The RSD’s Plan for High Schools Leaves Some Students Behind

Two weeks ago, the Recovery School District (RSD) released a list of the six direct-run high schools and three direct-run elementary schools it plans to phase out or convert to charters next school year. This announcement marks a positive move towards increased transparency by the RSD. RSD Superintendent John White held community meetings at each failing RSD direct-run school earlier this year, and has scheduled follow-up meetings at all schools scheduled to be phased out or chartered. Additionally, the RSD has published on its website a Transformation Fact Sheet for each school with a summary of the rationale for closing or chartering the school as well as an overview of the transformation process.

In addition to increased transparency, it is also positive that the RSD is taking action to address the poor performance at its failing direct-run schools. Included on the list of schools that are being closed or chartered are four of the five chronically failing high schools that the RSD committed to replacing in its high school turnaround strategy last year. (One of those five schools, Clark, was converted into a charter school this year.) At the time the RSD had not yet identified charter operators for those schools, and we wrote a blog post urging the district to prioritize reforming these schools as soon as possible by providing immediate additional support.

Phasing out the four remaining chronically failing high schools is certainly an important step towards improving educational opportunities for the 1,300 students who currently attend them. All four schools have been deemed failing for at least three years in a row. In fact, the average School Performance Score for Cohen, Carver, John McDonogh and Reed High Schools last year was a dismal 37.3, compared to a citywide high school average of 83.6 (out of over 200). These four schools are the lowest performing non-alternative schools in the entire state. As we’ve written previously, it is clear that these high schools are not serving our children academically.

However, the RSD’s plan to phase out these schools still leaves a number of students in chronically failing high schools over the next two to three years. As a failing school is phased out, new students will not be accepted but little or nothing is done to improve the situation for students currently enrolled in those schools. In some cases, the RSD has specified that students who wish to attend another high school will receive priority for enrollment through the RSD’s new public school enrollment process, but it is not clear what options students will have given the limited availability of seats at non-failing high schools in the district. Students who do not choose to leave or are not accepted at another high school will instead be left in failing schools in which the district has disinvested and where few teachers or school leaders will likely choose to remain.

There are five failing high schools on the RSD’s list of schools that will be phased out or chartered: the four chronically failing schools mentioned above and Landry, which is currently in its third year of operation. In the case of two of these schools, Cohen and Landry, the RSD has identified an existing charter operator to grow into the facility and gradually replace the failing direct-run schools. New students will not be accepted at Cohen or Landry, but current students can remain through graduation.

The RSD also hopes to identify high quality charter operators for Carver, John McDonogh, and Reed from among the applicants approved by BESE last year and to be approved this December. It is possible, however, that the new charter operators will take over the 9^th grade and expand to the 12^th grade over four years, leaving students currently attending these schools to either remain in the failing school or seek enrollment at another high school. If a charter operator is not identified, the RSD will phase out the school by no longer accepting new students. According to the Times-Picayune, RSD Superintendent John White is confident that he will identify high performing charter operators for Carver and John McDonogh but is less certain about Reed. Reed currently enrolls 449 9^th-12^th grade students and is the second lowest performing non-alternative high school in Louisiana.

While the RSD has taken an important step in improving the opportunities for public high school students in New Orleans, it must be explicit about how it will work to better serve the students currently attending some of the worst high schools in the state. Offering students in these schools priority in the enrollment process next year is an important first step. However, it is not clear that there will be a sufficient number of seats available at non-failing high schools, meaning some students will be left behind. If there are enough seats at non-failing high schools in the district, then the RSD should close the failing schools outright. If this is not possible, then the RSD should create a school improvement plan for each failing school that continues to enroll students. If these schools have performed poorly in the years before their closure was imminent, it is difficult to believe that the students left behind will be adequately served once the district announces its intention to phase out the schools unless concrete, measurable interventions are planned. The RSD must explicitly identify what steps it is taking to invest in and support these students whose schools have already failed them for far too long.