Education: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

Louisiana Supreme Court benchslaps Jindal funding mechanism for school vouchers

Kevin Allman — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:49:00 -0500

A blow — and a decisive one — for Gov. Bobby Jindal's attempt to remake the Louisiana public education system:

Louisiana's Supreme Court has ruled that the funding method for a private school tuition voucher program pushed through the Legislature last year by Gov. Bobby Jindal is unconstitutional.

Tuesday's 6-1 decision upholds a state district court ruling that the state constitution forbids using money earmarked for public schools in the state's Minimum Foundation Program to pay for private school tuition.…
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Jindal to appear at NBC's Education Nation panel

Alex Woodward — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:28:29 -0500

Previewed in this week's Gambit, NBC's Education Nation is a three-day "summit" with panel discussions and town halls focusing on schools, teachers, students and job opportunities in New Orleans. All events are streamed live on the Education Nation website and the final half-hour will air on partner station WDSU-TV.…

WATCH: Louisiana science activist Zack Kopplin on Real Time With Bill Maher

Kevin Allman — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:59:00 -0500

Louisiana science activist Zack Kopplin — just out of high school — was a panelist on tonight's episode of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, discuss social issues that included climate change and same-sex marriage with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and others. Watch a segment of the show:

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Zack Kopplin to appear on Real Time With Bill Maher Friday night

Kevin Allman — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:35:00 -0500

Zack Kopplin, the teen who has become the face of the movement against teaching "intelligent design" (aka creationism) in Louisiana public schools, will have perhaps his biggest platform tomorrow night when he's a guest on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher. His fellow panelists: writer Sebastian Junger, professional political opinionist Abby Huntsman, Steve Moore (I think it's the economist) and Vt. Sen. Bernie Sanders.…

March madness for food events

Ian McNulty — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:39:00 -0500

Once, this little patch between Mardi Gras and the big music festivals of April was a relatively quiet time. Then people figured out that also made it a good time to schedule other events, and now the March calendar is full of them too.…

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Café Reconcile reopens today

Ian McNulty — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:57:00 -0500

For more than 12 years, Café Reconcile has offered young people a chance to transform their life prospects through its jobs skills training and mentoring programs. More recently, the Central City nonprofit restaurant has undergone its own transformation.…
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Clark Preparatory High School hosts first Treme Day

Will Coviello — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:02:00 -0600

Joseph S. Clark Preparatory High School hosts Treme Day from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.…
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A nontraditional Lenten fish fry on tap at Grow Dat Youth Farm

Ian McNulty — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:49:00 -0600

The Lenten fish fry is a long-running tradition in New Orleans, but not all of these events follow a traditional script. For instance, one coming up next Friday, March 8, won’t be held at a church but rather at a nonprofit urban farm for local high school students, with music, art and a menu with lighter options alongside the fried fish.

The local/healthy food advocate Slow Food New Orleans is hosting this one-night fish fry at Grow Dat Youth Farm, a youth development program operated from City Park with acres of crops and a facility built from stacked, repurposed shipping containers.…
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Student’s “Dish That Makes a Difference” to be interpreted by local chefs

Ian McNulty — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:23:00 -0600

If you suddenly start seeing a certain lemongrass grilled shrimp dish with ribs and crab kimchee on more New Orleans menus, that’s not because it’s necessarily the trendy new dish. Rather, it’s because this recipe cooked up by local ninth grader Sierra Torres is the “Dish That Makes a Difference.”

That’s the name for an annual student culinary program at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), the high school-level arts school in the Faubourg Marigny.…
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Big Class offers free book-making, after-school program

Will Coviello — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:51:24 -0600

Big Class is a local organization that runs literacy programs in which children create books from writing content through publishing. The group's next project is to run a writing and tutoring center at 3718 St. Claude Avenue (below Antenna Gallery).…
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Zack Kopplin wins "Troublemaker of the Year" award

Kevin Allman — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:09:00 -0600

Zack Kopplin, the 19-year-old Rice University student and Louisiana native who's spent the last two years advocating for repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act, was named the inaugural "Troublemaker of the Year" by a private foundation that seeks to honor people in their teens who stir up, well, trouble:

What kind of trouble? The good kind — when you are not afraid to speak your mind on important matters even when everyone around you disagrees, when you take a risk and bend social norms for a greater good, when you pick a direction and go for it, even if others tell you to turn around.…
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Kids tackle king cakes

Ian McNulty — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:04:00 -0600

The Carnival season king cake tradition is more than just alive and well. These days, it seems to be positively surging, with bakeries and restaurants across the spectrum giving these cakes their own spins and sometimes turning heads with their new interpretations.…
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Today's must-read: io9 profiles Zack Kopplin

Charles Maldonado — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 10:35:00 -0600

Science and science fiction website io9 yesterday ran a lengthy profile of Zack Kopplin, the young Louisiana man who took on Big Sea Monster — the creationism education lobby — when he was still in high school. (Zack is also son of city of New Orleans Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin.)

