This story originally appeared on the blog.
The principals of the last five remaining traditional public schools in New Orleans have applied to convert the schools into charters, according to the Lens, a news website.
If Orleans Parish Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. approves the application, New Orleans will become the country鈥檚 first all-charter city.
which was registered last week, has filed an application with the district to run the remaining five schools. The principal at one of the schools, McDonogh 35, confirmed that the leaders at the five schools were, in fact, the ExCEED Network.
According to the Lens, ExCEED was registered by Coleman Ridley Jr., who previously served on the board of Crescent City 69传媒, which runs three charter schools in the Recovery School District.
Last month, Lewis asked for applications from organizations to run the existing schools or create new charter schools.
So far, ExCEED is the only organization to submit an application, the Lens reported. District officials told the Times Picayune earlier this week but did not identify who the letters were from.
About ninety-three percent of students in the city already attend charter schools.
The state took over the majority of the city鈥檚 schools after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Those schools later became part of the Recovery School District, a state-run district created to oversee low-performing schools, and were later shuttered or converted into charter schools.
Education Week
Last year, state legislators approved a plan to
The Orleans Parish superintendent will decide whether to approve the application to convert the existing schools to charters. While the school board will not vote on the application, the Times Picayune reported.
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