WHAT: Representatives from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Jacobs Technologies, and the US Coast Guard will deliver a truckload of donated school supplies to the Einstein Charter School Extension on Wednesday.  The supplies were collected from a school supply drive held for tenants of the Michoud Assembly Facility.  Other donors include NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Big Easy Studios.

WHEN: Wednesday, August 6, 11:30am

WHERE: Einstein Charter School Extension,  5316 Michoud Blvd. in New Orleans East (behind Sara T. Reed High School)

WHY: Einstein Charter School and Einstein Extension are open-admissions elementary charter schools located in New Orleans East.  Einstein Charter is a “B”, "top gains" and "top performing" elementary school, serving grades PreK-8.  Einstein Extension has a 100% pass rate on the Algebra I EOC. Einstein provides a competitive education with a focus on science and math in a safe and nurturing environment, with a 100% promotion rate to 9th grade.

Einstein also offers an exceptional gifted and talented program, Special Education program and one of the largest ELL programs in the city.  For more information:   einsteincharter.org

It’s Back to School for the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools (ECCS)!
 

If you’re looking for a principal, teacher or administrator to interview for a back-to-school story, or would like to go to a campus for 1st day of school, the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools (ECCS) invites you to come visit!  We’re proud of our schools and excited to get back to work.  Please call us first to let us know you’re coming.

A delegation of New Orleans schools including Audubon Charter, Lafayette Charter, Lusher Charter, Warren Easton Charter, and OPSB traditional schools visited China in early June.  The group represented the 1st delegation of the Xavier University of Louisiana/Confucius Institute Educational Delegation to China, where they visited Chinese K-12 educational settings to learn more about the Chinese education system. 

What: Sci High is hosting its annual Summer Internship Showcase. This event is the culmination of the Summer Internship Program and the celebration of the accomplishments of the 36 Sci High Interns that held internship placements around the city.  

When: Thursday, July 24 4:00pm  

Where: Sci High School 5625 Loyola Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115

Benjamin Franklin High School held its 2013 – 2014 commencement ceremony, Tuesday, May 20, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena. Franklin awarded diplomas to 178 students. Mr. Nolan Marshall, Jr., President of the Orleans Parish School Board, was the commencement speaker.

During the ceremony the Franklin Alumni Association presented the Key Award to Addison Howenstine. The Key Award is given to the senior who best exemplifies the spirit and broad-based excellence of Mr. Benjamin Franklin.  

The Valedictorian was Jessica Garda who will be attending Duke University and the Salutatorian was Luke Tang who will be attending Harvard College.

Warren Easton Charter High School student Markesha Favis was recently named the recipient of the 2014 Greater New Orleans Hotel Lodging Foundation Association Scholarship Award.

Markehsa was presented an $8,000 scholarship on May 7th by Mavis Early, Executive Director of GNOHLA, and Tod Chambers, General Manager of the The Roosevelt Hotel.

Markesha will continue her post-secondary education at the University of New Orleans, majoring in Hospitality (Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Administration).

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014, from midnight to midnight, the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools is participating in GiveNOLA Day.  Developed by the Greater New Orleans Foundation, GiveNOLA is an exciting new resource that connects you with us to make supporting our work easier than ever! On May 6th, every donation of $10 and above that you make will be increased if you donate through GiveNOLA.org, helping support the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools.

Charters. Choice. Change: Celebrating Charter School Week in May
By Caroline Roemer Shirley, Director, LAPCS

Louisiana now offers over 117 charter schools in 19 out of 64 parishes, hosting nearly 60,000 children or about 10 percent of total public school enrollment. One of these 19 parishes, Orleans, has the greatest percentage of public school children enrolled in charter schools in the nation. So as the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools invites the state to join it May 4 to 10 in celebrating National Charter School Week, I encourage public school parents and school advocates to know three things that make the movement unique in the state.          

Those three unique characteristics are choice, autonomy and accountability. Choice means every parent should be able to choose the best school for their child, just as every principal and teacher should be able to choose to work there. Autonomy means that school’s leadership team, led by its principal, should be responsible for student learning in that building, not a central office. And accountability means schools that continually fail to meet high academic standards should be closed, no excuses.          

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says Louisiana has the third strongest charter school laws in the nation. It is because we have taken legal steps to promote academic independence in charters, equitable distribution of funding and facilities between traditional and charter schools, and no caps on charter school growth that this movement is growing and meeting our three criteria.          

But much remains to be done.