His efforts, needless to say, have not gone unnoticed — particularly by his opponents.…
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Jazz & Heritage Foundation offers free music classes for teens

Will Coviello — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 13:40:00 -0600

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation sponsors many programs and festivals throughout the year. It offers free jazz lessons to kids ages 11-17 in the Don "Moose" Jamison Heritage School of Music.…
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Jindal orders task force to examine school safety

Alex Woodward — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:00:00 -0600

In the wake of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Gov. Bobby Jindal has created a task force to review school safety procedures, from prekindergarten through university level campuses. The multi-agency group includes the departments of safety and corrections, education, health and hospitals, children and family services, and boards from state universities, to be co-chaired by State Police Superintendent Col. Michael Edmonson, and James LeBlanc, Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.…
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Orleans Parish School Board votes to ban creationism, expand bullying policy

Alex Woodward — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:55:00 -0600

The Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) voted in favor of two policy amendments proposed by outgoing president Thomas Robichaux at last night's December meeting at McDonogh 35 College Preparatory High School.

Robichaux's updates included adding "zero tolerance," among other discipline actions, to its "bullying, intimidation, harassment and hazing" policy," and ensuring creationism, intelligent design and "revisionist history" are left out of textbooks.…
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The Daily Beast congratulates Mitch Landrieu on school reform

Stephanie Grace — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:48:00 -0600

There’s no question that Mayor Mitch Landrieu has crafted an image as a creative, modern-thinking chief executive. And this week, The Daily Beast/Newsweek recognized him as such when it featured Landrieu as one of the “Most Innovative Mayors in the U.S.”

There’s just one catch: The innovation that earned him the prized spot on the roster, the dramatic transformation of the city’s public schools, wasn’t exactly his.

“Under Mayor Mitch Landrieu, the Crescent City has aggressively embraced education reform,” the piece says.…
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Party politics: Dueling statements on judge's ruling that La. school vouchers are unconstitutional

Charles Maldonado — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:54:00 -0600

Baton Rouge Judge Tim Kelley has ruled that the state's newly expanded voucher school program is unconstitutional.

In an emailed statement, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu says she's not surprised that the controversial voucher program was overturned.…
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Arts education opportunities for New Orleans-area kids

Will Coviello — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:43:00 -0500

There are several upcoming opportunities for students interested in music and dance classes.

-The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation is holding auditions for spots in the Don "Moose" Jamison Heritage School of Music's fall classes.…
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"Dressed like he was attending a corn husking party"

Kevin Allman — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:23:00 -0500

ActionNews17 is a Northshore news website that bills itself as "Your Digital Mainstreet for the crossroads of I-55 and I-12 in south Louisiana," and it's a good source of small-town news for Hammond, Amite and the areas around rural Tangipahoa Parish — with straightforward stories ranging from "Body of Mandeville man found in lake" and "Olive Garden names O'Neill manager, gears up for Monday opening at Hammond Square." But reporter Don Ellzey's story yesterday, about Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White's appearance before the Tangipahoa Parish School Board, will probably earn Action News 17 fame far beyond the Tangipahoa Parish borders:

AMITE — State Supt. of Education John White addressed the Tangipahoa Parish School Board Tuesday, giving the same insipid speech he gave about a month ago in Amite.…
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The Gospel of Lucas

Clancy DuBos — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:20:00 -0500

Now it happened that at this time Caesar Piyush issued a decree that vouchers should be made available to every undereducated child in the land. These vouchers — the first — issued while many public schools in Louisiana were failing, and so every prophet with an eye for profit went to enroll as many students as possible, each in his own parish.…
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Louisiana school ordered to change policy on pregnant students

Alex Woodward — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:15:08 -0500

The Delhi school targeted this week by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was ordered by the Louisiana Department of Education to change a policy that forced pregnant students and students suspected of being pregnant from school.

Delhi Charter School president Albert Christman — who previously had said he was unaware of the policy's discrimination — said it was "intended to protect students from ridicule and harassment," according to the ACLU of Louisiana.…
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Louisiana school kicks out pregnant or suspected pregnant students

Alex Woodward — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:35:00 -0500

The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has challenged a Louisiana public school that requires female students to take a pregnancy test if they're suspected of being pregnant. At Delhi Charter School, students are subject to a school-selected physician and risk expulsion if they don't comply.…
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Latest Louisiana anti-bullying bill update

Alex Woodward — Thu, 31 May 2012 17:50:00 -0500

Friday, June 1 update: The State Senate adopted the House amendments for Senate Bill 764 (The Tesa Middlebrook Anti-Bullying Act) with a 37-0 vote.

While the Louisiana legislature has turned away most of the anti-bullying bills proposed in the last several years, one is now in the Senate awaiting final approval. It already has the support of Gov. Bobby Jindal.…
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Applications being accepted for Big Easy grants

Will Coviello — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:08:03 -0500

Gambit's Big Easy Foundation is accepting applications for grants for projects to support economic development and education in the arts. The foundation makes grants of up to $5,000.…
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