; she thinks she’s better in the classroom because… Read More

Keep Your Eyes on the Every Student Succeeds Act

Louisiana advocates need to be paying more attention to the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).  To understand its importance, one must also know its history.  The federal law has its roots in civil rights reform, when its first iteration, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was passed in 1965 to address poverty and limited educational opportunities for people of color.  Most of us are also familiar with the law’s… Read More

The pain of loving our black boys

  As I pull up to the juvenile courthouse, my heart fills with anxiety.  I’m crushed. How did he sleep last night? Did anyone try to hurt him? Intimidate him? Then there’s the security scan. “No sir, I’m not carrying my phone,” I say with slight attitude. “No one likes this part,” the younger security officer says with empathy as he sees the frustrated, yet worried expression on my face.   I’m… Read More

A Paradigm Shift: Students take a stand and demand their voices are heard

We Could Learn A Lot from These Kids I was invited to G.W. Carver High School to meet with Dr. Eric Jones and to tour the new multimillion-dollar building located in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. Dr. Jones was intrigued with my motivational journal “Vision Book”, but I was more intrigued with his accomplishments and the schools he managed— specifically Carver Charter high school. When I was initially asked to… Read More

No NAACP. No You Don’t.

  You have not been given a blank check to speak on behalf of colored people all across America. I certainly don’t remember signing up for or agreeing to that. You don’t have the hands-on knowledge needed to develop an unbiased, clear and inclusive position that represents how parents like me feel about charter schools. Your track record disqualifies you from making such a sweeping decision that will do irreparable damage to… Read More

NPR: Are Race and Charters Dividing Ed Reform?

The Black Lives Matter Movement has had an undeniable impact on America as a whole and that includes the ed reform community. With a controversial platform put out by the Movement for Black Lives and an NAACP backed moratorium on charter schools, it has been virtually impossible for any in education reform to avoid weighing in. NPR decided to speak to a wide swath of well known voices in the education debate and… Read More