The only school in the Lower 9th Ward could close due to low performance.
Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Sci Tech, a public K-12 school, has an F-letter grade from the state and is among the lowest-scoring public schools in New Orleans.
Thirteen of the district's nearly 70 schools are up for renewal this year. All but King appear to qualify for an automatic extension of three to 10 years.
The city's head of schools will announce this year's decisions after the state releases the latest school performance results, which should happen later this month.
Officials are conducting a “comprehensive evaluation” to decide whether to renew the school’s contract. The process includes:
- Taking a closer look at the data
- Visiting campuses
- Conducting a school-wide survey
- Holding a public hearing so the school can make its case
Superintendent Avis Williams is expected to announce her decision at a special meeting on Dec. 10. The board can reject her recommendation or let it stand.
King school leaders will be notified a week before the meeting and families three days before, district officials said.
While the school has a single contract, the district could decide to renew just grades K-8 and close the high school or vice versa.
King's high school program fared worse than its elementary when ranked against other public open-enrollment schools. Twelve percent of students in grades K-8 scored on grade level across all subjects on state exams compared to just 9% of high schoolers.
"Historically, we have been a school that has performed well," the school's testing coordinator, Stephen Martin, said at last week's hearing. "While we have made some gains, you are wondering, just as we are, how did we get here?"
Martin noted King was founded by teachers and community leaders after Hurricane Katrina and said the school has provided students with a "solid foundation." He argued that the pandemic set the school back and that leaders have made adjustments to catch kids up.
The school, which is operated by Friends of Kings Schools, has faced challenges.
In 2021, King received a "contingent" three-year renewal after officials said the school failed to complete employee background checks and provide special education services to students. The school has since closed both complaints, according to the district.
Before the pandemic, the school had almost 1,000 students and was D-rated. This year, the school has less than 750 kids at its two campuses on Caffin Avenue and North Rocheblave Street, the former site of Alfred Lawless High School.
King officials said their high school enrollment needs to be higher, and if they can't double it in the next few years, they'll need to cut classes and staff.
According to the school, there are about 180 students in grades 9-12, while the building has a capacity of 800.
The city's almost all-charter school system doesn't have schools zoned by neighborhood. Instead, families rank the schools they want their children to attend. According to Williams, less than 30% of kids and less than 15% of high school-age students who live in the Lower 9th attend King.
"Why aren't your students staying in your high school?" board member Nolan Marshall said at the hearing. "Why are they leaving and going to other schools?"
King officials said that's a question they're trying to answer. The school boasts programs they say students want, like esports, criminal justice, and forensics. It lets students take professional nursing, engineering, and culinary arts courses at the New Orleans Career Center.
Sylvia Arceneaux, the school's operations manager, said King is still grappling with the ghost of Hurricane Katrina. The Lower 9th was one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm.
"We are up against an arduous thing in terms of where we're located," she said.
Arceneaux said parents don't pick the school because of the lack of infrastructure and that there needs to be more street lights, and public transit in the area isn't reliable.
She said despite the issues, the school perseveres.
"We provide a safe haven for your children to attend our schools," she said.
Martin said the school had improved academics with better teacher training, a higher-quality curriculum, and by helping students in small groups. The school provides after-school tutoring through a state grant but doesn’t have a way to transport those students home, which can lower participation.
When Williams and board members pushed for more details on their efforts to improve performance, King’s staff sometimes offered vague answers.
"It's not that we haven't done it before," said Marianne Lemle, the school's head of literacy. "We are just more focused."
During the exchange, Velta Simms, King's CEO, said more than a dozen certified teachers retired in 2022. "It's been hard to find people to replace them," she said.
Simms also said they couldn't find as many paraprofessionals to hire this year as they would have liked. New Orleans Public Radio contacted King officials for more information on staffing and how many teachers are certified but has yet to receive a response.
Some of the toughest questions came from board member Leila Eames. King is in her district.
"We don't get pleasure in doing this kind of activity," Eames said. "We want to see all schools succeed.
