The Recovery School District and the East Baton Rouge Parish School System have signed a memorandum of understanding that could lead to the return of seven RSD-run schools to the EBR fold as Type 1 charters. Both sides would have to agree on charter operators for each school and would use a common, independent third-party evaluator for charter applications. Many families choose to take their children out of schools that are taken over by the RSD, forcing the system to bus those students to other schools throughout the district. Under the new agreement, officials hope to attract those students back to their neighborhood schools. The schools would have their own boards, like other charters. But EBR would be able to recoup legacy costs tied to those schools, and the system would be able to ensure a smooth transition for students moving between charter schools and traditional schools, spokeswoman Susan Nelson says. The agreement also envisions a charter school and district school side-by-side at Glen Oaks High, which Nelson says would provide parents an “apples-to-apples” comparison: “Here’s the same facility, run in two different ways. What are the outcomes?” School board member Barbara Freiberg says the agreement represents an opportunity to attract “great new leaders and charter management organizations to help run those schools,” and to tell families that “these are charter schools, but they’re under EBR, so hopefully we can repopulate some of the schools that have been depleted.” —David Jacobs
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication due to incorrect information provided to Daily Report.
